Give Me an "E"

We're now up to the letter "E" in our alphabetical tour of my collection and you might be surprised to learn that I had a good number of "E" horses to choose from.  Ever since the days when I decided to have each letter of the alphabet represented by at least one of my horses, I've concentrated on amassing names beginning with some of the tougher letters -- usually vowels and those found in the tail end of the alphabet like "X", "Y", and "Z".

Today's "E" horse is one you may have seen before if you're a regular blog reader.  It's the dapple grey Stone Sporthorse, from 1997-1998.  The Sporthorse was an adaptation of an earlier Chris Hess piece, called "Breakaway," by D'Arry Jone Frank.  I think it's a lovely, simple sculpture of a slim but athletic little jumper.  Mine was purchased in 1999, just after this colour was discontinued, and so she comes from the later production period when the original heavy resin base was replaced by the lighter, more versatile wooden one.

"Eep!" a dapple grey Stone Sporthorse

Her name is "Eep!" (exclamation point included).

"Eep!" got her name in a funny sort of way.  Years ago I had a friend from out of town staying with me for a day or two and while she was visiting I did a bit of work on my computer which, at that time, was a little Mac Classic.  Among the sound effects available on the Mac Classic was a tone called "Wild Eep"  My friend requested that I play this for her and when I did she doubled over laughing.  Laughter is, of course, contagious, and soon I was making my computer go "Eep!" over and over again while we laughed until tears were running down our faces.

Then I got inspired.  I had my dapple grey Stone Sporthorse and I had not yet named her.  Clearly, she was meant to be "Eep!"  Perhaps the sound represents what's going on in her mind as she tackles the jump, or maybe it's what's going on in her rider's mind.  At any rate, "Eep!" she had to be.

As far as I can tell, Stone hasn't offered any Sporthorses for sale since 2015, and that one was a mule (albeit a rather nice mule). Such a pity!

I still love "Eep!" and the memories she brings with her of my friend and I laughing like hyenas over a silly little computer sound. That little Mac is long gone, but "Eep!" goes on forever.