Brilliant by chance

Looking back, it was a smart decision.

And it could turn out to be a brilliant one if things continue to go as planned.

"He's been my favorite," Laurie Allred of Hailey, Idaho, said of Snap Decision II, a horse she purchased on the spur of the moment nine years ago for a bargain - $2,000.

"He's such a gift."

Allred's daughter Jeanine is competing on Snap Decision II this weekend in the Intermediate class at The Event at Rebecca Farm. Jeanine and her horse are third after Friday's dressage competition.

Snap Decision II is a 13-year-old gray gelding that measures 16-1 hands. He tips the scales at 1,120 pounds.

"Sure, absolutely," Laurie said of Snap Decision II moving up with Jeanine to the Advanced class.

"Hopefully next year. Why not? He's right in the middle of his best years."

The Allred-Snap Decision II partnership happened by accident.

"He was furry, fuzzy and kind of ugly. He had a big head," Laurie said of her first look at the horse.

Her friend Vicky Koss, however, saw something else.

"She tried to get everyone in the (Sun) Valley to buy him, "Laurie said.

"She thought he was special. But no one wanted to buy him."

Allred, who already owned five horses at the time, was not the least bit interested.

Koss called Allred one more time, on a Wednesday evening, and finally convinced her to take a look.

"‘You got to see this horse. He's cute. I know he will make a wonderful horse.' I told her (Koss) I don't do babies," Laurie said.

Laurie gave in and arrived the next morning at 8 a.m. to check the horse out before it was headed for a roping horse sale.

Allred put together a make-shift jump, about four-feet high, in the corral to see how the horse would respond.

"He came down and jumped it," Laurie said.

"Beautiful, perfect form. OK. I'll buy him."

She bought the horse from a cowboy who purchased it at a sale in Missoula.

"He was looking for a roping horse," she said.

"But the horse kept jumping over his pipe corral, which was five-feet tall."

The cowboy finally had enough of that and decided to take the horse to a roping sale in Salmon, Idaho. On his way to the sale, Koss saw the horse.

"We really don't know what he is," said Laurie.

"Some say an Irish or English thoroughbred type. We think he's got some Percheron. He's got to have some thoroughbred because he's fast in cross country. He has some warm blood because he has some really good moves."

Laurie said the horse "supposedly" is a PMU foal form Canada.

"It's pretty amazing," Jeanine said of riding Snap Decision II.

"It's very balanced to stay with him. The few seconds you are in the air when he's coming back down you feel weightlessness. It's quite fun."

Jeanine rode Snap Decision II for four months when it was first purchased.

"I thought he would be a good horse for my mom," she said.

Jeanine already had a horse she imported from England.

The next time Jeanine rode Snap Decision II was in 2005. She flew up from Reno a week early for The Event at Rebecca Farm to get reacquainted with him.

Competing in the Preliminary class, they finished second.

"I was pretty excited," she said.

"That's when I knew he was something pretty special. He's still my mom's horse, but I get to ride him."

Jeanine is excited about the prospect of moving up to the next level with Snap Decision II.

"He's got the talent for it," she said.

In 2009 at The Event in the cross country, Jeanine and Snap Decision II accidentally went over the Advanced jump during competition. That led to their disqualification.

"At his best when he's jumping," she said.

"Rider's preference is also cross country.

"I like the water (duck jumps). He'd rather go roll in it."

NOTES: Jeanine and Snap Decision II will compete today at 12:30 p.m. They are No. 36. Jeanine will be wearing pink and black.

Jeanine and Snap Decision II finished seventh last year at The Event.

Laurie is sitting third in the Novice class after Friday's cross country. She was fourth after the dressage on Thursday. Laurie is competing on a 9-year-old English thoroughbred called Gold Quest.