Back in 2015, David Letterman retired from late-night television. When Conan O’Brien wrote a tribute to his 33-year career, Letterman sent him a horse as a prank gift. Now, the horse is in Rockwall.
“Word came back that Dave appreciated what I had written and that he’d be sending something my way,” O’Brien explained, when he appeared as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2017.
The next day, O’Brien learned that a very large gift from Letterman had arrived. At first, he wondered if it was a car. But then two “cowboys” dropped off a horse named Dave. After O’Brien found a place for the horse to live, he thought about riding him but was told Dave was “crazy” and had thrown people.
A few days after O’Brien told the story on The Late Show, Letterman appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He explained that the gift was a joke and said he was surprised that O’Brien kept it.
After owning the horse for two years, O’Brien donated Dave to an equine massage school, Equine Pacifica, in San Diego.
Jane Paull-Bridgeman, who owned Equine Pacifica, remembers being hired in 2016 to do work on the horse: “They said he was a bad horse, a crazy horse, and his back was all messed up. But when I went to work on him the first time, I didn’t think he was a bad horse.”
She heard the horse, which was renamed “Tuwa,” came from a trail-riding establishment, and she suspects he had bucked a few people off after suffering some sort of back injury. She made it clear that she would be willing to take the horse.
A year later, Paull-Bridgeman learned that Tuwa had been given away a few times but had been returned by every person. She jumped at the chance to get the horse, and O’Brien donated it to her. In 2019, she closed her business and moved to Texas to pursue a career in real estate, and she brought Tuwa along.
Now 17, Tuwa is one of 150 horses on the 1,700-acre ranch known as Tate Farms, which regularly hosts drive-in movies. The spot also has an 1898 church that is being restored as a music venue, and it will have a State Fair Social-Distanced event on Sept. 26 that will include Fletcher’s Corny Dogs.
Tied to a post last week, the horse was wild-eyed but calm, which hasn’t always been the case. A year ago, Tuwa was impossible to lead or saddle — much less ride — and he would have been trying to pull the post out of the ground.
“He was probably broke at one time, but something caused him trouble,” said Evan Tate, who has been working with horses all his life and had a Texas State Fair-themed wedding in 2017. “Dave probably got a cheap horse.”
Tuwa arrived aggressive and unsafe to be around, but Tate has been working with him for a year. Paull-Bridgeman believes she will eventually be able to ride the horse. “I knew this was an exceptional horse in a tough situation,” she said. “And now he’s at the best place possible for him to have a second chance.”
