This morning I arrived with my curiosity burning. I want to see who I'm going to be riding! All of horses Andrea has are more dressage type, and she told me to bring my tack. Interesting. As I was in the process of unloading my tack from the back of my truck and putting my boots on, Andrea goes walking by with this cute little chestnut. "You wanted to learn right? (Referring to my having voiced a desire for her to teach me more about breeding.) This mare is a test." Now I'm really intrigued. "This mare's owner asked me if she would breed her. Given the choice between her and your mare, who would you pick?" I look at her for a few moments, and decide Ellie definitely has the better conformation of the two. "Good, now tell me why." We go through the finer points of her conformation, (and later, when Ellie was on the cross ties, compared them). Then she informs me, "Her name is Tiger. She's free to a good home. They tell me she's a well trained jumper, and you were the first person I thought of." ... I'm floored. This woman is constantly going out of her way to help me out and thinking of me. I can't thank Andrea enough. Tiger is nothing special by way of conformation, but is extremely sweet, and has great ground manners.
This is after our ride, and soaking wet from her bath. Please ignore this.
She's listening to the bunch of yearlings playing behind her, not being a grouch. Promise.
See? BABIES!!! They're so freaking cute.
During our ride she started to show me the damage they'd done to her. She didn't care to have me touch her face; in fact, she ewe necked and flipped her nose early on in the ride before she figured out I wasn't going to haul on her mouth. After a few minutes she settled down into a frame, and despite my having to urge at every step (I'm so spoiled by Thoroughbreds in this aspect) she is a great ride. As she's not perfect for breeding, the woman does not want her, and because of an old cannon bone injury (that has gotten the 100% ok from one of the top equine surgeons in the country) she doesn't even want to try to sell. Andrea thought of me first, as I am going to be in need of a reliable lesson horse in the future. This mare seems like she'd be a great candidate for my advanced students. She would teach them how to ride not just get carted along, and they would be able to show her as well. Now, in the meantime, I would be able to continue to work her, and possibly show her until Ellie is ready to step into her shoes (figuratively, I am hoping beyond all hope to keep Ellie barefoot as that's the way she's been her whole life). Currently it's still a wait and see, as I've only ridden her once. I don't know if she's going to stay the somewhat heady beast I rode today, or if she will quit with the head flipping with some time, consistent work, and a balanced diet with less protein. We don't know exactly what she was getting, but we speculate that it might have had too much protein. Currently we only know that she's a Peter Pan granddaughter crossed with some breed of warmblood. Andrea is going to find out and let me know. Being that she has Thoroughbred in her, protein = HOT. It will be interesting to see how she progresses. Right now, she's my new project until I decide whether or not to take her permanently.
Moving on to Miss Ellie (who this blog is actually about, imagine that), was an absolute superstar today, and is one major step closer to having me on her back.
It's been unseasonably warm down here the past few days (in the 80's, as opposed to 50's and 60's) and she has a bit of a coat, so I haven't wanted to do too much with her because she's still not super fit and again, I don't want her to hurt herself. Today, as she has been so bothered by my stirrup leathers in the past, I decided to do a desensitization day. I only put her in my saddle, leaving her in a halter and lead. I spent about an hour in the round pen standing next to her on the mounting block, stamping on it, sacking her out with the lunge line, slapping the stirrup leathers against the saddle, patting down the saddle, leaning into the stirrups... not a single spook or snort.
I started work with her in the center of the pen, to give her room to spook away or turn and see what I was doing if she got too scared. Not once did she do this, but seemed to move away more in a fashion suggesting it was only because she didn't want to do any work. After establishing that she wasn't afraid, I lined her up against the side of the round pen, and continued work there. This is where I started pushing, doing all the aforementioned activities. The mare was a ROCKSTAR. I could not have asked her to be better.
I'm so happy and excited to see where each day takes us. I feel blessed that this more chose to trust me of all people, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.
Two great mares now, a great farm possibility on the horizon (going for a second viewing on Saturday, cross your fingers for us!), and super sunshine every day. Life. Is. Awesome.
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