Playing by my own rules.

After my first vet-check was surprisingly cut short, I worried immensely about what to do in terms of this horse. It is not every day (or week, or month) that you find a horse that is perfect for you in just about every way. My biggest fear was that he would ultimately vet sound, I'd buy him, and then the problem (whatever it is) might come back a couple months down the line and then I'd be stuck with it. Paranoid? Maybe. But you can hardly blame me for being cautious. That's why we get pre-purchase exams, right?

I decided to go with what I decided that day with the vet - wait a few days, watch him go and continue the vet check if he's sound. I reminded myself that a vet check is just a snapshot and if he was perfectly sound a few days later and then again when the vet was out, I could be pretty darn sure it was a minor, one-time, issue.

My criteria was that he needed to be 100% sound to my eye otherwise there was no point calling the vet back out.  This time, we let him run around at liberty in a large outdoor arena (fenced). He was minorly stiff at first (evenly) but it was a cold morning and he wasn't achy-stiff, just what I would consider very normal muscles needing warm-up. He was happy to move around and cantered both ways, including to the right several times on his own, with zero pressure from us. It was hard to get him to trot; he wanted to stop and look or canter, no inbetween!

Once in the round pen, it didn't take long to see that he was still off to the right, despite the warm-up. It was his owner that said it first, just as I myself had decided that yes, it was still there. It's really very slight...but it's there.

So I stuck to my rules and regretfully said I couldn't proceed at that time. The owners agreed 100% although they too are disappointed since they didn't have any reason to suspect this given that he only displays the issue on a circle. I am still reasonably certain that there is nothing serious going on but I simply can't take the risk, emotionally or financially.

At the end of the day, an otherwise perfectly healthy 5 year old should be able to trot sound on a circle. Period.

So I spent the first few days of this week feeling a little sorry for myself and also feeling like I wanted nothing more to do with this process. Then I started to feel a little grateful because I really would rather something show up before I buy the horse!  I have been very motivated to find something for the fall, as I believe I do a lot of bonding with a horse outside of the arena and think it would be pretty awful to bring a new horse and only be able to ride inside for the winter. But I've realized it's not going to happen on my schedule, it'll happen when it happens.

I have yet another incredible offer and my coach has some prospects outside our local area to go see. I will checking up on the "incredible offer" in the next couple weeks to see just how good it is! It seems all my effort with Willie gave me a reputation and there are a few people who would love me to buy their horse, knowing I'd be a great home. I have to say, that feels pretty good.

Jinxed?

My vet check on the grey was yesterday. All started well enough with the physical exam, things looked fantastic, actually. Then we went outside to watch him go, do flexions, etc. We started in the round pen and he was quite obviously off on his right front. It was subtle and likely only evident on a circle, but it was consistent.

I'm not a superstitious person but I'm begining to feel jinxed. I finally find a horse where every little detail fits perfectly with what I want and he presents with a lameness at vet check! I know, I know, better that it happens now, yada yada. While I know that to be true, it doesn't make it any easier.

I decided not to proceed any further that day. As my vet pointed out in private, it's not up to me to diagnose a lameness if one shows up, that's the owner's job. Also, even if I did do the flexions and xrays, it's possible nothing would show up and we'd be in the same position, or the discomfort in that leg could mask if there are issues in any others. Ugh.

So I will go back to the farm and watch him again on Sunday. If he shows absolute soundness, I have the vet lined up to re-assess and continue on Tuesday. Obviously if he is still off I will cancel the vet call and have some poutine and beer. And then some candy. Probably all while crying. My gosh that's an attractive image, isn't it?

I shouldn't feel as hurt and upset as I am, it's just not rational!  I seem to fall in love too quickly with a good match. I have to say that even though it hurts, I'd still rather love hard and hurt than be more indifferent. It's just not me.

My biggest concern is is this:

Let's say he looks to be perfectly sound on Sunday. Then I have the vet out and everything goes fine, xrays are good etc. So if I had happened to do the vetting that day, I would have never known about the day when he was slightly off. What then? Do I assume he is fine and go ahead with the purchase? I worry about soft tissue stuff because it can come and go...and come back again. I've dealt with this with Hazel most of her life. I know it's not in his hoof because he was amazing through the hoof testers and my vet was very thorough. He was also fine the two previous occasions I've seen him, which were a couple weeks apart themselves.

I have no idea what I'll do. This horse is so perfect for me in every way, it feels silly to write him off for being ever so slightly off one day. But then again, why take the chance. I just don't know what the right thing to do is. I guess I will take it one day at a time. 

I want to kiss that nose for years and years to come.

Is that such an impossible thing to want?

Trying Horses.

I have been busy reading ads, sending emails, drumming up some word of mouth, for what seems like a long time now. It hasn't really been all that long but I have ridden quite a few horses, at least by my standards. Some moments through this process have been fun and also a learning experience. But let's face it, trying horses can be trying!

First of all, it's time consuming. And a lot of that time spent doesn't even result in going to see a horse, which is a mixed blessing because at least you haven't wasted more time by going to see something not suitable. Then it's frustrating because so many of the horses are outrageously priced. It would be one thing if most of these horses were actually quality enough for the asking price but they just aren't, in my opinion. I don't know, I must live in an alternate, cheaper, universe ;-) It was actually somewhat depressing as I got yet more emails stating asking prices of 32k, 56k, etc. It made me feel like a horrible potential horse mom for not being able to afford a horse that expensive.

Then I gave myself an imaginary kick in the ass. It's not as though I was contacting people with GP jumpers for crying out loud!

One of the horses I enjoyed the most was a thoroughbred who had shown hunters (schooling) but has been playing polo the last 2 years. He wasn't fancy and was a little stiff but had a very comfortable canter and a cute jump.

Last weekend, I had decided to go ahead and make an offer on the 3 year old Apiro gelding. He was the best of the lot and within my budget. I wasn't super happy with his price because of how green he is but he was very willing, learned well, and was quite fancy.

You can see how I'd be tempted...these are stills from some video my husband took of my ride. He had been under saddle for about 2 weeks at the time.

He is so, so cute!

But I had reservations too, just because there is so much unknown about a horse that age. Could I keep him on outdoor board, as is my plan? Would he be an easy or hard keeper? Would his easy-going nature change as he got older?  My experience with Willy had me concerned about preserving my horse-life balance and, most of all, finding a healthy horse!

Speaking of Willy, he is doing ok. Just out being a horse. I have kept away for the most part, mostly for my recovery but also I figure he would get used to the new routine faster. I do go out and check on him and he usually leaves the group when he sees me coming and follows me to the gate when I go to leave. It makes me feel warm with love for him and sad at the same time.

Beautiful Willy.

I digress. Sunday, I had another horse scheduled to try. This one was over my budget but when I told the owner what my budget was she said I should come out and try him and we'd talk from there. I figured she would lower her price but still have it higher than I wanted to go but I went anyway.

Wow. There wasn't a single thing I didn't like about this horse! Well, except maybe that he's grey, lol. I have to go to bed but will give more details tomorrow. My coach is coming out to try him, so I will know more then anyway. I will just say that I have not been able to sleep the last two nights because I am so excited to make this guy mine. I hope it all checks out!

Ok, I haven't jumped in forever, so 3' looked big. Honestly, it felt effortless for him.

More soon!

Here, Piggy, Piggy.

We went to pick up our local order of pork today. As usual, I enjoyed my time talking with the farmers about the year they've had, which was exceptionally difficult due to an 8+ week drought. We joked how it made last years drought look like nothin'. It didn't help that we had a low-precipitation winter and spring, so the water table was lower to begin with.

The highlight of my trip is always getting to see the animals enjoying themselves. This group was especially curious and hung around us a lot. Pigs don't get enough credit, they are really quite inquisitive and clean. I imagine the pig mega-farms smell, but no more than any other mega-farm. On this farm, I can smell animals and that those animals are not horses but it certainly isn't negative. I also have to get close to the pigs before I notice anything at all. Honestly, I find the smell no different than the smell between different horses. I have come to learn this well in the last year or so how different horses smell and would say it's just like that.

Some pictures from our visit.

I wanted to take him home as a pet.

"Next!"

I have tried another four horses, including my coach's horse. I have exchanged correspondence with countless others and created a spreadsheet to keep track of it all!

First up, a 7 year old QH gelding. He was ok, but just ok, and was priced accordingly. Not perfectly sound on his right hind and owner disclosed that his right hip occasionally "goes out" and benefits from chiro work. Not the end of the world but also not what I'm looking for.

Another was an 11 year old gelding by Rio Grande. He has a dressage background, shown up to second level and schooling third level movements. He was made sour with all the dressage training and is currently being retrained for hunters. He was incredibly hard to get going but did improve a bit. He has obviously been packaged so much, it was like riding a pogo stick. Nice enough jump. If I could, I would just buy him and do nothing back hack around all fall and winter, let him learn to have some fun with a rider! Also needs hock injections. I also learned, through a friend at another barn, that this horse has had many issues and his leasor hasn't been able to ride until recently.

I also tried a 3 year old gelding by Apiro and out of a Popeye K mare. This young guy is the closest I've found to what I'm looking for. He is green but willing and has very fancy movement. I could definitely see him being a life-horse for me. My coach doesn't think he's worth the asking price since he's so green and has no experience but the owner is not willing to budge.

Now, as for my coach's horse...what can I say? She was pretty much perfect in every way. She felt like an extension of me instantly and although it would obviously take more than one quick ride to understand her perfectly, we did very well together. I have never been on a horse that moved that well even though she's been out of work for awhile (V just had a baby) and is a little out of shape at the moment. It still makes me break out in a stupid grin just thinking about the feeling. Her attitude is just as wonderful. She is not a princess, she is a Queen.

Need I say more?

In person, she is simply radiant.

I never should have got on her!

I bought a lottery ticket. I never buy lotto tickets! Lol, you never know!

An Incredible Offer I Have to Refuse. I think.

First, I "came down" off my first horse shopping venture and realized I definitely don't want to chance the hind end on that first mare. I watched the video again after a couple days and the weirdness stood out to me afresh.

The chestnut gelding ended up being a horse I know. The current owner changed his name so I didn't put it together since there are a million chestnut geldings. As we talked, I exclaimed "I know this horse!"  Turns out he was my coach's re-sale project when I first joined my current barn 3 years ago and didn't know her all that well. Honestly, I didn't ride him all that well. I think I could learn to ride him well in a couple months but then would be ready to move on...and would then be trying to re-sell a 10-11yo TB in a super-saturated market. Even though he's well-schooled, he might be too well schooled for the novice-low intermediate rider. Horses that only have advance riders on them tend to not do as well in the masses or with riders new to him (likely why I didn't ride him well and why he was so quick in the video I linked to). The plus side is my coach now wants to buy him so that he doesn't bounce around any more.

The buckskin warmblood by Yeager was so, so cute. He was a bit of a pest with mouthiness but not too bad and owner was very forthcoming with his history. He went well w/t/c and his movement felt great. Of course he's very green but he was very sensible and I even took him for a short hack after. The owner contacted me a couple days ago because she has someone vetting him next week but she would rather he go to me. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable rushing my decision.

Plus my coach ("V") has made it that much harder.

The deal is, she has a few very talented young horses that she has brought along. She has sold a couple but the market is so bad right now, they aren't moving like they should. The mare in question is her favorite and she most of all wants it to have a good home. She knows what I'm like with horse care and would give me an incredible deal on her just because then she knows the mare is in good hands. Plus since she's my coach she will get to keep tabs on her and help me bring her along. She would get right of first refusal if I were to ever sell, which is not a problem for me. But she would also maintain a partial share in the horse to show jump at an international level "if you and I decide to take her there."

Obviously there are many details to be discussed. For me, issue #1 is price. While she is offering me the deal of a lifetime, the fact remains it is a LOT more than I planned to spend. I mean, who am I to own a horse like that?  While it is amazingly flattering that someone of my coach's calibre thinks enough of me to want me to be the one to get this deal - she could sell her for this amount to almost anyone, but won't - the fact remains that I earn what I earn and neither my husband or I have wealthy family backgrounds. I have made it clear that I won't over-extend myself because I never want to feel that I'm lacking in horse care because I can't afford it. We could make it work but it would be more stressful than what I had in mind.

Aside from the cost issue, there is the issue of simply wanting a horse to love and enjoy, not a business venture. I have no interest in being a passive owner of a horse the trainer shows. Here again, V says that's exactly why she is offering me this opportunity. I know there are a lot of shady people who would do this for their own gain. I don't belive V is one of those. I've known her for years and there is a reason I finally broke with my other coach to ride with her.

I'm trying this mare and a couple others tomorrow. I expect we will answer some of my questions and work out details then. I'm glad my husband wants to come see her too because buying a horse, any horse, is a household venture, this prospect even more so. I really don't see it happening but I can't help but be a little excited at the prospect!

Oh, horses.

Horse #1 details, plus preview of #2 and #3.

Meet horse number one. She is a 4 year old Canadian Sport Horse by Xavier K and out of Mt Vesuvius (by Lorbas). She has a lot of Hanoverian blood and also Holsteiner and her grand-dam was a TB. 

I went to see her last week and had a good ride. She is quite green (I’d be worried if she wasn’t at her age) but so willing. She has a great temperament and doesn’t get fussed about very much. There was another woman there to try her and she comes from a dressage background. She rode after me and really tried to force Lexie into a frame and although the poor horse was confused as hell (“I don’t know where you want me to go!”) she tried very hard to figure it out. 

Personally, I don’t see what you are going to accomplish with that in one test ride, other than learning how the horse deals with stuff that makes no sense to it yet. I let her choose her frame with only light contact so I could see how she moves naturally. That tells me more about what I have to work with (or work against) and I’m not about to teach her to work on the bit in one short ride. But that’s just me. Regardless, I did get to see how she responded and she was great. She popped her front legs up a bit a couple times, not really a rear and you could tell she didn’t want to, it was an honest attempt to find an answer to such a strong hold on her face while being driven forward with the leg.

In any case, I didn’t get any of that behavior. Not to say I rode her all that well. As you will see, I let my reins be a little too floppy in the beginning and my stirrups were WAY too short.  While I do have a secret love for shorter-than-they-should-be stirrups, these were so short my ankles hurt and I’m in a chair position!   


So basically I will ask that you be kind in terms of my riding. Since February, I have ridden 3 horses other than my headshaking Willy, 2 of them in the last 2 weeks and all of them only once each. So I’m rusty.  Other than that, I think the ride was good. I’ve cut out the walking and a good bit of the trot, figures etc., so that the video loads sometime this week.

Like a lot of young horses, she wants to take off really long, even before the tiniest cross rail. I saw her doing this repeatedly with the young rider who was on her before me. So I asked her to wait. I was happy with the response I got – she waited without fuss and although that meant the stride was off and awkward, the next time around she did much better. 

She has some funny movement in her hind legs. The more I watch it, the less weird it seems but it's still unusual. I watched her dam move in her paddock and she is the same, though neither have any obvious conformational issues.  

I went to a schooling show to watch her go and she did very well, in attitude and placings. It was her first time at a show and she wasn't bothered at all. She really does have a great temperament. And she did well despite a rough start to the day when the horse she was trailering with spazzed out, which of course made her spazz out. Apparently she got on the trailer fine at the end of the day - they made sure to give her a "rock" partner. 

My coach, V, came to see her today and while she thinks I'm on the right track, she thinks Lexie is a horse we could definitely work with but suggests I play the field. She thinks I can probably do better, especially given the market.  So I get to keep shopping and keep her in my back pocket. Lexie's owner said she would let us know if she has any offers in the next few weeks, so she won't disappear from under me, either.

Horse #2

A chestnut thoroughbred gelding, 15.3, 9 years old. Has been showing Silver hunters with success. His price is outstanding for how well schooled he is. I should be more excited about the possibility of getting a horse this well trained for such a good price but I'm a bit ho-hum about him.

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First, I think he might be a bit too well trained. I loved the feeling of bringing Brumby and Willy along and seeing our progress. This horse would be point and jump and while that would be fun for awhile and I could work on my riding, I think I would get a little bored. Plus, scoff all you want, but I want something that I find pretty to look at. If I'm shelling out the money, I figure it's fair that I get to be somewhat picky. To each his own, my coach would love his face with the wide blaze and two high socks (above the knee) on one side. Me? Meh. But I will go ga-ga over a plain bay *shrug*

Horse #3

Now, if ever there was a horse of my dreams, this one could be it. Another gelding (yay, I found some geldings!), he is a 3yo warmblood (need some details here), stands 17hh (a little taller than I'd like but probably better suited for me than 15.3hh) and is a dark buckskin. He's started and going w/t/c and has hacked out alone. I am SO excited about this one. When I first saw his ad months ago he was out of my price range. Not by a lot, but enough that I didn't want to see him and fall in love and then have to explain to my husband that I re-mortgaged the house or something ;-) But nothing is selling these days so he's come down a LOT. I'm very excited to see this guy. I will of course still base my decision on practical matters but if he works out I will be thrilled as I've always dreamed of having a buckskin. Well, ever since riding through Vermont for their bi-centenial and the son of my outfitter had the cutest buckskin horse.

I have a few more in the works as well, so I think I'm doing ok so far in terms of finding prospects. I am now mostly excited to be going through this process for the first time. I'm a little scared to be buying something "cold" but hey, leasing first didn't help me, so maybe taking reasonable care (vet check etc) but otherwise just going for it will work out better for me!