Hi. My name is Lacy and I am a Horse-a-holic.
Well I feel better, how about you? Anyhow, all of this hullabaloo to work up to telling you that I got a new horse. I found this 2 year old AQHA filly on that Magical list that Craig set forth and because she was pretty cheap, and had great breeding, I went to see her.
Well, when this walked from behind the barn:
I was a little disappointed. As I worked with her, however I began to see potential that you may see as well. Her head is hidden under a mass of winter hair, but the lines are good. Her neck is a little thin and she has this annoying tendency to periscope, but she is 2, her neck is actually low slung and some work will muscle it right up.
When I concentrated from the shoulder back, I really loved what I saw. She is balanced, leggy and tall. Her legs are straight, hooves are appropriately sized and shaped considering she has had approximately nothing done to them.
Some things that I really loved which you cannot see in this picture are her softness and attitude. She hasn't been handled much, especially in the last year yet she allowed us to halter her, and she went an extra mile to avoid pressure. Like, this is a REALLY soft horse. I try to stay away from the word sensitive because that tends to mean "insane" and she is not that. Actually very level headed.
She is also just ever so slightly witchy.
This may cause people to wonder why I said that I liked her attitude. I really do. I love a horse that has a personality. And I feel that training these horses is a little easier because they tell you what is wrong instead of blowing up all of a sudden. I found her witchiness by touching her back leg after her owner told me that she hasn't worked with her hindquarters at all. Holli kicked out and I spanked her. It was like reaching an agreement.
Holli: "Back off, I don't like that."
Me: "I don't care and you are not allowed to kick me."
Holli: "fine."
And that was literally all that was said about that. She allowed me to touch her all over, and move her this way and that. So, I bought her.
Look at these cute buns!
When I went to pick her up I was concerned about her getting into my 2 horse straight load trailer. I needn't have worried. I led her in and got out through the exit door No problem. She rode nicely along with my Bay gelding who is TERRIBLE in the trailer. I saw her pinning her ears in his direction a few times, no doubt calling him names that would get her grounded, but nothing else.
When we got home it was dark, and I had to park on a slope. Our driveway is covered in a crusty layer of snowy ice so it was a little slick. This is where we had a problem. She started to back out nicely, her foot touched the slippery ground and she was back in like a shot. It took me about 5 minutes to convince her that it was OK to get out, but she finally did and I put her away.
No drama. Such a good girl.
So the next day I decided to pull it together and groom the ever loving daylights out of her. She had mud crusted everywhere and a badly tangled mane and tail. So the very first thing I did was pre-treat her with WD40. Yup, the blue and yellow can found in the automotive section. Hands down my favorite for manes and tails and any hard to get mud clumps when it is too cold to bathe.
After a solid grooming this is what I had:
Cute mare! Then came time to dance with the clippers.... Really this wasn't a problem. She didn't pull back though she really didn't like the clippers. She made it clear to me that she was unsure but I kept talking to her and I got it done.
And miraculously her coarse head became rather nice. She would not let me do her ears, so I didn't push the issue. We have plenty of time to get that done, I didn't want to do too much anyways.
Doesn't she almost look Arabian in this picture?
And here is one of her giving me her "what the hack am I still doing here" face.
All in all, I am very happy with her. We will start working on some things soon. I will start out showing her Halter and hopefully be able to advance her through some baby classes this summer. She will be turning 3 in May, so I think that would be the perfect time to start her.
By the way, you may or may not be aware of our familial forelock handicap (as in we seem to end up with horses that have crappy forelocks) but have you noticed that she may break that record?
Such a cutie :)
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