The search is on

Even though DH’s back is bothering him, the thought of him not having a horse is just too much for him to take so the search is on. I’ve been trying to talk him into just using Black until he heals up but I don’t think that is going to happen so now I’m trying to talk him into trying 100 horses before he makes a decision so he can feel the difference in them instead of just buying the first one he rides.

The one thing he has done is decided he’s ok with mares now (in the past he has hated mares). I still wish he’d look for a gelding but I’m glad he’s no longer against mares. Saturday we did go look at a mare. She was 5 and had been used to drag calves to the branding fire in South Dakota when she was younger. The weather this weekend was pretty nasty but they had an indoor so I still wanted to try her (figured she’d probably be at her worst with this weather).

The gentleman that showed us to her was very nice & seemed very honest. He said she didn’t want to get caught earlier but he had her up and brushed off for us. I asked him to saddle her up and ride her first. He saddled her nicely (didn’t just yank the cinch up like most) and when he got on he proceeded to bend her into a circle. You could tell she was hot and wanted to go and he didn’t stay in a trot very long before he moved her up into a fast trot and then into a lope.

Her stop was ok. She rooted a little and didn’t stop on a dime but once she was stopped she rolled back on her hocks and backed up fast with her head tucked. He tried to do some spins with her but it was more of a hop the butt over, hop the front end over then it was a plant the ass end and move the front end around. Her side pass was ok but she needed to catch her butt end up.

After that he hopped off and DH got on (in his saddle). He immediately took off trotting and then she broke into a lope. DH stopped her and backed her up but as soon as he released the reins she was off in a trot again and then back into a lope. *I* couldn’t figure out WTF he was doing. I could tell her trotting was starting to jar his back but he decided to try to throw a rope off of her anyways. Needless to say she pretty much ended up speeding up quickly until she was in a lope and he was stopping her again.

He finally got off and it was my turn (with his saddle – yuck). When I started off I started bending her. She was very soft in her mouth and she was very responsive to leg cues. I started trotting her down the side and then asked for her hip. Boom! She moved it right over. Then we went the other way and I asked for it. Boom! She moved it right over. Then I moved her into the center and asked her to bend around my leg. When she was doing that well I applied my outside leg and boom! She went right into a correct spin (not to gloat or anything but I think she moved better for me then she did w/her owner). I asked on the other side and got the same results.

Then I decided to lope a bit. Her lope was quicker. When I asked the owner if she’d go like this all day he replied yes. That wasn’t the answer I wanted. Lol After a few laps she did start to slow down. I loved her back! She never once drug her feet and she backed up quickly. I had DH hand me the rope and when I first started swinging it she wanted to walk off. I asked her to stop and she did so I continued to swing it. It didn’t take her long to realize that I wanted her to just stand still and the more I swung the rope the lower her head got.

On the way home DH asked me what I thought. I told him he honestly didn’t want to know but he pestered me so I told him. I thought the mare was a very nice mare. A little on the hot side but nothing that I don’t think a week of the ORS and passenger lesson wouldn’t fix. But with all of that said I told DH that unless he changed his style of riding that wasn’t the horse for him.

I think he was tense and had a lot of leg contact (even though he swears he didn’t) and I think she though he wanted her to go. I think DH rides with more contact then he realizes (and more then I realized) and I’m hoping by trying out a few horses he’ll realize that. Don’t get me wrong, she was very sensitive and it didn’t take anything to get her to go (I’m glad I told him to take his spurs off) but at the same time isn’t that what we ultimately want?

This is driving me bonkers because I see the potential in this mare. Don’t worry, I told DH that he needed to find a horse that fit him. I told him my ponies have been on the back burner for too long and it is time for them to come first. We have a few that we are going to go look at this weekend. They are higher priced (of course) but they also have more cattle experience too.