We have a visitor

Sunday morning DH and I headed out to look at another horse for him. This horse was drop dead gorgeous! Jet black with just a bit of white on her head and a hip to die for! The guy talked about Parelli so I got really exited hoping she would be just what we needed.

When the son got on she started to walk off. DH lets his horses do that but it drives me nuts. He had her in a medium shanked snaffle and when he’d put pressure on the bit she would chomp and gnaw at it and crunch it between her teeth but she did flex well at the poll.

He walked her around (we were in their indoor) and then trotted some. You could tell she needed refinement on her neck reining but didn’t look too bad. She didn’t want to stay in the lope. You could tell he had to keep nagging her to stay in it.

DH got on and she kept trying to bring him back to the chute area (by the stalls). He didn’t trot much because of his back so he loped and then got off and I got on. She was a prime example of a lazy horse! She had no buttons (I like my buttons) and she ignored your legs completely. When you stopped her head went straight up and I think Nikki the pony could back faster then her.

She didn’t want to go to the far end of the arena (where the cows were) which bothered me since a) we were in a location she was familiar with and b) she is supposed to be a cow horse. There was no drive at all from her back end at the lope and you had to push to just stay in it.

I hopped off and asked the gentleman who owned her to rope his hot heels w/her to see how she’d do. That is when the real horse came out. Head up and braced on the bit.

When we left DH asked me what I thought. I didn’t want him to follow my lead so I said “I don’t know, what did you think?” He of course liked her. When I started listing out all of the reasons I didn’t like her he agreed with every one of them and even added a few more of his own. He admitted that he liked her because she was lazy. I listed off all of the things *I* would fix if she was my horse and the list was quite long. Long enough to not justify spending that kind of money on her and DH agreed.

On the way home I could tell he was thinking. I asked him what he was thinking about and he said the little Truro mare (the one we first tried out). He really liked how she handled for me but questioned if he would ever be able to change his style enough to ride her. I think horses are pretty adaptable to their riders and she was a very willing mare so I think with time and patience they’d be fine together. I told him maybe he should go take another look at her. So that’s exactly what we did.

This time when we went I rode her in a snaffle. I was amazed! She was actually softer, lighter and more responsive then what she was in the shanked bit. She was more relaxed then she was the last time I rode but just as responsive as ever. Her rollbacks were wonderful, her turn arounds were great and her trot was amazing. At the lope I waited to see how long it would take before she would downshift. You could tell she wanted to but she kept going (I like that she’s thinking of slowing down).

When I moved her laterally over to the fence DH decided that was it that he wanted her. Luckily I had talked to him prior to going over and we are taking her on a trail basis. I still want to see how well she works on cattle since that was DH’s main complaint about Max. She also has a big motor and she’s very responsive (not hot but responsive). DH doesn’t realize how much leg he uses to ride (that shouldn’t be used) so he will have to adjust his riding quite a bit in order to ride her but I think it would be great to see him improve himself & I think she’ll dull down to an extent.

DH brought her home today and of course MIL and I plan on playing with her tonight. He’s so excited and so am I. She really does seem to be a nice horse. Nothing fancy, no fancy bloodlines but she’s got an awesome foundation (she’s only 5).

This is the only pic so far (from seller). It isn’t great but I will put more up when I get them.