Excuse me while I explode with excitement.

Okayokayokay, so...

My trainer wants to breed a foal from this awesome Paint stallion. I forgot his name, but I know it has Hustler in it. He's tall, piebald, and knock-out gorgeous.

Problem was, my trainer's horse is 30 years old and not what you would consider breeding material. The barn owner, however, has a beautiful chestnut Thoroughbred mare who's about 10 years old. My trainer's 2 favorite breeds are Paints and TB's, so it'd be perfect. :)

And the BO gave the okay!

^o^
Here's Jessie.

Keep in mind, this is not a flattering picture. I'll get better pictures of everybody once the weather warms up and they shed their winter coats.

I'm picturing it... If all goes well, the colt will be amazing.

I do have double feelings about it, though. I'm excited, but the economy is in the toilet and I really hope she makes sure she can afford to support a foal. I'm sure she will.


On another note, I have more good news.
To make a long story short, there's this mare my mom's friend came across one day. She was a decent weight, but was all alone in a decrepit old pasture with cement and weeds and rotting debris everywhere. Her shelter was a cruddy little lean-to that looked about ready to collapse. The friend called animal control and they said they couldn't do anything because she was a good weight and her feet were trimmed.

Well, my mom and I went out to look at her, and it was shocking, to say the least. The pasture was nothing but weeds and garbage and the horse was in the lean-to, just staring off into space like a freakin zombie. Lord knows how long it'd been since she'd even seen another horse. She was a good weight, but her mane and tail were matted with burrs. She came right up to us when I called her and was really sweet. She's a strawberry roanish color with hazel eyes (yep, hazel. It was so cool).

She was pretty, but one look at her from a knowledgeable horse person and you'd know she was going stark raving mad being left alone and having little to no contact from other living things.

Mom's friend contacted the owner, and he was kind of nasty at first and basically thought everyone should just butt out. That went on for months, and now it's February. The friend visits the horse all the time. She was walking around the pasture and the horse stayed at her shoulder the whole time, but she couldn't find any water source, so we think the horse has been eating snow. A neighbor is the one that's been feeding her.

The friend couldn't take it anymore, so she left a note on the fence saying she would take the horse if the owner would part with her. And guess what?

The owner called her up and said she could have her!

Hooray!!! :D I don't know when she's getting her, but the horse will be kept at a boarding barn temporarily until the friend can get a barn built on her own property. I'm just hoping everything goes okay and the horse is healthy. She hasn't been kept up on with shots or deworming, so I'm kinda worried. We'll have to wait and see. I can't wait till they get her outa there.

Your dream horse?

I was thinking...

If I could smoosh Vic and Norman together into one horse, that would be a perfect horse. My ideal horse would have Norman's temperament, smoothness, and long, thick mane and tail. And he would have Victor's size, jumping ability, speed, and stamina.

I love both my boys and wouldn't trade them for any other horse in the world, but they're not perfect. No horse is. Victor's quirky, spooky, and unpredictable under saddle. I have to be on my toes constantly with him. However, he's gentle as a kitten and has impeccable ground manners.

Norman tries to be gentle, but it just doesn't work. XD He's so big. His ground manners aren't perfect. But he is a lot more relaxed under saddle. You can practically fall asleep on his back and not have to worry. And he's like riding a big ol' couch.
I don't know how he is around traffic, though... I've never ridden him near the road. I'm kinda scared to. If that horse bolts, I might as well try and stop a freight train. He'd probably be okay following other horses, but I can't be sure.


Off topic, but it's finally warming up!
The snow is going away! Muahahaha!!! >:D
I've seen enough snow to last me the rest of my life. I can't wait for spring. And shiny summer coats. And grass pastures. And the outdoor arena. And trail rides.

*sigh*

I'm so proud of my Normy

He was such a good boy today, as usual. My friends and I barrel raced a little bit. Norman could only trot around the tight turns, of course, but he did good for being so ginormous. XD

I love his trot. It's all lofty and smooth. I could trot on him all day.

I didn't ride Victor, 1) because I was too late for the lesson and 2) because I just had a feeling he was going to be a poop. It's no use trying to ride him if he's in a pissy mood. Our last two lessons were completely unproductive because he's so pent up. I can't wait for the grass pastures to open up. They've all been stuck in the dry lot since November. Them Thoroughbreds need to get out and run.

I still don't consider that a good excuse for being a butthead, but I didn't feel like dealing with his crap today.

That horse is too damn good-looking for his own britches. That's pretty much the only reason I put up with him. That and because he's a good jumper. And he's much better in the warmer weather. I lunged him over trot poles today, and it took him a while to get back into the swing of things. He jumped over all three of them for the first 10 minutes, but he figured them out eventually. A few months off and he gets that rusty. I think I'm gonna have to re-desensitize him to the clippers again. I haven't done his bridle path since October and he looks all scruffy. I did Norman's today, though.

Overall good day.

Pet peeves, anyone?

At my barn, there are some people who have no clue what they're doing. Simple as that.
They do things that make my skin crawl.

Like dropping the reins and letting them hang in front of the horse when they're bridling him or just standing. I've told people thousands of times not to do that. The horse could step on them or get them stuck around his leg. And that could rip their mouth.

I've also seen horses being cross tied by the bit. This just drives me up a wall. That's an emergency vet call waiting to happen.

I've seen saddles on horses that don't fit them, horses from different pastures being put in with each other when they've never met, lunging being used as punishment.

I know I'm making my barn sound like some hick dump in south Texas, but it's really not that bad. There are some amazing equestrians there, too. :)

Meet the monsters.

I thought it would be appropriate to first introduce the two horses who are the main subjects of this blog. ;D

First there's Vic. Born in 2000, registered with the Jockey Club as Classic Victor. (I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he's a great - great grandson of Native Dancer.)
Where to begin with this guy...
As the title suggests, he's a bit on the quirky side. I think it has something to do with the fact that he's from the Man O' War line, or it could be just him. He's famous for spooking at odd things and earned a nickname at the barn as "Chicken", much to my (and probably his) dismay. He spooks at dandelions, leaves, bunny rabbits, hair clips, grooming boxes, lawn furniture, you name it. Although he's perfectly fine around cars, buses, dogs, and noisy children. Go figure.

He also loves kitties. He snuggles them when they sit on the edge of his stall.

He's pretty unpredictable under saddle, more so when he's having an off day (which he seems to have a lot of). When he's having a good day, however, he's perfect. And he's a beautiful jumper. Our good days make it all worth it. :)

Then I have Norman, an unregistered American Cream Draft. He's going to be 5 in April, and I've been riding him since he was four. He's actually not ginormous for a draft horse, but he's the biggest horse at the barn at 17hh. Maybe the biggest horse I've ever ridden.

Did I mention I hate his name? Yeah. It makes him sound like some big dumb oaf, and he's quite the opposite. I wanted to change it so bad when I got him... but my mom wouldn't let me. I wanted to call him Tyson. *sigh* Oh, well. I get to pick his registered name. >:)

Anyway, I'm going to start introducing cavalettis this spring and hopefully make him into a nice hunter jumper someday. He's already shown an interest in going over trot poles at liberty, so I think he'll enjoy jumping. Despite his size, he's a pretty decent jumper. AC's are supposed to be versatile. I've seen them used for dressage, jumping, anything you can imagine.

Unlike Victor, he's very chilled out and doesn't spook at much. He's my pleasure horse. You can just relax on him and not have to be on your toes every step of the way.

This picture was taken last winter with my crappy little Polaroid, but I got a new camera and I'll have much better pics once spring rolls around.

Lol... he looks like a mammoth in the winter. Fuzzy bear... tee hee. :)

And his mane is much longer now.

I can't wait for their summer coats!