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!