Have I mentioned before how much I dislike shopping? Horse shopping included. Scanning DreamHorse and Craigs List ads, e-mailing and phone conversations with horse sellers, trying to decipher hidden code words for horses with issues. Driving everywhere to meet horses and being disappointed in what I find. Bleh!
My friend Colleen and I drove down to Los Lunas, NM to check out a cute pinto mare. Here’s the photo that was sent to me from the owner.
The photo makes her look sort of wonky looking, and the tautness of the tie-down does concern me. The owner says that when she brought the mare home over a year ago, after rescuing her from a neglectful situation, the first time she tacked her up she reared up a little. The owner just put the tie-down on and never had any problems after that. If this mare does seem to be a good fit in all other ways, Colleen and I intend to get to the bottom of what caused her to go up in the front before purchasing, though. Ill fitting tack? Skeletal discomfort? Confusion? Training issues? I certainly hope it was just a one-time deal, though.
Colleen and I brought this mare up here to her home yesterday because Colleen has almost no mud and snow at her place. It’s just too messy to try and ride any horse over here at my house. bleh!
I was surprised at how easy Sugar was to catch with just a bucket of grain. The owner has been keeping her mare pastured down on a 10 acre lot in Los Lunas at a friend’s house.
She keeps halters on her horses, but still it was easy to walk up to the mare and I just clipped the halter on and she led quietly out to the trailer.
Sugar trailered easily and she calmly stepped out of the trailer and was led into her stall quietly, even though Colleen’s herd of 11 horses (not all hers, though) were all checking her out. She squealed a few times at Colleen’s pretty mare, Kitty, but was otherwise calm and quiet.
Sugar was coated in dried mud and her tail and mane were matted and decorated with weeds and burrs, so the first thing I wanted to do was to get her cleaned up. She didn’t know what to think at first and walked away from me several times, but I just stayed with her and kept brushing and she finally decided it felt good and stood still.
I lifted all of her feet and she did so calmly and willingly, so that was really nice. Colleen went back in the house to check e-mails and let me hang out there getting to know Sugar a little better and I spent close to 2 hours out there playing with her. I did alot of crazy jumping and made lots of loud noises and she basically ignored me. Nice.
I was wearing my crazy straw cowgirl hat and threw it to the ground to see what she’d do, she backed up a step and walked away, but she quickly desensitized to it when I brought it up to her back and over her head and face. I even threw it up in the air and she just looked at it. Good girl.
I also spent some time laying across her back from both sides and jumping up and down on both sides an she just stood calmly, waiting and sometimes turning her head to look at me. I forgot to bring carrots or treats and I don’t think she’s used to getting any anyway, but she does like her cheeks rubbed. Sugar doesn’t mind her ears held, her eyes covered up, or her head held in a hug either. She stands still for all.
I really couldn’t find anything from the ground that she was sensitive about or didn’t like, except when I was brushing her mane trying to get out the caked in mud balls. She wasn’t fond the all that pulling, but she didn’t freak out. She stepped away once and looked back at me, but otherwise just stood and let me pretty her up.
I like her shoulder angle. Her owner says she has a smooth trot and rocking chair canter. But this time around, I’m not buying for looks. I learned my lesson with Baby Doll.
This time I know what I don’t want, which is an important difference from when I bought Baby Doll. I also have an experienced objective opinion, in Colleen, during my horse shopping trips this time, too.
Anyway, her owner calls her ‘Sugar’ and she has trailered her to the Northern New Mexico Mountains 4 times this past year for trail rides, and has also used Sugar for her kids and beginners to ride.
Her owner said Sugar crosses water and bridges and does well on the trails. She’s ridden her on a busy road road with barking dogs on one side and cars speeding by on the other and Sugar stays calm and focused.
Her owner enjoys doing ‘extreme’ endurance-type trail rides and is wanting to buy a faster, more competitive horse. She’s moving to a new house and can only have two horses and she already has a little gelding her kids and friends can ride, so she decided to sell this mare since she doesn’t have a bond with her.
Colleen and I will spend a week evaluating whether this horse will be a good match for me. l’d like to trailer this little mare down to Cedar Hill Farm, too, so I can ride her in the indoor arena and out on the trails there to see how she does. We’ll have to see how the week progresses.
I really hope I can find my forever horse soon. The April ACTHA CTR event at Cedar Hill Farm is coming up quick. And Colleen invited me to join her and some other Snowy Mountain Cowgirl Club friends for the ACTHA CTR up in Farmington, NM next month, too. I certainly won’t rush into buying just any horse, but I don’t think ACTHA will allow me to ride a Stick Pony for the CTRs. lol!
I’ve lost my passion for photography ever since Baby Doll left for her new home. There are horses everywhere I look around here and at the WNCR Horse Rescue, but as beautiful as they all are, they just don’t hold my heart. It will be interesting to see, in the end, which horse will…………
