After the big jousting tournament, Lysts on the Lake, we had a pretty serious sit-down discussion about horses. Saga is really not the greatest jousting horse - he's still nervous about the armor and the hits, and he's VERY fast (too fast) down the lane. But I didn't buy him as a jousting horse, so... we're pretty happy that he managed to joust at all.
In addition, I haven't really ridden Saga since January, because every spare moment hubby was either taking lessons on him, or working on jousting. I'm fine with riding Reddums and all, but he's pretty limited in terms of jumping (about 2'3) and dressage (that gaited thing again), which is really what I like to do. Plus, at the end of the day, Red is HUBBY's horse, and he and I just don't click like he and hubby do. Besides, I want to ride MY horse. That's why I have him after all!
So we started looking around, not very seriously. We wanted a draft cross or QH or Iberian cross, gelding, between 15.2 and 17hh (16 - 16.2 being the ideal), between 6 and 10 years old. I figured it would take us AGES to find one that fit those criteria, and then of course it would have to have the right mindset, reasonable training, and "click" with the hubby.
Naturally, the first horse we looked at seems like he might actually work out.
Meet Justin (name to be changed if he stays with us). He's a 10 year-old Standardbred/Percheron cross, 16.1 1/2 hh. Yes, his butt really is that big.
We have him on trial for 2 weeks to see if he'll work out. Justin is solid bay, except for about 15 white hairs on his forehead. Color-wise, we have a matched pair. ;)
Yesterday after we brought him home, we went on a nice trail ride.
The wildflowers were GORGEOUS! We rode past a huge field of Mexican Hats blooming, and had to stop and take a pic (neighbor on his new horse is on the left, hubby and Justin in the middle, and Fuzzypony on Taran on the right).
When we got back from the ride, hubby decided to see how Justin would do with having a sword waved around his head... no problem. He smacked some trees, the quintain... no problem. Then he picked up a quintain lance and waved that around... no problem. Finally, he made a run at the quintain at a walk... then a trot... and then...
My favorite parts? When Justin starts to pick up the right lead and then fixes it, and the fact that hubby can ride down the lane at a nice canter on a loose rein. Yeah. I think this could work.
Bad confo shot. He's uphill and really short-coupled, and Andrea tells me he's got a nice shoulder. He's got rock-solid bare feet. His neck is rather short though, but so is Red's. It's not a deal-breaker.
Justin apparently has a lot of dressage experience, and got a 70% at a first level schooling show. The buttons are definitely there, but he takes a bit of effort to get him going, and he's not super-sensitive by any stretch of the imagination. His jumping experience is very limited. And the big booger is that he tends to look at random things. He doesn't spook, just stops and refuses to move forward. So far he's looked at a bench and a picnic table, but he really gave several manhole covers the hairy eyeball. So tonight we took him for a walk down the street, which has about 20 manhole covers on it. By the end, he was happily stomping on them with no problem. He also stopped dead when trotting toward some logs, but hubby smacked him on the butt a few times with a crop and he moved on. Hubby is doing a really good job with a "haha, very funny, now GET OVER IT" attitude, and it seems to be working. I suspect he just hasn't seen much outside of the dressage arena, and he's getting acquainted with the big wide world. So long as the random things to look at get fewer and further between, and he pays attention to his rider's demands to move past it, it seems like he might be OK.
Having said that about looking at random things, hubby put on some of his armor today and Justin didn't even bat an eyelash. He tacked up in his jousting saddle (which mostly fits), got on, and went around bashing trees for a while at the walk and trot. He then picked up a quintain lance and repeated yesterday's WTC exercise. He finished on a perfect canter run with a solid hit, and no spooking whatsoever. It took us MONTHS to get Saga to this point with the armor, and Justin's doing everything on the second ride. Very promising!
We have him for two weeks though, so we have a little while to decide if he's really a keeper. So far it's looking good, but we're trying not to get our hopes up too much. We're planning to go to a jousting practice, as well as cross-country schooling and a couple of jumping lessons. We'll see how it goes!
Now, where the heck are we going to put another horse?!?!
I was just wondering about where you were going to put him after reading your last post. I'm sure you'll figure something out because he's SUPER cute and sounds like a nice boy! And what an interesting cross... I hope he works out as hubby's new jousting pony!
ReplyDeletein2paints, who knows, the timing is awful. Right now he's at our place, in the stall at nights and in a small paddock during the day. We are looking at a couple of options, but there aren't any easy answers. Too bad we can't buy another acre or so from our neighbors!
DeleteJustin is gorgeous, I like him! Sounds like a keeper and I hope that whatever horse yall end up with works out great! It's also awesome how your husband liks horses too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, we think he's pretty cute too! And yes, it is good that hubby likes horses... except that means we need horses for BOTH of us. Double the expense, for sure.
DeleteHe's beautiful! Hope the rest of the trial period works out well. Sounds like it was meant to be. :)
ReplyDeleteCFS, it's looking positive so far, but we're trying not to get our hopes up. He's not perfect by any means, but boy, he sure seems nice!
DeleteVery interesting! It is hard looking for horses and I find we really wish we could take several home - just because they are sweet and you worry about where they will end up! But each one doesn't "fit" our needs... and so we move on.
ReplyDeleteYour guy looks great and it will be fun to see how he progresses with riding out of the ring these next two weeks.
Margaret, when we were looking for Red we looked at more than 20 horses over about a 6 month time period. When I was looking for Saga I rode about 10 horses, and I'd say about half of those were lame. It was depressing. Horse shopping is HARD!
DeleteI hope he works out for you. But I hear you about where do you put him. I have five here at home and I always said I'd only have four. But my five are all fitted in nicely--finally. But there will absolutely NOT be six. (I tell myself this every day--since my friend/boarder has a very nice black gelding he would love to move to my place.) Justin seems like the perfect horse for you guys--especially if he shows progress with the slight lookiness outside. Good luck (!)
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA! I swore we wouldn't have more than four. Ever. And yet... sigh. We'll see how it all works out. Fitting him in with the herd may be the most challenging part - our four have been together for over a year and are very clearly a herd, with Red as herd stallion. Justin is quite dominant and has a mean double-barreled kick. Yikes.
DeleteHe is GORGEOUS. *swoon*.
ReplyDeleteI hope he works out for you- however I'll be forever jealous of you if you keep him!
LL, thanks! He's a pretty handsome boy, even in those crummy pics. I'll try to take some decent confo shots soon.
DeleteAnd turnabout is fair play, Ms. I-Get-To-Ride-Lipizzans-Everyday! ;)
wow...just wow :). I guess the saying goes, you can never have just one...or 4. I'd love to meet him! Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteWell ideally we'd have two, one for me and one for hubby. But we have this tendency to keep our critters forever... so my guess is that we'll always have our current mounts and our retired mounts. Yeesh!
DeleteJustinian! You probably don't like that, if you don't like Justin, but he was a kickass emperor and that sounds like a kickass horse.
ReplyDeleteThe best part about the video? Hubby jousting in breeches and half-chaps.
Oooh, good suggestion Funder! The problem is that he's just not a "Justin" - or any form of that name. We actually did consider Justinian, but it would be Justin for short. Somehow it doesn't fit him, really.
DeleteActually, hubby is jousting in breeches and Mountain Horse tall boots. He *loves* those tall boots. I think he'd wear them every day if he could! As for the breeches, he just finds them more comfortable than anything else - go figure.