The One?

You know how sometimes you see a picture of a horse and you're just like, "WOW".

You don't even need to see him move, he's just that nice?

Then when you DO see him go, you think about how amazing it would be to ride that. To have all that power and talent to work with.

And then you're half in love with him before you've even met him?

Good things come in plain brown wrappers.

He's OTTB, belongs to a friend-of-a-friend. Impeccably bred, too slow as a racehorse. My vet has checked him and several people I trust think he is a fantastic prospect.

All that's left now is for us to meet. He's several states away; I fly out today to spend the weekend with him. 

Keep your fingers crossed! 

Horse shopping - worse than shopping for jeans. Or a husband.

I haven't posted for a while about shopping for my next event horse. Honestly, it's been less than a month since Saga's been gone, and I haven't really felt like doing much about it. And of course I've been riding Red and feeling less pressure to find a new horse. However, in late December I spent quite a lot of time on various horsey shopping sites, checking to see what was out there. I've probably called and/or sent emails on 30-40 horses, although I've only been to see a few in person. I know I said I didn't want an OTTB, but I've started looking at those too since I wasn't finding anything to speak of in the non-TB world. Karma, right?

There are a few horses that stood out. I have opted not to post videos or links to any of the online ads, simply because the horse world is small and I don't want to burn any bridges.

• I called about the RPSI gelding that I posted last time I mentioned horse shopping - he paddled like a duck, but several people commented that it wasn't considered a fault. After a bit of prying, I got from his owner that he "came out crooked and had to wear a cast for several months" but was "completely sound." She wouldn't say any more about what had happened, but suggested that I do a vet check on him. Um, thanks but no. (He's also been for sale for over a year.)
• A LOVELY 7 y.o. OTTB gelding who was jumping 2'6 very quietly and tidily, and clearly had the scope to go higher. I really enjoyed watching the video of this horse - he looked like a super fun ride. But pictures of his legs revealed a splint the size of a golf ball in a very bad location, and an old bowed tendon. A conversation with his owner - where she talked about him getting 2 scoops of senior 2x/day, plus free choice hay, and him still being a hard keeper - screamed ULCERS in a big way. Pity, he's a lovely boy.
• A farm in north Texas had several 4-5 y.o. QH geldings for sale, bred for HUS and whatever passes for jumping in AQHA shows. All of them were attractive boys, but they were all downhill and sort of heaved themselves over the fences. One of them had hind cannons that were literally TWICE as long as the front ones. Yikes!
• Another 5 y.o. OTTB (one I actually went to look at) was reasonably put together, seemed quiet and steady, if green. I confidently WTC him both ways, and things were really looking good. Then I went to trot him over a tiny X. He stopped dead about 10 feet away, and it took several kicks to get him over it. We came back again with the same result. The next two tries were worse, if anything, and on the 5th try, he took the jump apart. I decided that he didn't really want to be a jumper and politely told the owner he wasn't what I was looking for. 
• A completely adorable 4 y.o. palomino pinto half-arab, green and at 15.1 hh a bit smaller than I wanted, but with lovely gaits and almost clearing the 5' standards on a 2'6 jump. He was sold to someone else two days after I contacted the owner. Bummer.
• A super-cute 4 y.o. BLM mustang gelding who had to be half draft. He'd had extensive ground work and about 10 rides, seemed very level-headed. I had a very pleasant ride on him and hubby even took him for a tiny 5 minute trail ride where he went through a creek. He free-jumped very nicely and we both really liked him. Unfortunately, the combination of an upright shoulder, short neck, and toeing out pretty badly, saner heads prevailed (y'all know who you are!) and I passed on him. 
• An athletic 4 y.o. Trakhener gelding who looked like a cross-country machine in the videos. However, his gaits were only just OK, and the confo shots showed why. Long back, long pasterns, upright shoulder, and no hind end. He was above my price range anyway, which I suppose is good.
• An adorable 8 y.o. Paint gelding who has showed 2nd level and has jumped some. Unfortunately, he's got a looong back and cannot really get under himself because of it. In the videos of him being ridden, his extended trot is really only happening in the front end - the hind end just trails behind. He looks like he's gotten super-good training, but he's just not built for what he's being asked to do. I'm also not sure how he would do jumping long-term, as he's about as round as a snausage and probably weighs as much as Oberon, even though he's shorter.

I've looked at OTTBs in other states (ermahGAWD there are some FUUUUGLY horses out there!), horses WAY out of my price range, 2 year olds, 10 year olds, and everything in between. What I've come away with is that unless you are willing to spend upwards of 30-50K, it is very, very hard to find a well-conformed horse of any breed, with a short back, good neck and shoulder, and decent legs. How some of y'all ended up with the lovely horses you have is completely beyond me!

But there is ONE...

Horse shopping: The ones I won't be looking at

Thanks, everyone, for all of your thoughts and comments on Tucker. You have all given me lots to think about! I'm definitely looking at other horses, but as I said, the pickings are slim and, uh, suboptimal. Let me show you some examples.

First off, how about a nice OTTB? Like half the blogs I read are about OTTBs that are eventing, so surely there's something out there. In fact, there's a great organization near here called LOPE (they sponsored the show we went to this fall, where Saga won the Ex-Racehorse award) that helps place OTTBs. So I checked out their web site...

Of the 31 geldings that are listed, 9 matched my age and size criteria. But almost all have things like a "slight tendon bow" or "racing ankles" or "knee surgery to remove a bone chip" or "completely sound following recovery from bowed tendons". EEEP! There were one or two that I called on but they  only have track training, and one was "out to pasture letting his hooves strengthen" (?!?!).  I'm just not willing to take the chance on one of these guys, no matter how much heart they might have.


Next up, we have a 4 year old breed stock Paint. He's got a super long back and you can see in the trot picture of him that the angles between his front legs and back legs don't match at all. There are a couple of videos, and I don't really like the way he's pulling himself along. He certainly doesn't seem like he'd be good prospect based on his conformation and movement.


For $7500 we have this guy, who has a cute expression in the picture, but watch the video. He's got something funny going on in front - you can see it especially well when he's trotting to the first fence. We also have a 4 year old gelding bred for polocross... now I can't find the video but suffice it to say he had something odd going on in his hind end. But wait, how about a 2 year old RSPI gelding? He's bigger than I want, at 16.3 hh, and he's still got some growing to do. I figured he was worth a look, until I watched the video. Tell me what you think you see going on there.


I had the opportunity to try out a lovely gelding who went to the 2011 AECs at Training level with a pro rider, and he's jumped around all the Prelim courses in the area. He was bought earlier this year by a junior rider as a jumper, but it didn't work out. They are selling him for a super-crazy discount (let's just say this guy originally cost more than a car) because they just want to be done with him. He was everything I expected a Training level eventer to be - tried hard, liked his job, knew his stuff. But after every jump, he bolted off with me. It seems to be a pain reaction, my guess is in his back, but probably being caused by something wrong in the hock or stifle (70% of back pain in horses can be traced to hind leg problems). His current owners are not willing to put the $ into him to figure out what's wrong, and I'm not going to take a chance on a horse that's got something like that going on. Poor guy.

There's a 7 year old Azteca gelding who seemed from the video of him jumping that he might be worth a look. I called up the trainer, and it turns out he's only been going English for 30 days. He was reining-trained before that, and so he won't touch the bit. I've already retrained two horses who were trained like that (Cash and Red), and they never really get over it. So thanks, but no. A coming 9 year old Paint gelding who looked quiet o/f in the arena, but y'all, he's almost NINE and he's basically green-broke. And a coming 8 year old QH who looks nice but really hot o/f. I'm sure that's something I could work on, but I'd rather work on it with something younger. And on and on.



And y'all, these are the NICE horses. The actual possibilities. These don't include the ones that look like this or this or this.


P.S. When photographing your horse for a sale shot, please don't get a picture of him just after he's done peeing. Really.

Horse Shopping: Tucker (opinions wanted)

Confession time: in between worrying about Saga, I've been thinking about what I really want in my next horse. Here's my list so far:

• Must be a gelding. This is non-negotiable.
• Must be between 15.2 and 16.2 hh. Cash is 15.2 and I thought he was a little short for me (well, ok, the jumps just looked really big, you know?), so when I was shopping for Saga, I wanted something bigger. What I did not factor in is that a 16.2 hh horse is WAY harder to get on, and I'm not getting any younger. Plus, bigger horses tend to be less "catty," and Saga and Oberon are no exception. So ideally the new horse would be 15.2-16 hh.
• Would like something between 4 and 6, with some experience but not a ton of miles. Saga and Cash were both started at 18 months (Saga as a racehorse and Cash as a reining horse) and they both have had lasting effects.
• Must be uphill, have a short back, sturdy legs, power behind, and overall decent conformation/balance. Cash, Oberon, and Red are uphill and Cash's back is short (so short saddles bridge, lol!) and they are all very naturally balanced. Saga is a little downhill with a very looong back, and he finds it nearly impossible to balance himself and sit down.
• Must be athletic with a good work attitude, but I don't want something that's so keen to go that I'm sitting on a stick of dynamite (Cash). I need a horse who is just as happy to go on a trail ride on a long rein as go foxhunting first flight, or bust out a nice first level dressage test.

I know, I don't want much! I've been perusing options online, but y'all, the choices are not exciting for the amount of money I have to spend. There are a ton of off-the-track TBs and QHs around here, but most of them are broken in some way. Also, I am not sure I want an ex-racehorse - I rode quite a few of them when I was looking for Saga, and I felt like I was sitting on a stick of dynamite. I'm closer to 40 than I care to admit, and I know I am mortal and can get hurt doing the crazy stuff I do with horses. I need a horse I am confident with, which was one of the reasons I liked Saga so much.  

Ok, ok, so on to the important stuff. This is Tucker. He's a 15.2 hh 5 YO TBx (I'm not going to say what the X is just yet, but you are free to guess). Both parents are registered, but he is not registerable with any of the "normal" registries. 

Here's what I like: short back, sturdy legs, short pasterns and cannons, lots of power in back, uphill build.

  

Here's what I don't like: short neck that's currently muscled upside-down (fixable), not the most refined head, upright shoulder.

Here's a video of him trotting a bit, and jumping. This was his first jump EVER - it was about 2'. I like that he didn't even take a peek at it, and he gave it a good effort (as opposed to plowing through it, like Oberon does). 

Here's his canter. I like how balanced he is, and how easily he flows.

I have a lot more video of him, but suffice it to say that he's a decent mover. He's stiff and less respectful if you work off his right side. He leads well but is a little in your lap. He HATES being tied and left alone (paws constantly, but is happy to go to work as soon as you untie him and ask him to move off). He needs work on simple stuff like picking up his feet and trailering. And here's the big kicker: he's not been backed. In fact, he's barely been handled since he was a yearling, and has been out in a pasture with 17 other horses since then. However, after his third longe session (which I did, although that's not me in the videos), we sacked him out with a saddle pad (that took 3 minutes) and put a surcingle on him (which took 5 minutes). He was fine with both and then went on to longe again, no bucking, scooting, or anything. He seems to have a good brain and none of the "baby" issues one might expect from a horse with very little handling, so I think that he could be backed within a few weeks.

If I were to get him, I would leave him with a trainer I trust (the one in the video) for 60 days to get the initial work done, including working on tying and trailering. She has already backed Tucker's brother, and I really love what she did with him. In 60 days he has gone from being pretty much just like Tucker to being a solid, respectful citizen, and I have no doubt that Tucker would turn out similarly. As for why I am not looking at the brother, he's currently injured, RF, and it's too much like Saga's injuries for me to even consider him.

So, am I crazy to even consider an unbacked 5 year old? And how much would YOU pay for a horse like this?