Post by spirithawk06 on Jun 15, 2016 19:10:24 GMT
Some of you know what happened with Crescent. For those of you who don't, she was a horse given to my mother advertised as sound but needing some desensitizing and a chance to settle down with the purchase of a trailer. Mom put a ton of time, energy, and money into Crescent only to realize she was too much horse for her. She advertised her for sale and we were contacted by a former owner letting us know that she is crippled. She has good days and bad days with a slipped stifle. Vet also said she has a luxating patella, all things that could be easily missed without a knowing eye. We were lied to and Crescent was sent back to the one who gave her away. Mom was crushed and gave up on horses for a while.
Luckily, some nice horses started popping up in her price range on some of the facebook sell sites and she started to show interest again. There's also a mother-daughter trail ride we would love to attend one day. We talked with several sellers...too many to count, but all had something that made them not fit or they were sold before we could go look.
We went look at a local gelding, but when I test rode him, he had NO woah whatsoever and hadn't been ridden in 6 years but was advertised as not being ridden in a while...6 years is a really long while. His feet were terrible and the guy said he had gotten them done last year. Yikes! He wasn't badly behaved, just needed some refreshing. Not for Mom though. I don't have the time to train someone else's horse when there's a thousand things I want to do with my two. He was also seriously tall, taller than Star at 14.2. Mom's shorter than I am and is intimidated by tall horses.
Went look at a gelding 4 hours away (Gps went from 3 hours to 4 hours once we were on the road). That was a fun trip.
Cute little gelding but spirited. A 6 year old was riding him but come to find out, his mother is a champion barrel racer..no wonder the kid rides well. He's probably been in the saddle since he was born. I rode him. Fun little horse, but I knew Mom had to try him because if he didn't fit her, it wouldn't matter if I liked him and I was hesitant on how quickly he moved. He was former pole horse. Mom got on and that little gelding just trotted off with her right back to his pasture around a stand of trees next to the street (really backwoods country street with no traffic). We couldn't help but laugh. He never tried to buck or anything, just refused to listen to her because he wanted to go back to his pasture. Mom got off and that was that. We still tease her about that. You'd have had to have been there to understand the hilarity. (We wouldn't have laughed if she was in any danger.)
They had another horse, a 15.3 hh mare that was completely beginner safe. Realized Mom had no clue how to handle her even though the horse was completely patient and perfect for a beginner. She was scared of her height, so we passed on her. Beautiful mare, but with Mom being scared of her height, definitely a losing battle, so we went home and got there around 1 am...lovely right?
We had an appointment 2 1/2 hours away to go look at another mare the next day but asked if we could push it back a couple of hours because we hadn't gotten in till after 1 am. The seller told mom "You realize she's 13.2hh right?" She got a laugh out of her when Mom told her she's 5'1. We drove up and saw a BEAUTIFUL little bay mare. This girl was calm, super sweet, soft eyes, etc. The young lady told us she was a bit cinchy...has yet to show any signs of it with us. We looked her over, took some time to get to know her, and saddled her up. The girl said she hadn't been truly ridden in about 6 months, so I got on her first to see what she would do.
She was perfect. Responsive to leg pressure, backs, etc. Put her through her paces and then rode her back to ask if Mom wanted to try her out. Mom decided she wants to get lessons (yay!) and said if I thought the mare was good for her, that she would buy her. She'd already fallen in love with her personality. Only vices were she's hard to load in a small, enclosed trailer (what we had) and she's dominant in the pasture but that was all disclosed before we even left to go look at her.
I told Mom to pay the lady. It took us a while to get her loaded but she never showed any signs of being anything other than just scared of something she wasn't used to and was very responsive and willing. Eventually, we took the middle partition out of the trailer and she walked right in with me. She got into some scuffles with our other horses despite leaving her on a fence line with them for a few weeks but Star showed her who's boss and she's settling down.
Mom finally rode her with coaching and we let Rosie ride her with someone walking near her and someone holding Flicka (the former home had ponied a 5 year old around on her). Flicka was calm and pokey with both of them.
I rode her for a bit and she showed more spunk but listened like a dream even when one of the mares she's been having a spat with came up to start trouble. I just spun her and chased the other mare off. She behaved beautifully. If I didn't have Star, I'd steal this horse from my mom
She's just like Star but smaller. She seems to be responding to the level of her rider, just like Star does.
She's a former rescue and the only reason why the girl was selling her was because her parents are getting a divorce and she has to move and can't take her with her. She named her Flicka because when she got her, she reminded her of how wild the horse was in the movie. Heartbreaking situation, but we keep up with her and send her pictures and she was actually happy that we were the ones who got her because she turned down other buyers because they were too rough with Flicka and Flicka didn't behave for them. She was perfect with us.
So, pictures will come in the next reply and say hello to Flicka!
Luckily, some nice horses started popping up in her price range on some of the facebook sell sites and she started to show interest again. There's also a mother-daughter trail ride we would love to attend one day. We talked with several sellers...too many to count, but all had something that made them not fit or they were sold before we could go look.
We went look at a local gelding, but when I test rode him, he had NO woah whatsoever and hadn't been ridden in 6 years but was advertised as not being ridden in a while...6 years is a really long while. His feet were terrible and the guy said he had gotten them done last year. Yikes! He wasn't badly behaved, just needed some refreshing. Not for Mom though. I don't have the time to train someone else's horse when there's a thousand things I want to do with my two. He was also seriously tall, taller than Star at 14.2. Mom's shorter than I am and is intimidated by tall horses.
Went look at a gelding 4 hours away (Gps went from 3 hours to 4 hours once we were on the road). That was a fun trip.
Cute little gelding but spirited. A 6 year old was riding him but come to find out, his mother is a champion barrel racer..no wonder the kid rides well. He's probably been in the saddle since he was born. I rode him. Fun little horse, but I knew Mom had to try him because if he didn't fit her, it wouldn't matter if I liked him and I was hesitant on how quickly he moved. He was former pole horse. Mom got on and that little gelding just trotted off with her right back to his pasture around a stand of trees next to the street (really backwoods country street with no traffic). We couldn't help but laugh. He never tried to buck or anything, just refused to listen to her because he wanted to go back to his pasture. Mom got off and that was that. We still tease her about that. You'd have had to have been there to understand the hilarity. (We wouldn't have laughed if she was in any danger.)They had another horse, a 15.3 hh mare that was completely beginner safe. Realized Mom had no clue how to handle her even though the horse was completely patient and perfect for a beginner. She was scared of her height, so we passed on her. Beautiful mare, but with Mom being scared of her height, definitely a losing battle, so we went home and got there around 1 am...lovely right?
We had an appointment 2 1/2 hours away to go look at another mare the next day but asked if we could push it back a couple of hours because we hadn't gotten in till after 1 am. The seller told mom "You realize she's 13.2hh right?" She got a laugh out of her when Mom told her she's 5'1. We drove up and saw a BEAUTIFUL little bay mare. This girl was calm, super sweet, soft eyes, etc. The young lady told us she was a bit cinchy...has yet to show any signs of it with us. We looked her over, took some time to get to know her, and saddled her up. The girl said she hadn't been truly ridden in about 6 months, so I got on her first to see what she would do.
She was perfect. Responsive to leg pressure, backs, etc. Put her through her paces and then rode her back to ask if Mom wanted to try her out. Mom decided she wants to get lessons (yay!) and said if I thought the mare was good for her, that she would buy her. She'd already fallen in love with her personality. Only vices were she's hard to load in a small, enclosed trailer (what we had) and she's dominant in the pasture but that was all disclosed before we even left to go look at her.
I told Mom to pay the lady. It took us a while to get her loaded but she never showed any signs of being anything other than just scared of something she wasn't used to and was very responsive and willing. Eventually, we took the middle partition out of the trailer and she walked right in with me. She got into some scuffles with our other horses despite leaving her on a fence line with them for a few weeks but Star showed her who's boss and she's settling down.
Mom finally rode her with coaching and we let Rosie ride her with someone walking near her and someone holding Flicka (the former home had ponied a 5 year old around on her). Flicka was calm and pokey with both of them.
I rode her for a bit and she showed more spunk but listened like a dream even when one of the mares she's been having a spat with came up to start trouble. I just spun her and chased the other mare off. She behaved beautifully. If I didn't have Star, I'd steal this horse from my mom
She's just like Star but smaller. She seems to be responding to the level of her rider, just like Star does.She's a former rescue and the only reason why the girl was selling her was because her parents are getting a divorce and she has to move and can't take her with her. She named her Flicka because when she got her, she reminded her of how wild the horse was in the movie. Heartbreaking situation, but we keep up with her and send her pictures and she was actually happy that we were the ones who got her because she turned down other buyers because they were too rough with Flicka and Flicka didn't behave for them. She was perfect with us.
So, pictures will come in the next reply and say hello to Flicka!
