I have an acquaintance in Riverton who has a nice little mare, she is a Hiatus Pep granddaughter. She was a competition cutting horse, she has been used for trail riding, hunting, lessons for kids, he has had her for years and years. For a long time he has been telling me that he really needs to find a larger horse to replace her with. Not because she is too small to ride, but because when he hunts and she is in the string she cannot negotiate as easily over the terrain as his other horses who are all 16 hands or better. It throws his pack string out of whack. She is made for competing. He says she loves it. I would like to compete.
We have Killian. He is a rock solid trail horse (that is him in the picture being ridden bareback on a trail ride) kid safe, darn near bomb proof. You can rope off him, you can push cows off of him. He is a pretty decent horse, easy to get along with. The only thing I really dislike about him is that I cannot let him and Danny out together. What you cannot do on him is any kind of flying lead change (or any lead change) he just does not have that natural athletisism that Trax or Sassy has, or that I suspect this mare has. He is a good horse, but not a competition horse.
I have the chance to trade Killian for this little mare, straight across, and on a trial run. If I decide I don't like her after a month we can trade back.
So, do I do the trade?
Sometimes I wish I could just keep them all.
UPDATE:
Well thanks to the input of others I have made my decision. I will take him down and see the mare and see if he likes Killian and I like the mare, and then I will play it by ear. BUT if I do bring her home I will make sure that I am careful and learn how to ride her properly so as not to ruin her.
Will update with pics!!!
Have a great weekend everyone!
It does sound tempting. How well do you know this guy? If you're sure he's good with horses and your horse will be safe with him, why not do the trial run? Sounds like it could be fun! And if you don't like her or she doesn't fit in with your herd, you're not obligated to keep her.
ReplyDeleteWell, I work for a company that sells Semi-Truck Parts, and he is one of my customers. I have been doing business with him for about 5 or 6 years. I have seen pictures of his horses and they all look very healthy. I know that he can at least afford to take care of them if they are sick or injured. I know that he paid to have this mare sent off to one of the top cutting horse trainers in the state when she was young. I beleive that he is pretty good with his horses, and I like that he is a person who rarely sells his horses off. He was telling me just the other day about two of his horses that he had kept long past their riding prime, and were just old retired guys. He kept them until they passed away. People that do that, tend to be fairly decent with and to their horses. Of course there are exceptions, but it is a good sign for sure.
ReplyDeleteHere is the flip side. I used to think I was a decent rider, maybe when I was young I was, but I have learned that I am not anymore, I do ok, I guess, but I don't even know how to ride a competition horse. I have video's I watch to learn, and a friend who is a trainer who helps when he can, but what if I end up ruining this mare with my inexperience?
Wow I am really running from one end to the other huh? LOL
I would take it. It sounds like a good opportunity, and you have a trial period to decide if everything will work out.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a month, you can't ruin her in a month. And, in my experience, inexperience doesn't "ruin" a horse. Inexperience may hold the horse back in their training, but that can be fixed and it isn't a big deal. I highly doubt you would "ruin" her anyway, people who ruin horses don't worry about ruining horses.