Yes he is definitely not small. When the farrier told me about him he said he was about 15h. I went to pick him up and he was definitely not 15h. He might have been 15h wide though lol
I haven’t sticked him, but he is taller than my saddlebred who sticks right at 16.1, so I’m guessing 16.2 or 16.3 maybe? But he is also beefy and long.
He is a very nice mover though! It’s just a lot of bulk to move haha!
He is very handsome. And such a pretty trot! Can’t wait to hear how he’s doing in a couple of months with regular work and properly fitted tack.
Thank you! Yes, it will be interesting to see how he turns out. He’s still out of shape and off balance, particularly at the canter (he doesn’t have a lope yet), but that will come around too. He is safe enough to hop on and start walk work (I wanted to give myself some groundwork time first), so my hope is to do that today or tomorrow. It will be good for me to have something non-reactive - my current main horse is on the spicier side, though he contains it rather well, so just to be able to do nice slow work feels like a luxury!
And just like that he is under saddle again!
We did just a little as the weather has been hugely variable. I was hoping to use my western saddles on him but sadly when I mount he tilts his body to look at me (because we worked on getting a cookie to mount since he hated the mounting block) and it drops that side just enough that I can’t make it in those stirrups (I have very bad hips). So we rode in a baroque saddle and it went well, although we were definitely tack mismatched! I was going to try my hunt seat saddle but I don’t have a girth long enough for him in that one lol
He is a big guy, but I am 5’9” with a very long toroso and femurs so I feel like we are well matched! I make him look much smaller than he is.
Here’s a picture of him seeking a cookie for a job well done.
Hooray! Happy for you that you’re officially riding him!
My last horse, the irascible Wally, came to me with objections to many things. I always rode with a pocket of peppermints. He responded well to positive reinforcement/treats for making the right choice and good behavior. He ended up being an awesome partner. I have a feeling you’ll be equally blessed.
He whuffles when he wants treats for things - it is super cute. I’ll have to watch for pushiness but for now I want him to feel comfortable and happy in our work.
He was pretty rigid, shut down and defensive when we first came. I think he was ridden fairly hard when he was a school horse and who knows before that what his life was like. Hence his mounting block issues - he was like no way no how anyone is getting on me and working me like that. He is very defensive in his mouth, understandable with the old cracked tooth, so as soon as I am confident that I am not going to get tanked off with we may experiment with the bosal. That worked well with some of my others that came with some mouth trauma.
I worked pretty hard at getting him to pick me up and now he has no issues with that - I need them to be rock solid with bad hips so it’s one of the first big skills I teach.
So now it is just a lot of gentle rides to show him that I’m not going to ask for more than his musculature can handle. I think I’m going to have to be careful to not trigger that defensiveness again. Not that he does anything bad, he is just such a different horse than when he first arrived and I don’t want to go backward.
His personality is coming out. He loves head rubs and will put his head down and just sigh when you rub his head. It’s such a nice contrast from my other geldings who are too busy minded for such nonsense (but will take a wither scratch).
He is an exceptionally kind horse, and I think he is going to be a great partner. And honestly though he is a pretty sensitive guy he is just so much less reactive than my other spicy nuggets (saddlebreds) so I think it is going to be nice for me!
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