I went to the PMU sales in Alberta that were held a few decades ago, looking for diamonds in the rough. Looking for TB crosses actually, crossed with draft or draft cross mares. Picked up several really good ones over a number of years. Raised, trained and sold on most of them. One filly, I kept. She was out of a Belgian draft mare, and by an unregistered TB stallion, who was sired by Cohoes Native. She was a stunner as a foal. She is a bay roan, bay from the TB sire, and roan from the Belgian side. I paid $320 for her, and she kicked her way through the buffalo chutes at the sale facility. After the purchase, I went back to the yards to look at a few others, and the wrangler said, “You bought that crazy bitch? Good luck!” Pretty funny. She had been stung by an electric prod at some point, and that influenced her opinion of the sale facility, and humans in general. But I really liked her.
She was a bolter. Teaching her to lead was interesting, I used a lunge line to lead her, in case I touched her shoulder by mistake at some point. Because she may have stopped the bolt by the time she got to the end of the lunge line, so that I would not turn her loose in the yard, just getting her to the round pen from the paddock. She eventually learned to lead, and gained some trust. But she is still a snorty devil, snorts at everything that needs snorting at. Barn name “Roany” (of course), show name “Sugar Frosted”.
What became apparent very early on is that she is a jumping fool. She is very powerful, and will jump whatever is in front of her with ease. I broke her in the summer of her two year old year, that was uneventful and easy. And by the time she was three, took her to her first schooling show in the little hunter classes. She won everything, because she DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES. Ever. She is smarter than most people I meet, and is an excellent judge of character. Very judgemental. Very sensitive. Loves children, suspicious of just about everyone else. If you offer her a carrot, she will snort and move away from you. Because she is considering your alterior motive. Smarter than the average bear.
She is not tall at 15.2. She is not refined. She is not a great mover, she “trundles” along. But when she pats the ground to take off over a jump, she is stunning. Her power would hit me in the chest with her withers over anything large. But she was pretty drafty really, too drafty to be a show horse herself. So I have bred her to my TB stallion, who also throws jumping ability. The result is one of my current rides, Razzberry. He is also bay roan, 3/4 TB but you wouldn’t know it. He threw hard to the drafty side for a three quarter bred. But he has the great jump, superior style of jump, intelligence, and snort that his mother has. A better mover than her, more refinement than her, and gets his lead changes better than her. He wins in both the low hunters and low jumper divisions. He also does not make mistakes, and I stay out of his way on course. I also have a couple of other editions, at various levels of training, and one I sold to a friend. Roany is still with me too, she is the herd leader, takes care of things. She rules with an iron hoof. All genuflect to her character. She never disciplines anybody, she just looks at them and everyone lines up behind her. I wish that I had such power.
