Years ago we went to look at a horse some good friends of ours had. I’d seen the horse and really liked him. Cute blood bay cowy QH gelding. He proceeded to rear with me who knows how many times. Out of respect for the friendship I schooled him and worked him through it. They ‘hadn’t ever seen him do that’. They ended up selling him to other friends and he ended up bucking that guy off and seriously hurting him.
I was horse hunting this spring. I was looking for a foxhunting prospect since my mare got injured and has to sit this season out. I had a very strict criteria as I was looking for a project that I could resale.
I found a great prospect that was already hacking out with hounds, although 1" shorter and a little older than I wanted. Oh well, he was quiet, sound, and had quite a bit of training on him. And he was very affordable… well 2 days before we were scheduled to look at him/pick him up someone that said they were interested in him 2 months ago contacted her and told her that they had arranged shipping. She felt committed to the previous tire kicker and I wasn’t going to get in a bidding war over a horse that was 7 hours away and I had never met… Heart crushed but I was optimistic that there was another perfect horse out there for me…
After searching through hundreds of ads I found something that I thought could work… A 2 hour drive one way, went to look at him the afternoon we were supposed to be leaving with the horses to go camping for the weekend. He was grey, 15.2 hands, kid broke but a little too much horse for her 4 year old child hence why she was selling him. Some of his pictures made him look like a lama but some of the pictures looked pretty decent. Cute mover from the videos…
Well we drove all that way and turns out she gave us the wrong address. Took us 45 minutes out of the way and she had to come find us… ok… get there and she has 2 2yo stud colts out with her mixed herd of mares and geldings… ok… grey horse lets me catch him, he may have been 14.2 hands… not what i wanted but if we can get hm to stick as a pony this could work. I ask how long it’s been since he’s been ridden. 3 months since he’s been touched, but the farrier is coming out next week… ok… we were parked in the pasture and all the babies were running around the trailer and freaking him out, all the while she’s telling me the life stories about every other horse than the one I’m there to look at… I ended up getting him tacked up. Asked her what kind of a bit she rode him in and she pulls out a homemade gag, and went on and on about how gentle it was!!! She ‘wasn’t dressed to ride’ and walked off to the barn… I should have called it quits there but I’m glutton for punishment.
I was supposed to ride him in the pasture so we walked away from the trailer. I tried to stop him so I could mount. NOPE, we didn’t have breaks and the little sh*t took me skiing across the pasture towards the barn. NOTHING I did could get him to disengage his front or hind end and pay attention to me. Finally I got him turning in circles around me, aka spinning. And untacked him while he was spinning and dragging me across the pasture, had the SO grab my saddle as I yanked it off his back and took his bridle off and let him go. I was not about to get on his back if I didn’t have steering or breaks on the ground. She seemed shocked when I said we were going to pass.
A month later we ended up driving all night to go look at a grey 16 hand 4yo qh gelding that some rodeo people had. All I really had was a grainy video and some pictures. But he seemed perfect. Although WAAAAYYYY over budget… He was sold first come first serve, no holds. Like I said we drove all night, ended up leaving the house at 7pm that Friday night, slept in the trailer for 3 hours in a Walmart parking lot, test rode him at 8am the next morning. It had rained a lot that evening so they opted to haul him to their neighbors with a nice arena. He was supposed to be 16 hands, he’s a BIG 16.1 and growing. He was supposed to be QH (grade), and while he may have QH in him somewhere it’s not recent. He has alot of TB blood and possibly some WB by how his head and rump is shaped.
The owner rode him, very much a roper type of rider (heavy handed and no leg). Horse did exactly everything he was supposed to be and was perfect in for somewhere he’d never been before. I got on and rode him and had to fight to keep a huge grin off my face. THIS WAS IT. I got off him and asked who I made the check out to.
We did the necessary paperwork, all the while the owner was fussing about how he didn’t really want to sell him but his wife was making him, too many horses… I ask what his name is, he said he’d been calling him Goose. We get Goose loaded and before we get to the road the SO and I looked at each other and were thinking the same thing. Goose dies, so we shall call him Maverick (Top Gun reference).
He’s green and needs miles but he’s been exposed to so much already and has the best brain. I can ride him everyday or once a month and he’s the exact same horse as I rode last time. I hate a grey, I swore I’d never own one… but this one may change my mind. It’s going to be too easy to sell him and I’m not sure I want to anymore…
), she’s a little too much horse for me now that I’m not riding as much.