So looking forward to following their adventures!
They are so lucky to have landed with you.
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Morning Report!
We have had our first allowed touches! I’m tolerable enough to be allowed to touch neck to haunches on Ernie as long as there is food. I was even able to pull off a few clumps of matted up shed hair without bothering him too much.
I did also have the briefest of nose-touches with Bert, after a long conversation. And a few minutes later, he finally looked at me - acknowledged me - for the first time with guarded curiosity. That might sound like no big deal, horses look at us all the time; but there’s a huge difference between being looked at out of fear, danger, oh no what is that human going to do now - and a quiet look that says I see you and I accept you being there.
In other notes:
Bert has the wee-est of a white spot on his belly:
They are quite happy with the buffet selection at this hotel (the pellets are Standlee Smart Carb, mostly forage):
And finally… obviously I will not be certain until I get a look at teeth, and probably a vet opinion to back it up, but I have a sneaking suspicion that dear Ernie might be closer to a yearling than a 2yo.
I think the guesses that they are probably siblings or by the same stallion are good ones. They did not come through the open sale at Bowie last month - trust me, I dug through all 11 hours of it 
Don’t take this as gospel, but my understanding is that Bowie buys loads of horses at other auctions, and other traders may also sometimes sell loads of horses to them directly. It’s likely they came via one of those ways from somewhere else, because there’s not a ton of Dutch Harness breeding going on here and they only appear at the local auctions when brought in with a trader load of similar harness-type horses - Standardbreds, Saddlebreds, and draft breeds. Clearly some of these traders are going to sales in more Amish areas to pick up the cheap cast offs and bringing them south (closer to the border…).
Anyway, they are as happy as can be expected at the moment. Eating like they should, drinking VERY well (good boys!) and pooping plenty. 
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Dang, they are both so darn cute! Love those big ol’ feet and those faces with those ears. They remind me of old timey warmbloods, especially Bert.
They may be a bit feral right now, but since they’re young and you’re experienced with this situation, I’m sure they’ll come around soon and you’ll develop a special bond with each of them.
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wow they look like they are starting with good solid builds. If Ernie is younger, might they be full siblings? They certainly looked like a near matched set, save for the color
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I should think a genetic test would be able to confirm their degree of relatedness to each other.
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Can’t wait to see how these gangly youngsters start to fill out and blossom. Great news that they are eating/drinking and pooping with gusto!
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They look happier! What a good deed you’ve done 
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Wow! What a handsome pair of boys!! Can’t wait to see them blossom. I know the breed isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always loved the temperaments on DHH.
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Oh but they’re CUTE!!!
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Ernie’s got my heart. <3
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They are fancy! I can’t wait to see them all slicked out with curves and that keen eye that says confidence and loved. Lucky lucky lucky they are!
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They look like two peas in a pod. I can’t wait to see all your updates. 
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Awesome! I have a DHH cross and he has the absolute best personality- so very friendly and goofy and willing to please, especially once they trust you, and from what I’ve read, this is very common with these guys. I can’t rave enough about him even though I know the breed is disparaged by some. Looking forward to seeing these guys develop.
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Lunch time! Bert reluctantly decided that eating alfalfa out of my hand was somewhat OK. 
And I was pleasantly surprised that he and Ernie followed the lead of their neighbors (the chubby boys) and actually came up to the gates to see if I brought food. The chubby boys do NOT need lunch, but I did give them a few handfuls just for being good influences.
They’ve definitely got some good bone! Should be some big boys. If I eyeball string-test, I’d say Bert’s got a couple inches to grow and Ernie has miles and miles.
Entirely possible? At very least it’s pretty likely to say they came from the same breeding program, if not the same stallion. I’m not sure who does a genetic test of that nature, @Sdel? I know we have the “breed” test, and the color tests, and the disease tests, and of course the parent-matching in the various breed registries. I can’t tell if ADHHA does DNA searches, but it looks like their DNA requirement is fairly new (2020) and it didn’t look like they require mares to be DNA’d.
Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever met one before now - at least not that I recall - but I really don’t discriminate, haven’t met too many horses in my life that I didn’t like.
Who, me? 
He’s still wary but he has such a kind eye.
IMO… they are perfectly nice horses for most people! Depending on how they move/are built they can obviously be better suited to harness, but most of the ones I see doing ridden english sports are kicking butt at lower and mid level stuff and looking cute doing it!
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TAMU should be able to do it. They already do parent verification. This should be along the same lines.
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An ad for a gorgeous DHH mare appeared on my FB feed this morning. She is being trained and marketed by a top dressage trainer. More and more DHHs and crosses are showing up in dressage competition. It will be exciting to see if these two develop into sport horses. I think they will.
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If I can help it, they will. Maybe not with me I can’t seem to stop getting on this green horse merry go round and actually show again - but that’s the direction I’d like for them.
In other random news, it turns out - yesterday was ALSO the 1 year anniversary of bringing Peach home. Apparently I have a thing for getting new horses on May 19th?
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Paint Party walks off to mark May 19th, 2026 on her calendar in anticipation of Heinzy getting more Bowie horses…
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We’ll wait to see what happens next May 19th! (BTW, that’s my late mom’s birthday, so a good day to do something nice.)
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Awwww…can see a little difference in just the one day they have been with you, their eye and body language has relaxed a bit, curiosity starting to take over from uncertainty.
They seem like they will be useful types. DHHs get a bit of a bad wrap from being stuffed into disciplines they are not physically suited for, there is not a thing wrong with them in a job they are able to do well at. Ones I have known were pretty level temperment wise and easy to work with and around. Struck me as no nonsense types.
Need daily updates here…they are going to bloom pretty quickly.
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