IMO, that might be due to people breeding ‘behind the barn’, using Saddlebreds, Hackney Horses, etc. and registering the offspring as “pure.”
Wouldn’t call the ‘ideal image’ as long-backed…
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wouldn’t you LOVE to have seen Figure?!!?!
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2am and couldn’t get back to sleep…so i bid on these six mustangs:
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/19268403
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/19894762
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/20750883
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/19268479
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That’s awesome that you bid on the old man. I hope he does well if you bring him home.
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Agree. That is a nice group of geldings.
Susan
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yeahbut, i seriously doubt he’s actually 20. Mane tail and knees still dark and he moves so well. If he’s 10 i’d be surprised. BUT if he is 20, that means he’s smart, (and challenging!) Anybody who lives that long wild has a few tricks up his sleeve!
I have a gray that was ‘8’ and by the tooth he was just 4. They are notoriously wrong with their aging. In this batch of mustangs, there is a group of volunteers that have documented the herd since 2008. And there are a whole lot of horses that were overaged… one by 15 years. Most by 6-9 years. This was not in the uber-documented group, but the same collection, so same guy aging them. I suspect he is maaaaaaybe 10? When he comes to me and i have him gentled i’ll for sure have my vet scrutinize him
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i’ll be using my old-age bids for the mares. After foaling every year or so, they really need a soft landing. Plus, old girls who have raised many foals are so kindly natured. I love having them in my life. Old studs however…an entirely nuther story! lol
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As you suspected, that black seems to be really popular.
So nice to know the older guys you bid on will get a soft landing! Will be very interested to see how old the grey is. Hopefully he is good-natured (he is certainly handsome and still has lots of pep to his step).
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i’m all-in for that guy. i bid over 7k. And if i’m smart, i’ll not look back until it’s over! But never said i was smart lolol The lady who is going to haul for me has come back with a price. 1k per horse…which seems ok, but it must be taken into consideration in my bid-strategy. (575 miles). Is that a reasonable price? (i have NO IDeA what is customary and average these days).
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That’s pretty in line with the quotes I’ve had recently. $1.50-$1.75 per loaded mile seems to be low to average and some are up closer to $2.00/loaded mile.
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thank you. good to know.
Oh, YES!!
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Fingers crossed on your bids… can’t wait to see what you’re getting.
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That’s a very reasonable shipping rate.
Can’t wait to see what you end up with!
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@SusanO @blue_heron e_heron
So as to not totally derail the traveling witch thread, i’m asking you over here.
I was interested in three different grays. (gray being quintessential color of this particular herd) The one whose neck we discussed on Traveling Witch and these two old guys, the one i’ve already bid on, (https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/02268547) What do you think of these two in comparison:
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/05268473
https://wildhorsesonline.blm.gov/animals/02268469
Truth-be-told, they may ALL three be too entrenched in their wildness to ever make it anywhere beyond my farm under saddle, so there’s that. BUT, they might as well feel beautiful to me. I chose the one with the exciting leg action, because, i think that’s where my heart really lies. But these other two are exciting to me in other ways. One being sort of ‘unicorn-ish’, and the other being such a proud boy. Well, they’re both proud geldings. The one i chose seems not so much so…
but…what about the necks?
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My concern with these guys is in their neck in relation to their bodies. You already know I don’t like the back and balance of the Sand Wash Basin horses. It is really difficult to critique horses who aren’t set up nicely, but we can at least tell a bit from this guy alone. Mainly in regard to his front end. I really just picked this guy because it’s the closest we’re getting to a conformation shot.
Drawing the three blocks really emphasizes how short and “upright” his shoulder is. The way his neck comes out of his wither is nicer than 8547 but still low from his check. I would say he has a thick neck. His length of back and hip are actually okay. If I’m being picky, his back is a little long and his hocks are set out being him a bit and he’s standing under himself in this picture. I was generous with the shoulder and conservative with the hind end when I drew these blocks. If we only look at the hind end, we might think he will move pretty nicely, but…
His back kind of just… disappears. Any negative tension you have is going to bring the neck up higher and his hind legs further out behind him. You really see how long the loin is and how it contributes to the back dropping out as you move back from the withers. You also see that even at near full extension of the shoulder here, the shoulder is still pretty steep.
Also know that seeing these horses move out like this when they are really excited is some of the nicer times you will see them move. I have an ugly as heck mare who is gorgeous trotting around the paddock when there is a deer in the woods. Other than that, she looks like a slinky on twigs, and her shoulder is massive. 8469 is the nicest of these three by far.
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Do you mean for the slinky black one, 8403?
Also for fun, let’s make the fence straight and his pasterns more or less level.
Edit: I hadn’t noticed that “dip” in his shoulder before.
What about 8430 (the one who had the cute face that Blue Heron liked)? I think he’s very cute, and he seems like a solid guy. Also gray!
Do you mean that big divot underneath his neck, or a dip before his wither bones?
