I have always been told if there is TB or Arab in a horse it will look good again in training, no matter how it looks now.
Usually an ugly horse is better trained than a pretty horse, as the poor ugly horse is only trained by a horseman, as was never sold to anyone by someone falling in love with it.
I owned the most beautiful horse in the world. (Me biased, never!) And the ugliest horse in the world.
On the most beautiful horse in the world, I let him go along like a slop in warm up so as the other riders would talk to me. I them would pick him up and put him to work and when we won they would all come up and talk to me. If I warmed him up like a Winner no one would talk to me.
On the ugliest horse in the world I didn’t even have to ride. I could just be sitting on him. Everyone would start a conversation with me.
He is an interesting color isn’t he? What kind of a horse do you call that? Etc, etc
He was a 16.3hh flea bitten grey but the flea bites were very very very dark and almost touching all over. I had one of the first wintecs that came out. It was brown and faded to a mauve.
The first time I took him to a lesson my instructor commented that I had a purple horse!
True to being well trained, he raced until he was 7 in New Zealand. He was a winner. He was the fastest horse I ever rode. You would be cantering and you just lent down and said you can go boy. The whole horse came up underneath you, went out between you legs, came back down and then he would go. He accelerated and accelerated and accelerated and after that was over he had a soft mouth and could be stopped if you wanted to. Even with glasses you had tears streaming down your face from the wind. You would reach the end of the State forest and turn and start walking back and meet the other horses half way.
One day I was on Pepper and let somebody else ride Moby. (Monition Boy) Pep could keep up with ex racehorses. Pep was only half TB. My instructor asked when he last raced. I said he was not a racehorse he is part stock horse. She said he had the brain of a racehorse more than most racehorses.
We were cantering with Moby when she let him go. Pepper galloped with his ears back and then lightened his speed and watched Moby go with his ears forward, then he put his ears back and galloped as fast as he had ever gone before. Moby just got further and further and further away. Again Pepper lightened his speed and put his ears forward to watch him go. I could feel his disbelief. I just laughed and stroked him on the neck and told him it was okay, he didn’t have to try, he would never catch him.
Moby could also jump the moon and was an A grade show jumper.
I also had Mister Silvertone who was another flea bitten TB, and not that pretty. He had a trot like a jackhammer, but he was a B grade show jumper with the most comfortable canter you had ever sat.
poor little thing lol
