Hmm…I am a wine kinda gal, after living in Sonoma County for 18 years. Not bad! Goes into the consideration bucket. 
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Skywalker sounds nice, barn name Luke.
You familiar with the COTH poster that makes equiglas products?
She has a few neat lookalikes, one in this page:
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Not bad! and no, did not know about the stained-glass person! thanks for the link! (IRL I’m an artist, and horses are a big part of what I paint. I have gallery representation all over the western U.S. This boy will probably show up in some paintings sooner or later!)
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So is he here yet? We need pictures!
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Raven in Spanish is Cuervo… but you could then be mistaken for a drinker. LOL
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He arrived midday today! No pix yet – just a quick video of him unloading. A gray chilly day and he’s blanketed – not great for photos. He set to work meeting his paddock-mates, then a good roll to tangle up a pile of vegetation in his mane, and then some big floaty trot around the paddock. I started working on having him come to me when I walk into the paddock. A good first day!
Until new bit+bridle arrives, I’ll be more focused on groundwork, lol. Also, our temps are going down to brutal level over the next week (single digits, suddenly) so lungeing and ground manners …
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Wait … I live in Cuervo country and the opportunities to miscontrue this name abound … uh could we think of something else … maybe just Raven in English … 
Although if this handsome horse never travels to Cuervo country … but on the other hand Cuervo country is everywhere, isn’t it …
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And a big ole blanket, depending on where he’s from … I knew a horse that traveled in winter from a land of moderate winters to one of the coldest mountain winters on record for that spot. Horse came to the van door, took one look at acres of sparkling super-cold snow and refused to get out of the shipper’s van. Hard to blame him. They finally had to back him down the ramp. He felt better when he saw the barn.
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Absolutely! He came off the trailer wearing one, seller gave me another, and I have a nice new Smartpak Ultimate for him as well. He should be good
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you SHOULD have some more pics by now!! let’s have em
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I second this!! Pictures!!
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I love that you lot are continuing to show up for me — makes me smile!
OK, the only decent photos I have are the ones DH took at my test ride 3 weeks ago; I’ll share one of those. Also a goofy selfie from this weekend.
And, finally learning his personality. He’s been coming to meet me in his paddock (yay!), but I gotta train him to put his head down for haltering cuz he’s a giraffe (boo). He’s a bit fidgety while tied, and has been pawing; BO said to ignore for now, it’s teenage “I want attention” behavior, and any correction would be reinforcing attention.
I rode him for the first time yesterday (brief ride); I felt kinda ‘out of sync’ with him, if that makes sense. Like, not moving as well with him as I did at the test ride. Dunno if it’s a saddle thing…seller had a very nice dressage saddle with big leg blocks. My dressage saddle is a 30+ year old Nederseuss – a good saddle when I bought it, but minimal blocks. Today was about trimming off the muddy leg-feathers, putting in some braids, teaching him to target (he ‘got it’ in one go, a little scary - we continued playing with that), and a hand-walk around the outside (new snowfall last night, areas he hadn’t seen before, all apparently worth blowing at). Also a bit of work on standing still at the mounting block (this might take some time 
).
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I am so excited for you. He is beautiful!
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Don’t panic, it’s normal. Last time you rode him everything was familiar to him, just a different rider. This time everything has changed, so he needs to settle. Also the lovely horse you rode, has turned into, fuelled by your expectations and all us enablers, into a veritable unicorn in your mind. Now he is real, flesh and blood, warts and all, it’s going to take a while before you get to know each other.
Have fun on the journey, there will be ups and downs, but you will be back in sync before you know it.
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I am beyond appreciative of the wisdom here! Thank you!! I was hoping it was just a matter of him settling and us getting to know each other. (And yes, he was a unicorn when I test-rode him, and y’all have made it worse, lol). I’m in no rush. Temps are going to be brutally cold this coming week, so I don’t expect much from our rides.
Also, he’s really into putting his lips on everything – trying to eat the whip handle when I’m carrying it on the ground, lipping all over my arms, coat, etc. I’m just saying “AH AH!” so far, which is not affecting him much. I’ll search the forum for advice on this.
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I just want to say congratulations! As someone who absolutely loves well put-together FSHs, your boy looks great! I wish you both the best.
FSHs can always use more positive exposure in the horse world.
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Thank you!! I’m hoping we can do that – show well whenever we do start showing. He’s my first experience with anything Friesian – first for many of us around here, AFAIK…
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It really usually takes a full week for most horses to settle and relax in a totally new environment. Take advantage of the cold snap to just give him time 
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Warwick Schiller has an interesting approach to this that I’ve found useful with my 4 yo. Here are a couple of the videos on the topic and there are more if you search his YouTube channel for “mouthy horse,” “nipping,” etc:
(Don’t be put off by the “biting” titles, as it covers just mouthing too.)
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I’ll second Warwick Schillers method for mouthy horses. It worked amazing for my 4 year old.
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