This message is from: "Dagrun Aarsten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello fjord listers,
well, I have been much too busy with work for my own liking lately, so haven't written much. As Brigid says, we are very excited to move to a new boarding place, with direct trail access, hilly grassy pasture with creek, fancy arenas, almost free-choice hay (even the fjords are a little on the slim side now) and 6 minutes drive from my office (that's the best part). I also live in the same area, so much less traffic, frustrations and freeway time in the future. I can't help looking at horse ads, despite having 2 great horses here and my wonderful Sneip in Norway. I keep dreaming of buying an inexpensive, big-boned thoroughbred, take it through some low level eventing and sell it for a profit...yeah, I know, haha. My Quinn is turning into a very capable jumper, but I am trying not to push him to far too fast (which is tempting) and my TB mare still needs gentle and careful training for a while. So the obvious solution to me (insane to other people, of course), is to get another horse! Anyway, Brigid and I went for a horse-shopping adventure into the East Bay Saturday, to look at two TB geldings for sale. The first one was a 6-year old Irish TB gelding called Quinn (!). Very confusing, talking about Quinn the Fjord and Quinn the TB. Quinn turned out to be a healthy, big, strong warmblood-looking horse, very green and lacking some muscle, but absolutely great. Everything about him said "quality". His head was sort of funny-shaped with slightly small eyes, but he had an intelligent look. His body was balanced and well-proportioned, and his neck pretty heavy for a TB, although pleasing to a fjord fan :-) The owner free lunged him first in a round pen, and he more or less ignored the whip, did his best to eat grass while trotting reluctantly around, and then suddenly laid down to roll in the middle of a lungeing session. It was hilarious. He was like a fjord caught in a thoroughbred body! Then we saddled him up and rode a little, first the owner, then me. He was pretty sluggish in the arena, and made it clear that he found it pretty boring, but he still showed beautiful, rhythmic, big strides in all gaits. I absolutely loved him. Then I took him out for a little ride around the property, and he perked up and started dancing around, full of energy, and clearly thought this was much more fun. He also spooked a little, just for fun, and obediently trotted through a puddle with water splashing around. I was imagining myself taking this guy cross-country jumping already. He is only 6 and has never been jumped...(drool). He seemed to be pretty spoiled and used to doing whatever he feels like most of the time, but he hadn't developed any dangerous habits from this (so far). But he is the kind of horse smart enough to take advantage this more and more over time, so I think it is time he gets a new owner. Unfortunately, the owner had some kind of deal already lined up with a woman who has a quarter horse for trade (she is looking for a small quiet trail horse, and had come to the conclusion that a green, big, bouncy TB was not what she needed). So I made an offer, but this other woman got first priority. Now I'll wait and see, I have a feeling I will get him in the end, let's hope I'm right. Then, after a delightful meal at Burger King (we were so hungry, anything would taste good), we stopped by to see the other horse, just out of curiosity. We were greeted by a young guy in a cowboy hat, his extremely possessive/aggressive Doberman and a skinny, docile and dull-looking thoroughbred. This horse has been for sale for a long time, advertised repeatedly at a selling price of $4,500! Now, finally this guy realized that he should lower his expectations a little bit, and was asking $2000. I guess you could say that this guy's idea of horsekeeping was a little...creative. He had all sorts of tricks, like "if you put the reins over his neck like this, he stands still". And it was true. Now, to all you horse sellers out there, I think I have seen all the things you should not do while selling a horse: -do NOT show up with an extremely muddy horse and say that you don't own a brush so you have to see if you can borrow one -do NOT have an aggressive dog threatening potential buyers when they take some of "dad's" attention -do NOT attempt to sell a horse that hasn't had hoof care in at least the past year, especially if the horse has an obvious club foot -do not put the saddle on closer to the horse's croup than the withers, with saddle only halfway on top of pad. -have your horse's teeth checked at least ONCE in a lifetime, especially if horse tilts head in a funny way when ridden on light contact. -DO tighten the girth before mounting -don't look puzzled when asked whether the horse knows its canter leads -do NOT have aforementioned aggressive dog running around blocking the horse's way when (after explanation) attempting to get the horse to canter -most horse buyers don't really care if the horse can gallop "extremely fast" Well, you get the idea. I rode the horse a little, and he was very sweet and very responsive, trying hard to please. But he was also uncomfortable about something, I certainly suspect some tooth problem and/or maybe a sore back. He had funny, choppy gaits and was very stiff to both sides. The good thing is that he tried all he could to please me, and made a tremendous effort. And the owner had enough sense to have the dog on a leash while I was riding. The owner was a nice person, he just didn't know a thing about horses. I asked if he had had a vet check when he bought the horse and he gave me a blank look. Then I gently explained about the club foot and asked if someone had ever mentioned it to him, and that was all new to him, but he appreciated the information. He could probably be a great rider with some instruction, he had good balance and great muscle tone, but I suspect he has learned all his riding in Western movies. As Brigid said it, this is a horse you might take on for free, but certainly not one you would pay for. But it was an interesting experience. I told the guy I was not really interested since I found another horse, but he still wanted us to come over. Usually it's bad manners trying a horse you have no intentions of buying. But I got a "thank you" for the horse's "training session". What an interesting scenario. So far from the "my pretty pony" - syndrome we usually come across when women sell their horses. And I have to admit that the horse's manners and general behavior was impeccable, so he must have done something right. OK, that's the horse shopping adventure, sorry about low fjord content so far. Oh, Tinn the fjord (bred by Janne Myrdal, belongs to Ruthie Koch here in San Jose) has learned to jump! He has been through different phases when I have tried him over tiny little jumps (over a period of about 6 months): 1- using his strong neck to turn and avoid the jump 2- crashing though the jump with poles flying, ignoring it completely 3- stopping in front of the jump, then taking a gigantic leap over (at least 3 feet over a 12 inch jump), followed by intense bucking and intense praise from rider (me), laughing in surprise by the fact that I was still in the saddle 4- slowing down in front of the jump, then hopping over on all four legs, and landing on all four, feeling pleased with himself 5- approaching the jump at the trot, then sailing over in an elegant little jump without slowing down, landing in a balanced canter (YEAH!) 6- when cantering in an arena with jumps, trying to steer toward a jump on his own free will, and I have a hard time keeping him away from them! (this might not be good, for example in a dressage ring :-)) Wishing everyone a great spring, Dagrun and fjord friends in sunny San Jose, California www.dagrun.freeservers.com
