>>>> yes, lots to consider. I dont even think Jaspar would be a good little >>>> kids horse. he would be a great lead line pony ride horse, but any time I >>>> have let someone ride him who was real inexperienced and took a real passenger non-riding role, he just immediately went oh, I'm free and walked over and started grazing and when they would pull and kick and scold he'd plod a few steps and start eating again. He can spot a pushover a mile away :)
Here's the other side of that story, one about our Mac, who reminded me of your Jaspar. We paid to lease Mac for a month before we bought him, and that was a very cold December. Still I was determined to ride him every opportunity I could before I wrote the check. Every night we'd go down to the barn to see him, and it would be in the teens - very cold for NC in December. The guy who owned him would be at the barn taking care of his other horses. The boarding barn was an old chicken house, at least 200 feet long, and we'd ride up and down the barn aisle. At one end of the barn, there was a stack of hay. About every second trip down, Mac, knowing he had total novices aboard, would refuse to make the turn, and would stroll out into the hay stack and have a snack. Finally, the owner looked up and said, would you like some advice. Yes, sure, please, how do we stop this? Cary was aboard at the moment, and he told him to get down, and he motioned for Emily (eight at the time) to come over. He looked at her and said, "I want you to ride Mac up and down the barn aisle, and don't you let him go to the hay stack. Ok? She just nodded, climbed up on big old Mac...and he never, ever - not once - went to the haystack with her. The owner had seen her riding in her lessons, and I guess he knew she was a positive thinker - a totally confident rider. That was just mortifying to Cary and me, to be out-ridden by our eight-year old kid. Moral of the story - you must define "kid" before you decide if any given horse is a suitable kid's horse. At eight, Emily could outride a lot of adults, including yours truly. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.9/1198 - Release Date: 12/26/2007 5:26 PM
