| October
2005 update
(as posted by AnnMarie
Cross, president, to the CWER
email list)
|
I
sat at the Arthur Auction this past Saturday, watching
the horses go through, silently mourning the ones I
cannot save as they go to meat; thrilled for those who
seemed to find productive new lives.
A
teenage boy who appeared to be overconfident is
leading a small gray mare toward the arena, in the
shoot. He's next in line with her, and suddenly
decides to jump on her bareback. The mare is already
nervous and wild eyed. He hits her rump as he attempts
to swing up and she throws a fit. Rears, fusses, etc.
Eventually he gets his leg over and nearly on, she
spins him down the inside until he falls in 'the well'
and comes off. All of this is in full visibility of
about 75% of the bidders. Finally the horse in front
of him leaves the arena and he leads the shell shocked
mare in.
The
meat buyer bids $100 on this roughly-500 lb mare.
I do the math in my head. he'll go as high as $150,
more than that, he can't afford to take her for meat.
This is the math I've been doing all day, and I've
been pretty right on with everything he's bid on. The
auctioneer calls for $200, then $175, then $150. he
holds at $150 a while, then $125. No other bids. I'm
sweating, shaking inside, furious at this kid
who just cost this horse her life by making her look
wild and difficult. The auctioneer says "last
call" at $110. I can't stand it, step up and bid
$110. The meat buyer bids $120, my $130, his $140, my
$150. I'm stopping at $150, knowing if he pays more
than that, he's going to pass her off to a horse
trader to be trained or retrained, he wont spend that
much to take her to meat, it isn't worth it. As
expected, he stops. Going once, going twice, and she's
mine.
Ok,
so go back and really meet the little mare. (I try to
look over every horse in the barn before they start
bidding, not knowing what I might bid on to save from
the meat buyer.) She's nervous but no longer panicked.
She has bright beautiful eyes, is listed as 5 years
old, "cross" as her breed (we're guessing she's TB/Arab cross, although VERY petite), her teeth
seem to match roughly 5. She's nicely built, narrow
but not just up front, all the way around. seemed to
move nicely enough. Coggins says her name is
"Prissy". YUCK! Call her by it several
times, she doesn't respond to it at all, good! We can
give her a new name then.
She
loads on the trailer surprisingly nicely, and soon
enough she's home and in a stall. Oh, she hates to be
alone. Well that's ok, put the new yearling pony that
came home in the stall next to her.
Her
feet are pretty rough, we go to trim her feet, I'm
surprised to find she's VERY fussy about having even
her front feet handled. She seems pretty mad that
we're trying, in fact, and a smart little bugger! She
tried every trick in the book, including rearing to
pull her hoof free; she soon learned that didn't work,
but Mike managed to get a basic trim on her, and clean
up the quarter cracks. She's at risk of a pretty nasty
one on her right front on the outside, even with the
trim, but hopefully it'll hold up ok. I'm starting to
wonder if maybe she isn't as handled as I'd guessed
she was when we were at the sale barn. Oh well, never
know what will come out of that place....
....
I've
played with her every day this week, if only for a few
moments. She's nervous in a round pen, not done that
before. But very comfortable on a lunge line. Carries
herself like a hunter under saddle or maybe an Arabian
Showhorse, no dressage
collection, no Arabian trained head carriage, although
she sure carries her tail naturally high like a
purebred Arabian. I bring a saddle pad in her stall,
she sniffs it to see whose worn it before, no other
interest. We saddle up with no concern whatsoever.
take her for a walk, then lunge, VERY comfortable in a
saddle, no problem there.
Then
I go to bridle her -- tied out front now, instead of
in a stall. MAN this is ONE tiny head! good grief!
Factor's bridle (our 15.3h TB with a classic French
tiny head) is inches upon inches too big. and she's
surprisingly fussy with a bit going in her mouth.
interesting. lots of people around, distractions. lets
save that for another day.
Then,
last night, I pulled out the smallest cob English
bridle in our assorted 'misc' box, put a pony
4-1/2" rubber mouth full cheek snaffle on it, set
it to the smallest size, and take it in gray-C's
stall. She's much more willing to have the bit in her
mouth this time - no distractions, no people or other
horses around. She seems used to being tacked in a
stall rather than tied out front. I adjust the bridle
out several inches -- at least her head isn't THAT
small, but man a 4-1/2" bit!
Ok,
so she's a lot more comfortable today. in bridle.
(Turns out she only likes to be tacked up in a stall.
Seems panicked tied out front.) Ok, lets go lunge
again. Yep, perfectly comfortable. no fussing at the
bit. The reins are plenty long that there's no
side-rein type action with them hooked under the
stirrup leathers. She's moving nicely.
(Her
right hip is stuck and needs a chiro adjustment,
otherwise man is she a pretty mover! very floaty up
front. can't wait to see how she feels to ride.)
I
change the lunge for a lead, and hand the lead to
mike. Talking to her, rubbing her neck, ease my weight
in the stirrup, no interest from gray-C at all. I
stand in the stirrup, she looks at me like "get
up there already!". swing up, she's perfectly
relaxed. Mike leads her, she seems unwilling to pay
attention to me while he's on the lead, but obviously
comfortable. We do a lap at a trot to ensure she's
balanced and secure there. I'm winning the argument
with mike -- she has more saddle training than
we were guessing, not less. He unhooks the lead and I
ride her about a bit at a walk.
She
tries a variety of silly games that she's obviously
gotten away with before...stopping, turning away from
the direction I'm taking her, bulging her circles out
toward the barn and in away from the arena fence. She
responds more to taps with the calf or heel than
pressure. Bends VERY nicely to the left, that hip wont
let her bend in circles to the right.
She
argues a bit at a trot, keeps stopping near her buddy
izzy whose in the pasture beside us. Mike brings me a
crop, it doesn't upset her as he hands it to me. I tap
her on the shoulder, its perfectly familiar. Later I
tried to tap behind the leg when she was bowing out --
did NOT like that at all! Ok, definitely not had any
training by a dressage rider. The shoulder tap is
hunter style. nothing saddle seat-ish about how she's
moving.
It
appears she's what I'd guessed she would be...a
reasonably trained intermediate level hunter under
saddle mount, that's a superb size for a little rider
(like 5'3 or under would be ideal). Once her hip
is adjusted we'll look at canter work and go forward
with other directions with her, but I think we've got
a really sweet special little girl here, whose pretty
much unscathed from the kid who we guess was just showing her for someone else.
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