But, it was satisfying in the "horse" department. On Saturday, I brought two to the 4-H workout, rode both, instructed some great kids on sweet horses, riding for most of 4 hours, and managed to get home just before dark. This after a full day at work.
Middlest was camping with the Girl Scouts, but was expected home Sunday after church. Also expected after church was the 4-H Club Fair Booth Committee to drag all the fair booth structures out of the barn, clean, repair and restore them in preparation for this year's fair. This, I could step away from, having handed off responsibility for this committee to Jen (Thank you Jen!) . So instead, I worked in the bottom of the barn, hanging a stall door on the last stall in preparation for the late afternoon activity: horse gathering.
Middlest and I left with an empty trailer to go meet my friend, fellow rider and Middlest's instructor, Kara to go look at a horse.
Mikey was our target. He is a 14 year old Thoroughbred gelding, who has been a race horse, and a hunter-jumper in the past. He ended up at Last Chance Corral, the same rescue where I acquired Oslo. Last Chance is a charity set up to rescue orphaned foals. In order to fund the expensive task, they take donations (tax- deductible) of quality horses to adopt out for a donation to the charity. Oslo was a fine donation to a fine charity. So, I had called Victoria- the head of Last Chance, to tell her I was looking for a jumper for Middlest last year. She called me last week to tell me she had my boy. So, we went to go see, and collect Mikey last night.
The first thing we saw was his head peeking over the stall door. All eyes in a smallish head, made even smaller by his thinness. He is a few hundred pounds under weight. He's gained a bit since he made it to Last Chance, but he still has hundreds to go. He left his stall nicely, and put up with my pokings and proddings. Very little damage noted in his bone structure, even though he did race, and even won over $7,000 in his younger years. He has a nice floaty trot, and an easy, rolling canter. A sweet disposition, and despite being a Thoroughbred, seems fairly un-flighty. Kara rode him first, so I could watch him go, and he was easy and calm. Then Middlest rode him. This is where I go find a seat and zip my lip, as I cannot say a thing without it being interference. Mother-daughter stuff, you know!
She did a fantastic job with him, even feeling brave enough to ask for a canter a few times- and his canter covers some ground!
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| Trying a bit of a trot. The barns at Last Chance are all old barns that have been moved to the property. They have brick floors and are really beautiful. |
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| And a canter- check out those long pasterns. Thouroughbreds. |
Eventually, I prevailed for my chance at sitting up on the big guy. He has a nice even stride with no signs of subtle lameness, so I went for the next bit of the test, annoying him half to death to see what he'd do- either accept it, or try and get rid of me. Well, I was successfully obnoxious, but he didn't disappoint and was accepting at the point when I thought he might just give me the shove. Since he's is skinny and out of condition, this was enough testing for a day- and so as darkness settled on Central Ohio, Mikey danced his way back to our farm (he needs some trailering training).
He's starting to adjust and calm down a bit. Oslo has not been helpful, as he has tried to intimidate Mike from his side of the no-hoof-zone. Peaches, on the other hand has been curious and sweet, a certain ally when they finally merge into a herd in a few weeks.
And today included a trip to the feed store. This boy needs groceries!
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| Mikey in the mud. Poor kid. With more rain than any other April in Ohio recorded history, there are no other choices! |
What was his race name? I don't know if you remember Grain. His race name was Dancer' Stride and that is what I used when I showed him. I am sure that something will come along that fit's.
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