Comment

Comment by Walter Berger on March 14, 2012 at 7:33pm

I was looking for a trail riding horse and saw the add. When I rang, I found out it was a 7 year old Standardbred and a lady had already left a deposit, but I gave my name and number anyway and kept looking. I found another likely prospect, left a deposit and arranged a vet check for the next day.

That evening I got the phone call. The lady had changed her mind and did I want to have a look. The Vet check was not until noon, so I went up there in the morning just in case. An alert and friendly Gelding and his owner met me. He was saddled up and I went for a bit of a ride in the paddock. Having ridden Standardbreds before, I knew the main thing to look for was if he would canter or pace. I walked around a bit and kicked him up into what was supposed to be a trot. I got a medium sized pigroot (the previous lady prospect fell off at this stage), which was followed by the comfortable Standardbred canter which I had experienced before. I called off the vet for the other horse, and luckless ladies deposit contributed to my loosing my deposit. I didn’t even bother with a vet check on Jarrah, as he felt so right.

It is now a few years later. Jarrah is 25 years young, acting the 4 year old at times. Our specialty has always been horse trials. He has completed a couple of Level 4 short course events a few years ago year, winning at one with the only Clear Time round, and placing 2nd at Upper Yarra. He also competed at the the Standardbred Dressage State Championships, where he placed 3rd and 4th to some very nice younger horses. He did win the SPPHAV State Chamionship Showjumping for 4 years, retiring from Showjumping officially in 2003. His last win was at the Gembrook 15km Time trial in 2007 where he was acting the 4 year old for most of the ride. What a Champion.

Comment by Lori Tankel on March 14, 2012 at 7:23pm

Tucker was a PMU foal that I adopted from Foal Quest. I was looking for a draft cross, one who looked like he would be athletic enough for eventing. I poured over dozens and dozens of photos on several adoption sites.I finally found what I was looking for in Tucker. And best of all, he was my favorite color, black! Tucker arrived a few months later. He was bigger than any of the other foals that were delivered to Florida. He was wild! Friends told me I would never settle him down! I learned that Tucker's weak point was food! I started clicker training him. After a week, I could put a halter on him. The rest after that came easy! Leading, grooming, picking his hooves up. When he was 3 years old, I broke him to the saddle. Because he was so big, I wanted to take my time with him and not worry about any injuries. I didn't jump him until he was almost 5. He will be 9 on May 25. He is my gentle giant! At 17.1 hands, he doesn't realize how big he is and thinks he is a big dog. He events and nothing fazes him. He is the most laid back horse I have ever had. He is very brave and loves to gallop cross country. He has been an amazing partner! His show name is Patronus, from the Harry Potter movies. It means defender or protector. As an eventer, I think that is an appropriate name!

Comment by Christina Marguerite Pittmann on March 14, 2012 at 6:54pm

I was in search of a horse to replace my retiring Thoroughbred.  He was a sunny character on the ground but Mister buck and bolt under saddle.  I wanted the exact opposite of him.  I was on the hunt for a horse for Dressage.  I was severely limited in terms of budget, so the search took a long time.  I was on a horse finding trip when someone suggested a horse rescue place in the lower Mainland.  Many emails and much waiting, I made arrangements to see Gigi.  I was a little late so she was ready to go into the trailer to be hauled.  She stepped out of the barn and all I could think was oh my!  Her big chestnut ears were perked and she just floated.  

Gigi had been dropped off at the rescue place because she had an intermittent lameness problem, and wouldn't catch when bred.  This made the Oldenburg right in my price range.

During the subsequent ride, as rusty as she was, felt like my next best friend.  She was lazy, pushy and a very good girl.  There was a very loud noise beside us as we came down the long side.  She shied for a second, and then went right back to work.  I only tried her for a few minutes, but I knew.  The next day I went back to ask her if she wanted to come live with me.  I feel blessed everyday with a horse that would be my best friend even if I couldn't ride her.

Comment by Stephanie briggs on March 14, 2012 at 6:45pm

Don't know if it was luck but i placed a call to the all time best Non Pro reining coach, Charlie Smith, telling him, i needed a horse for last year's show season. He said, perfect timing, i have just the horse for you!! I started asking him a bunch of questions and all he said: Steph, you don't get it: this is YOUR horse! I ended the questioning, paid the man and with l a little transport logistics, good coaching and  hard work Dunit N Starlight has lead me to Top Rookie in Canada for 2011, Champion NRHA Rookie Level 1, Champion NRHA Rookie Level 2, AQR Rookie 1 and rookie 2 champion and NRHA Novice horse level 1 champion:-) 

Comment by Chris Rodriguez on March 14, 2012 at 6:08pm

I was on the hunt for a horse to help me get my confidence back again after 15 years of raising my kids and being away from horses. I found my confidence again thanks to a 23 yr old morgan mare named Candy that was going to go to slaughter as her owner found her useless since she wouldn't "take" anymore for breeding. She was at least 200lbs underweight and timid of people. I brought her home and nurtured her and loved her back to health. She is now 29 and healthy and happy as can be and will live out the remainder of her life with me. She still loves going for the occasional trail ride and holds her head high and proud as she does her fancy morgan trot down the trail!!

Comment by Stacey Stearns on March 14, 2012 at 5:58pm

I saw a picture of Johnny (registered name is Kerry Killarney!) taken when he was three months old in a sale catalog online.  The sale was taking place in Illinois, I was in Connecticut.  It was a bad picture, but I thought he was adorable.  Despite friends that raved about the bloodlines, I decided I probably didn't need to buy a young horse - he was eight months old at the time of the sale.

The day after the auction, I went online to see who bought "my horse."  This is what I saw:

Kerry Killarney - No Sale

This intrigued me.  It was fate.  I called his breeder/owner at Kerry Morgans.  She told me that she was relocating to Oregon, which was why the horses were for sale.  When she got to the auction, everyone told her he was too nice to go through a sale.  I told her I would send her a check.

Two weeks later, Kerry Killarney arrived and the last 8 years have been a blast!  I was lucky he didn't sell and even luckier that buying a horse sight unseen on the internet worked out so well!!

Comment by Grace Clairmont on March 14, 2012 at 5:02pm

My coach brought him back for me!! <3

Comment by mary bogue on March 14, 2012 at 4:46pm

When I turned 50 I told my husband I would like a diamond for my navel ring - being that he was not in love with it to begin with he told me to take a similar value and buy something I wanted.  Well, I had been taking a couple of Western Pleasure lessons at a local stable and a young yearling had recently been brought up from Texas by the owners of the barn.  My riding had taken a hiatus for 25 years - year ago my youth on the prairies consisted of jumping on bareback and riding down ditches to town.  There was no formal training, just books, then trial and error.  This young yearling was a character and when he was two I started to notice him and his antics more and more.  So I did what every horse person says you should never do - a green rider bought a green broke horse.  We have never looked back - luckily I was able to take clinics and lessons at opportune times of our continuing journey.  There have been injuries to both of us, bouts of allergies, scratches, and new barns to board at.  Through all of our times our trust in each other has grown stronger.  Over the last six years we have developed a wonderful relationship practicing natural horsemanship, dressage, the odd jumping poles, trail rides, showmanship, and some cow work.  My husband has been riding him for three years now and we both couldn't be happier.  Although a diamond may have been cheaper in the long run, both my husband and I recognize the actual diamond we have in our Quincy's Rocking Now (aka Pumba).

Comment by D.J. Malloy on March 14, 2012 at 3:48pm

At 56 years old, working 2 full time jobs (on top of being a wife and mother), I wasn't looking for a horse. I was instead looking for time to breathe and maintain my sanity. One day, at my day job, we had a new lady, Cheryl, come to work for our office as our new Accountant. She rode every day after work and we talked horses during breaks and down time. I mentioned that I had a horse about a hundred years ago and that riding held many fond memories for me. After a couple of months of her prodding, I caved to her gracious invitation and made the trip to the barn with her after work. I was introduced to the owner/trainer and to several others there to ride, take lessons, or just care for their horses who were boarded there. After a up-down look-over by the trainer, she agreed to allow me to ride. I admitted I hadn't ridden in years (upon years). The trainer assured me she had the perfect mount for me to start out. "Dakota", a 15.2hh Chestnut QH was brought in from the pasture. She was beautiful! Her coat was shedding out her winter growth; she was "patchy" and her legs were covered in mud.. but she was still beautiful to me! Dakota had been a winning show horse in her day; but she had long since given the farm a couple of beautiful foals and hadn't been doing much else. Like me, she could be considered past her prime, but she is still full of life; and a little out of shape, but still willing to work. I tacked up, mounted and fell in love! For a couple of weeks, Dakota and I endured sore muscles from our new workouts but were blissfully happy non the less. I fussed over her, and she tolerated my poor riding habits; all the while enjoying the the new attention I was able to give her (and vise versa). Next thing you know, I'm shopping for horsey things and showed up with a fly sheet and citronella bands for her legs. I didn't want her to have anymore lumps and bumps from the Boeing size mosquitoes and black flies common in Northern Michigan. She almost looked proud of herself as she sported her "closeout" sheet back out into the pasture! And what was even more funny was the way the other members of the herd checked her out as she walked by... As if to say "Dakota? Is that you wearing that lovely powder blue fly sheet?" Since then, a year has passed. I ride more often and Dakota and I have both lost weight and are in much better shape than we were a year ago. We have bonded and we take good care of each other. I love this Mare! And I love my friend and co-worker who  took the time to introduce my Mare and me! 

Comment by Katherine Mutti on March 14, 2012 at 3:46pm

We had been looking for a young Gypsy Vanner filly for several months and I had contacted many different farms about prospective foals to purchase.  As all of the farms at that time were spread out across Canada and the U.S. it was impossible to go visit each in person to check them out and I was hesitant to purchase based upon photos and videos alone. 

I had a flight scheduled to get to Cincinnati for a business meeting and when I arrived at the airport checkin they pointed out that the ticket I had had been purchased for the wrong date, and even though seats were available on the flight the airline wanted an exhorbitant amount of money to switch the ticket for me.   My choice was to pay almost 2 grand to fly or to turn around and drive the seven hours to get to my meeting.   I decided to drive. 

As luck would have it, my route to Cincinnati took me within 5 miles of one of the farms that had a filly that I had been interested in.  I called them enroute and they were available to show her to me.   I fell in love with her on sight, but found that as she'd been weaned since I had last spoke to them they had raised their asking price by several thousand dollars to put her price outside my budget.   I left telling them that I loved her but couldn't buy her for the extra money.   Within a half hour of leaving, they called to tell me they'd sell her to me for the original price.  

We had our new girl home within the month and she is now four years old and competing in Training Level dressage and has the sweetest personality of all of our horses.  A couple of weeks ago we had to give her her first body clip as with all of the mud this year, combined with her long thick fuzzy coat she was getting girth sores.   Now she is clipped but having always gone au naturel with her fuzzy thick coat year round we have not outfitted her with blankets, coolers etc. to protect her from the elements.    

Before and after:

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• …
• 12
• Next ›
• Page