Youngfarmer2019
True BYH Addict
For those of ya'll that follow along with my journal, you'll know that we picked up my first horse on Friday. Here's a little background and full pickup story:
First time I ever rode a horse was to celebrate my 8th birthday. The horse I rode was named Silverbell, she was a jet black thoroughbred, 17hh, who had won first place in several english events (don't ask what type, I don't ride english and have no idea what events they hold) She was jumpy, very fast, and didn't listen to her owner very well. The owner slapped an english saddle on her back, gave me some pointers and sent me on my way. I never rode her again
.
Fast foward several years, the next horse I rode was a dun quarter horse named Spruce's Twister Mongoose. She is 15hh, ridden western, verrrrry well mannered, kind, gentle (she's actually used as a therapy horse) and has the smoothest lope ever
. I still go and ride Twister to this day. I fell in love with quarter horses and riding western from that moment on.
Point is...I have been horse crazy for as long as I can remember, no it isn't a phase, I just have a passion for horses. It took me a long time to convince my parents that having a horse around was the right way to go. When I finally did convince them, we couldn't find any cheap enough for us to afford
. It has been about 2 years since I convinced my parents to get a horse and in those two years no horse cheap enough showed up unfortunately. About a year and a half ago, I started to give up hope of ever owning a horse.
Well, last Thursday we gave away Maggie Pearl, my grandma's Great Pyrenees LGD because my grandma had a stroke last monday and was unable to care for her. I took the entire day beautifying that dog for her new owners and right around 6pm (by then the new owner had shown up to take Maggie to her new home) I took a couple minutes for a breather and looked up the word "FREE" in the Craigslist search bar. Low and Behold a FREE horse was posted not but 45 minutes ago. I immediately asked my dad and he said "let's get him!" I texted the guy and he heard about our farm, we sent him a link to our YouTube channel and he said "no matter how long it takes, this horse is going to ya'lls farm"
not gonna lie, I started to cry a little bit.
We showed up at the guys house the next day and got him loaded (not without difficulty) onto a friend's trailer. The horse has no faults and only needed his hooves trimmed and another dose of dewormer. The old owner had him on 1/8th of an acre and felt bad because his daughter had lost interest in the horse. He gave us EVERYTHING for free, his saddle, his halter (which I cut off and replaced), a round bale of hay, and the rest of his grain.
When we got him home, we turned him loose in the 3 acre pasture and he TOOK OFF, It was beautiful watching him run and explore his new pasture. He is sweet, calm, picks up his feet well, but needs some work in respecting my personal space, backing up, yielding his hindquarters, etc. We have already started lunging him and getting him to back up better.
Here's some stats on him: He's an Appendix horse, also known as an Appendix Quarter Horse (Half Quarter Horse, half Thoroughbred), 13-14yrs old, has been ridden before but its been about a year so he'll need some work, he needs to be taught respect above anything else.
He came with the name Max, he's now called Tucker. Tucker is Home.
First time I ever rode a horse was to celebrate my 8th birthday. The horse I rode was named Silverbell, she was a jet black thoroughbred, 17hh, who had won first place in several english events (don't ask what type, I don't ride english and have no idea what events they hold) She was jumpy, very fast, and didn't listen to her owner very well. The owner slapped an english saddle on her back, gave me some pointers and sent me on my way. I never rode her again
.Fast foward several years, the next horse I rode was a dun quarter horse named Spruce's Twister Mongoose. She is 15hh, ridden western, verrrrry well mannered, kind, gentle (she's actually used as a therapy horse) and has the smoothest lope ever
. I still go and ride Twister to this day. I fell in love with quarter horses and riding western from that moment on.Point is...I have been horse crazy for as long as I can remember, no it isn't a phase, I just have a passion for horses. It took me a long time to convince my parents that having a horse around was the right way to go. When I finally did convince them, we couldn't find any cheap enough for us to afford
. It has been about 2 years since I convinced my parents to get a horse and in those two years no horse cheap enough showed up unfortunately. About a year and a half ago, I started to give up hope of ever owning a horse.Well, last Thursday we gave away Maggie Pearl, my grandma's Great Pyrenees LGD because my grandma had a stroke last monday and was unable to care for her. I took the entire day beautifying that dog for her new owners and right around 6pm (by then the new owner had shown up to take Maggie to her new home) I took a couple minutes for a breather and looked up the word "FREE" in the Craigslist search bar. Low and Behold a FREE horse was posted not but 45 minutes ago. I immediately asked my dad and he said "let's get him!" I texted the guy and he heard about our farm, we sent him a link to our YouTube channel and he said "no matter how long it takes, this horse is going to ya'lls farm"
not gonna lie, I started to cry a little bit.We showed up at the guys house the next day and got him loaded (not without difficulty) onto a friend's trailer. The horse has no faults and only needed his hooves trimmed and another dose of dewormer. The old owner had him on 1/8th of an acre and felt bad because his daughter had lost interest in the horse. He gave us EVERYTHING for free, his saddle, his halter (which I cut off and replaced), a round bale of hay, and the rest of his grain.
When we got him home, we turned him loose in the 3 acre pasture and he TOOK OFF, It was beautiful watching him run and explore his new pasture. He is sweet, calm, picks up his feet well, but needs some work in respecting my personal space, backing up, yielding his hindquarters, etc. We have already started lunging him and getting him to back up better.
Here's some stats on him: He's an Appendix horse, also known as an Appendix Quarter Horse (Half Quarter Horse, half Thoroughbred), 13-14yrs old, has been ridden before but its been about a year so he'll need some work, he needs to be taught respect above anything else.
He came with the name Max, he's now called Tucker. Tucker is Home.
. He'll love the daily attention and respond well. Keep it up...with lotsa hugs!!!! No doubt he's getting those.
