Oh Great, Another Arabian

Wed May 26, 2004

I went out to the barn tonight, to maybe ride Prince or Tru, those two "loaner horses" from this winter that I rode while Tezlu was lame. I barely walk in the door when Bob, the barn owner, sees me and says "Hey Sue, I found something for you! C'mon back and have a look!" Oh, great...now what!

Turns out he JUST happened to be down in Chicago yesterday to a horse sale (?????) and JUST happened to come back with a gorgeous, petite, fleabitten grey Arabian Gelding! Gentle, broke, you can ride him with just a halter, neck reins, maybe 14HH if that much...

I'm welcome to play with him, ride him, work him, whatever I want. If I like him, well then, he'll sell him to me at cost...and from the hints I gathered that ain't very much. Also judging from the fact the horse had hooves badly in need of a trim (farrier coming tomorrow)...no 5-figure showhorse would have such overgrown and chipped hooves.



And JUST so happened that the vet stopped by tonight as well (same one that sent Tezlu on his way), and she JUST happened to do a checkup on that gelding while I was there...pointing out all the good healthy things about him. She guestimates him to be around 6 years old (I didn't think he was that old, considering how dark a fleabit grey he is), he's got a slightly overshot lower jaw, but she didn't think that would matter any. Got him all blood tested and vaccinated, asked me what his name was...hell if I know, don't think he has one, so she named him "Oasis" for now.

Well, I did brush him, and he had VERY nice ground manners, picked his feet right up for picking, not head shy in the least, settled right down and enjoyed the brushing. Was odd to brush a horse with meat on his bones, LOL. SO short too, tiny tiny horse, mutton withered, wide-chest, long sloping shoulders, no rafter butt.

Saddled him up, he had no issues with that at all, though the pad was huge on him...and the girth too! Was surprised as hell when I put the bridle on, he about picked it up and put it on himself! Very gentle, very friendly, very "people-oriented" (but it IS an Arabian)

He didn't know how to lunge, great...I got on him, he immediately took off & started bucking before I got my right foot in the stirrup, but spun him in
some circles & got my foot in. He was full of Piss & Vinegar...not surprising, if he'd been in a stall for at least two days, never mind the 7 hr drive up from Chicago in a horse trailer, he def. needed a good workout before being ridden. So, I just walked him...he definitely had his own ideas
of where to go and what to do, but so did I...I'm certainly used to dealing will bull-headed Arabians (Tezlu was an Aries, need I say more?). Little bucking, little rearing, lot of head-tossing, but after a while of walking and circles, he did settle down and turned into a nice, responsive little horse with a good long stride. Very ticklish on the sides, but neck-reined quite nice and was very very light in the mouth with a plain snaffle...Hmmm.

I still feel it's too early to get another horse...but the barn owner did offer to let me play with that horse all I want...so I plan to. Maybe get him in the round pen at least. Review my Richard Shrake videos, LOL.

I think I shall call him "Cusco"...because when you're riding him, the back of his head/neck looks like a Llama ("The Emperor's New Groove" anyone?), LOL!

He's got a nice trot too...I was too chicken to canter him. Not 'til I get a shorter girth anyway. And work his brains out to get that energy level down.

We shall see.