This big guy is the horse of anybody's dreams. He is the horse that I officially learned to ride on. I got my balance and confidence on this horse. He is and was a dream. He's the most patient, unflinching animal you could ever come across. In essence, he's a huge teddy bear with an appetite, lol. That was one of the only downfalls about it ... he'll go to great lengths to eat, even if you're riding, no matter how fast you're going. I can't tell you how many times reins were ripped out of my hands so he could grab a mouthful of grass, or leaves, or whatever had gained his interested. There were even a couple of sets of reins broken because of it. Of course all we could do was laugh, it wasn't as if I was in danger. This is also the horse, that upon stumbling and beginning a fall with me on his back, getting ready to topple off over his right shoulder and eventually UNDER him if the fall would have gone as was probable, used all of his strength to hurl himself back up and over in the other direction to right me in the saddle and not fall on me. He strained his shoulder a little bit and lost a shoe in the process, which I still have, but I was not hurt one bit, only a little shaken and worried about him. He'll be in my heart for life.
This lanky looking fella is the horse I advanced my riding experience on. I learned to jump higher jumps on him. This is the horse that gave me the confidence and skill to jump 4 foot high fences. He was a handful for sure, as he was VERY speedy, but he knew what he was doing. I have to admit that this horse was about as professional as you could get when it came to riding. He knew what his job was and he did it. I also groomed for him as my friend rode him in shows and that was exhilerating. I have many memories of this guy, including the very first show I groomed at, during which he promptly stepped on my foot and pressed his weight down the more I grunted and hollered and pushed to get him off. Lucky that he came out of that show a champion or I might have really throttled him. That devilish look in his eye told me he knew what he was doing too. Then there was one of the last shows we went it, a sort of big deal of a show as well, and that little bastard rolled while I was holding his lead rope, as he was wearing his blanket. It could have been catastrophic, but luckily I was able to stay out of his way and keep the lead rope out of his legs' way and coax him up fairly quickly. Oh he is a beauty for sure as well and he's also reserved a permanent place in my heart.
Yes, now here are the pictures you were really waiting for, lol. Isn't it such a pretty background behind her as well? That's just one portion of the pasture she gets to roam. This place is a no man's land basically, because once she gets to this part of the pasture there is certainly no hope at all of catching her with all of the trees she has to weave in and out from.
I got a little closer up, and at this point she's looking at me as if to say 'Really mom, pictures, AGAIN? Gaawwwwd!' It was priceless, but a beautiful day and I couldn't resist!
Then naturally, she wasn't in the mood for pictures once she realized what I was doing and promtly went back to stuffing her face. Pig. But I love her.
