How long has it been? Four months? I am very good at starting something like this, and then letting it sit and decay. It was always the same every time I attempted to keep a journal. It is a very good thing I am not that way with my animals, or there would be some very long-toed, potentially wormy wildebeests out in my pasture, and some very scruffy looking dogs jumping on my couch and digging in my flower bed.
Let me begin by saying that my herd is down to three. I made the decision to sell Dez early this spring. We originally agreed to bring him home as my fiance was in love with him, and he intended for him to be his trail horse. Unfortunately, Dez is just too small and he will not be getting any bigger. At 14.2hh and VERY narrow and light boned, he is a bit too little of a horse for my full grown man of a fiance. I had him for over a year, and in that time he went from friendly with good ground manners, to broke under saddle and kid safe. He was a very fast learner, with the personality of a laid-back dog. I wondered if he came out of the womb broke to ride. Even though I miss the furry little guy, he went to a WONDERFUL home. I saw the barn he was being kept at, and the new saddle, halter, and turn out blanket the excited new owner went and bought her new Dez (Now named Beau.) We keep in contact and I recieve frequent updates and photos. I can't be happier with the woman who decided to make him her new companion.
My weanlings are now happy yearlings, one of which is threatening to be a giant when full grown, as his current height is that of a small adult horse. I'll be breaking out the ladder when if finally comes time to mount up (still SO far off.) Stella is still her slightly grumpy old self. She sure has character, and is never grumpy to humans, but she gets that look in her eye when she just knows she is going to have to work. I can imagine her muttering under her breath like Yosemite Sam (If anyone actually remembers the GOOD cartoons back in 'the day'.) She is still slow and dependable, very comfortable to ride, sane and sound. But she certainly isn't much of a challenge!
Let me tell you about my recent experiences with this mare. I had been wanting to breed her, because one of the reasons I purchased her was her amazing build, wonderful lines, and her easy going attitude. I do not want anyone to make the mistake that I am some horsey mill. I have NEVER had a foal born out of any of MY mares, nor have I ever had a stallion to speak of, so I have not caused the birth of any equine into this world in the past. I had tried for a foal once out of an arabian mare I had. She was a stunning example of the breed in all ways, and I was very lucky to have gotten her for what I paid. Unfortunately, after a year of planning, hunting down a stallion, having the vet out several times to do all the prep work, and actually GETTING her preggo, she aborted the foal.
I was very disappointed and didn't even feel the enthusiasm to think about trying again. That was several years ago, and Corvette has since gone to a new home. I knew I wanted to breed, but not until I had something that was truly a high quality animal in conformation, pedigree, ability and temperament. That is where Stella comes in. She was bred to be a rail horse, and she has the relaxed, sweeping stride and the naturally level head set. I wanted something to cross for a more all around horse that could be geared more towards working western events. I searched high and low for something acceptable, and just couldn't find something I wanted to cross on her. Its much harder to find a good cross that will make an athletic foal when you are trying to cross two different types (In this case a rail horse with a working horse.) I was also missing having something with some more get up and go, so I decided to offer her as a trade for a bred mare suitable for reining (my favorite equine sport.) Training didn't matter, but I had to like the mare and stallion well. I would have a nice foal bred to do what I wanted, and I would have a mare that would be a nice challenge as well.
To make a long story short, I found a nice buckskin tobiano mare in foal to a red dun overo. I have to admit that I let color and her gorgeous hip to blind myself to her attrocious bloodlines, and the stallions flaws. I should never have settled for a foal out of a stallion who was camped out, had a VERY nesty neck and some overall issues with his front end. I let HIS color blind me as well, as he was very "blingy". And I was again drawn to his large, well conformed hip. I SETTLED, when I shouldn't have, because I really like the mare's color and conformation. I should have simply asked to trade her open, but I agreed to the breeding. I didn't feel like trading my bomb proof, well bred mare for a greenie who apparently bucked off its last owner with no bloodlines to speak of was an equivalent trade even IF my mare is 17 and hers was only 5. The foal evened things out, but I COULD have gotten her and then bred to a stallion of higher quality of my own choosing instead.
I guess it was a good thing that the trade fell through, because now I have Stella out at pasture with a stunning red dun tobiano stud, and I am expecting a stellar foal. I had found him BEFORE I even thought of trading her, but he wasn't really available for breeding at the time. After I agreed to trade with this nutcase of a woman, the stud became available, but I didn't want to back out on a deal I had made in good faith. The woman went apeshit after she read some comments I posted about her horses on a forum and called the whole thing off, electing to call me a "fucking crazy cunt" to finish the entire ordeal off with a nice expletive cherry on top. Well hurrah for her ability to cuss at her age. I thought old bats like her were stuck in the good ol' days where ladies never dared to speak in such a manner.
I guess she missed out on those lessons while she was out "rescuing" PMU babies that no one f'ing wanted in the first place so that she could bring them home and breed MORE of them. You just missed the entire point of rescuing horses woman. But thank you for flipping out and snapping me out of the la-la land I was in, drooling over your pretty PMU mare. I should NEVER had stooped to actually WANTING two RESCUED PMU horses bred together. Horses with shit for pedigrees, with zero accomplishments to speak of, and whose sires/dams were ridiculously fugly to begin with. That is just as bad as the PMU ranches themselves, and it is perpetuating more useless crap to go a kill buyer at an auction.
The mare was nice, but you are right, she MIGHT have thrown back to her immensely fugly sire. Couple THAT hideous conformation with your stallions camped out hind end and his ridiculously nesty neck, and I would have something I couldn't give away for free unless it was to the illegal immigrant down the street who ships horses over the border for meat. So thank you, you crazy hypocrite, because you saved me from my momentary lapse in judgment. Now I KNOW I posted a huge deal about leaving BYB ALONE. However, I was referring to those people who are breeding a one time foal for themselves, not breeding foal after foal after foal for re-sale. If you are going to be throwing horses out into the industry, you need to be throwing good horses out there. That means they have a good pedigree, not fifty generations of shitty PMU horses. It means your horses should have SOME sort of NOTICEABLE accomplishment, not just getting a purty blue ribbon at the weekend horse show down the street. If your horse does NOT, it's IMMEDIATE family needs to. This means one to two generations back, MAXIMUM. Oooh, that horse was related to King? Who the f*** wasn't? Oooh, that Arabian has Bask in her bloodlines? So do literally 5,000 other arabians including old fugly in Jimmy's backyard.
Stella has points on the amateur APHA circuit. Only 3, but it is something and in a recognizable, major organization, not just some local horse show. Beyond that, her lines are very good for many generations that are close up, not her great great great great great grandsire. Far Ute Keno, Mr. Robin Boy, Sir Quincy Keno, Quincy Dan, etc. The stallion is very young and this will be his first crop (and a test crop.) He hasn't accomplished anything YET on a major scale, but has just begun his career and is VERY well trained and amazing at what he does (reining, cow work.) His sire is Wanted Reward who is a money earner and was ranked in 2005 as a 5 year leading reined cow horse sire . PaintnCash Reward, "Cash" (the stud I am using), has several siblings winning right now, and one of his brothers took Reserve World Champ in the NRCHA World Futurity, has an APHA Superior in Working Cow Horse and a ROM in Reining with earnings of more than $25,000. Another brother was an APHA Zone 1 champ in Jr. Working Cow Horse and went to APHA world where he placed in the top 15. The stud I am using may not have accomplished anything like this yet, but this is close up excellence in his bloodlines, not some famous horse from 10 generations ago.
*"Cash". NOT a confo pic, I was just snapping photos of him. The owner wants a test crop before marketing him, so he hasn't taken any marketing photos, I.E. confo shots, etc.*
THIS is what I SHOULD have been breeding in the first place. Horses with excellent bloodlines, PROVEN ability on some scale larger than your word of mouth or a horse show at the expo park in town. Horses with great conformations and only minor flaws, not something as glaring as the crappy front end on a "blingy" overo stud, or his equally ridiculous camped out hind end. So thank you, thank you for being a bag. I posted that mare and that stallion and asked for critique from members of the forum. I asked for what THEY though of the horse I was potentially getting. Why shouldn't I get input when buying a horse? It makes sense. Some people are obviously just not adult enough to see what is said about their poorly conformed horses, even when the reason for the critique is completely justifiable.
Stella may not be a challenge, but I am having fun teaching her some new things. I have to learn to get more creative, rather than get bored. I would have missed the old gal anyways, and I would have smacked myself in the face for not breeding HER instead of a mediocre second, because she is the one I fell in love with FOR her awesome build. I am glad I didn't make a ridiculous mistake, because that certainly would have been one. :)
*Just a recent picture of Stella grazing away in her ridiculous fly mask. She is leaning pretty heavy towards the left with her foot way underneath her. She was staring to make the weight shift to take a step when I snapped this. *
