A Tale of Two Horses

Ok, let’s try this again. I had to go away and do something else for a bit – that is the first time I’ve had that happen. To make a long story short, we drove over 400 miles today, got lost several times (just to make the trip more interesting), drove by a town called Spital-on -the-Street (hey, I don’t make this stuff up!) and finally found the farm where the horse was.

He was wonderful, and I knew right away that we were going to buy him.

He’s a 16.2-16.3 three-year-old Cleveland Bay stallion, and he’s wonderful. BIG boy, but very sensible for his age. The girl who owns (owned!) him threw a saddle on, climbed on, took him down a very busy road with cars whizzing by, past a barking Alsatian, and into an arena where someone had tied plastic shopping bags all down the fence, and he was dead quiet. He’s very forward, but sensible for his age. She even managed to get him into a canter for the first time, which he did quite successfully for such a big baby (most horses at that age have trouble balancing themselves on a circle, let alone with a rider). He hasn’t covered any mares yet, and doesn’t seem to be studdy at all, which is good because I said that I would never again have a stallion.

She calls him Kipper, which Phil likes and I think is silly. They’re delivering him next weekend.

I’m so excited!!! Slap me! *mmmmnnnn* That was nice. :)

God knows how we’ll afford this…I mean, yes, we can, barring any disasters. But there are always disasters, aren’t there? This makes the search for a better job MUCH more urgent…which is perhaps why I did this right now. I’m a weenie, and I’ll stay at a bad job forever, but now I need to do something.

All in all, a pretty damn fine day. *s*

Oh – I almost forgot. The story about the other horse, which explains why I was so interested in seeing this boy, has to do with another Cleveland Bay stallion, this one in Los Angeles. I loved this horse, more than a lot of people I’ve ever known. I fought to buy him, but I could only put together about $5000, and the owner wanted $7000. And then one night he colicked (part of the intestine twists, extremely painfully, necessitating expensive surgery), and the owner put him down rather than pay for the surgery. I was so stunned when I found out. My $5000 would have paid for the surgery…but he had him put down. So in a way this is like having another chance to have him.