Post by trish on Oct 13, 2008 11:36:37 GMT -5
As I started to think of who is the most spoiled of my herd, there was really no question that Finn is the one. He has had me wrapped around his hoof from the moment I laid eyes on him! I had absolutely zero plans of getting another horse when I saw him. Ironically, I was looking for a lesson horse and a friend of my husband had a horse that she thought might fit the bill. She kept him at a barn down in Spanaway. As it turned out the owner of the barn bred and raced TB's. The BO and I had a short but very pleasant conversation, she started the young ones for the track, but her passion was in dressage. I ended up buying the Arab, who turned out not to be a good lesson horse, so found a home with a little girl - perfect home I might add:)
Anyway, a month or so later.....I got a phonecall from the BO of the TB farm and she said she was calling me because she heard I was interested in her horse that she was selling....ummmmm, I never said anything about being interested in her horse! But, being the ever-curious horse crazy girl that I am, I said "ok, tell me about him". Well he is 2/1/2 , 17.1, 1/2 TB and 1/2 Trakehner......I said "ok, go on".
Now, at this point my eyes were starting to pop out of my head....wheels turning about how much this horse was going to cost, how I was going to convince my husband that I needed another horse after having spent 6K on colic surgery for my TB mare! Of course, I asked her to keep telling me about him. She bred him herself to eventually do dressage with him. His sire was Laiken, a grey Trakehner, very talented and she said that his offspring were doing dressage, combined training and hunters/jumpers. Ok, this is sounding good....his dam was a TB mare she owned named Seven Skins, a lovely mare and as she described had a decent mind and excellent confirmation. Now the big question...how much did she want for him? I almost fell out of my chair when she said she just wanted the stud fee for him.....hmmmm....how much was the stud fee you ask? A mere $1,750.00
Next thing I know, I am back in Spanaway looking at this fuzzy, oaffy looking dark bay gelding that somewhat reminded me of a buffalo. He was gigantic at only 2 1/2, not broke, pushy and just seemed like a big goof. But there was something more there...I instinctively knew that his was one of those lifetime opportunities and that he was going to follow the "ugly duckling" story. Needless to say I wrote her a check that day and haven't looked back since!
Growing up I always rode the horses that nobody else wanted to ride ...problem children. All of them had "issues" and I was the only one brave enough to ride them. The truth of it was my parents were not super rich and we couldn't afford the $20,000 or even the $5,000 hunter that I so desperately craved.....please, I just want to ride something easy for a change! In all fairness, I was riding with girls that had trust funds that would allow them their hearts desires until they died! I know now that they were the minority and that the whole world didn't have access to the funds they had. But then, at 14, all I saw was my best friend winning every Children's hunter class on her pushbutton $10,000 mare while I always placed lower in the ribbons with my "Aged" gelding, dealing with his issues. I loved him dearly though.....he ended up being the perfect horse for me:)
Today, I wouldn't go back and change anything! I am glad I got the horses with issues because I really learned how to ride vs. just sitting there pretty. I did get to ride my best friend's mare once and got Children's Champion, so at least I had the easy, sitting pretty, pushbutton experience once!
All of those riding experiences growing up gave me the ability to train Finn mostly on my own. He is my absolute dreamhorse. He is the horse that I have always wanted and even though we haven't done any showing, I now have the horse that I dreamed of having as a kid. I love him to pieces and would do anything for him...we have a relationship that I honestly never thought I would have. We know each other very well and despite a setback in our riding a couple of years ago, we have a routine that seems to keep him pretty happy. I am hoping to get past some of my "fears of falling off" and start to get back to riding him. We'll see, he tends to be spooky and is still gigantic! Only riding a couple times a week may not cut it unless I lunge him for like 45 minutes I keep holding out hope though, because his canter is to die for....it's like sittin on the cushiest couch ever made...love it!
Ok, enough of the novel....here are some pics of him, some goofy, and some lovely, which pretty much sums him up!
I can't figure out how to make the pics smaller....any ideas?
Anyway, a month or so later.....I got a phonecall from the BO of the TB farm and she said she was calling me because she heard I was interested in her horse that she was selling....ummmmm, I never said anything about being interested in her horse! But, being the ever-curious horse crazy girl that I am, I said "ok, tell me about him". Well he is 2/1/2 , 17.1, 1/2 TB and 1/2 Trakehner......I said "ok, go on".
Now, at this point my eyes were starting to pop out of my head....wheels turning about how much this horse was going to cost, how I was going to convince my husband that I needed another horse after having spent 6K on colic surgery for my TB mare! Of course, I asked her to keep telling me about him. She bred him herself to eventually do dressage with him. His sire was Laiken, a grey Trakehner, very talented and she said that his offspring were doing dressage, combined training and hunters/jumpers. Ok, this is sounding good....his dam was a TB mare she owned named Seven Skins, a lovely mare and as she described had a decent mind and excellent confirmation. Now the big question...how much did she want for him? I almost fell out of my chair when she said she just wanted the stud fee for him.....hmmmm....how much was the stud fee you ask? A mere $1,750.00
Next thing I know, I am back in Spanaway looking at this fuzzy, oaffy looking dark bay gelding that somewhat reminded me of a buffalo. He was gigantic at only 2 1/2, not broke, pushy and just seemed like a big goof. But there was something more there...I instinctively knew that his was one of those lifetime opportunities and that he was going to follow the "ugly duckling" story. Needless to say I wrote her a check that day and haven't looked back since!
Growing up I always rode the horses that nobody else wanted to ride ...problem children. All of them had "issues" and I was the only one brave enough to ride them. The truth of it was my parents were not super rich and we couldn't afford the $20,000 or even the $5,000 hunter that I so desperately craved.....please, I just want to ride something easy for a change! In all fairness, I was riding with girls that had trust funds that would allow them their hearts desires until they died! I know now that they were the minority and that the whole world didn't have access to the funds they had. But then, at 14, all I saw was my best friend winning every Children's hunter class on her pushbutton $10,000 mare while I always placed lower in the ribbons with my "Aged" gelding, dealing with his issues. I loved him dearly though.....he ended up being the perfect horse for me:)
Today, I wouldn't go back and change anything! I am glad I got the horses with issues because I really learned how to ride vs. just sitting there pretty. I did get to ride my best friend's mare once and got Children's Champion, so at least I had the easy, sitting pretty, pushbutton experience once!
All of those riding experiences growing up gave me the ability to train Finn mostly on my own. He is my absolute dreamhorse. He is the horse that I have always wanted and even though we haven't done any showing, I now have the horse that I dreamed of having as a kid. I love him to pieces and would do anything for him...we have a relationship that I honestly never thought I would have. We know each other very well and despite a setback in our riding a couple of years ago, we have a routine that seems to keep him pretty happy. I am hoping to get past some of my "fears of falling off" and start to get back to riding him. We'll see, he tends to be spooky and is still gigantic! Only riding a couple times a week may not cut it unless I lunge him for like 45 minutes I keep holding out hope though, because his canter is to die for....it's like sittin on the cushiest couch ever made...love it!
Ok, enough of the novel....here are some pics of him, some goofy, and some lovely, which pretty much sums him up!
I can't figure out how to make the pics smaller....any ideas?