The horse we may get...

OK, here's the deal. A friend of ours has a bunch of horses, and this mare happens to be one of them. She will sell her to us at a really good price, and let us board her at their place for the winter, since we do not have our electric fence up yet, and have a bit more renovating to do at home. We'll bring her home in the spring.
She's an unnamed-as-of-yet paint mare, who is about two-three years old. Here's a few pics of her (sorry they're so bad, I had to film them off of a camera phone.) One pic is my boyfriend and her, the next is just a portrait...
https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...28/mhorse1.JPG

https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...28/horseyy.JPG

Yep, I prolly would! I think that's a pretty good deal. Can she be riden? If so, does she ride well?

She is not yet broken to ride, but my friend knows someone who will do it. I personally do not feel up to riding such a green horse, but my boyfriend said he would tackle it! This would mainly be his horse; I want to wait until I can find a bombproofer at a good price.

Either way, it'll be a good experience, and you never know, she may end up being a great rider someday, she's still young and has a lot of 'growing up to do'. I think she's pretty anyway, and if I was you I'd seriously consider it. I would love a horse (or a few!)...someday, someday.....

regular brown and white paint? Hmm.. I forgot if you can apply tabiano or overo to a normal paint and not one that is three colors. Looks good, although I can't see her side patterns :)

She looks a little thin in that picture, but I think that's the camera angle.

Yeah, it must be the angle. She looks pretty average to me; not skinny, but not overweight either.
She only has the two colors. Sorry my pics are so lousy; I will try to get better ones soon!

She is pretty. I was also wondering about her weight. Her hips do stick out a little bit. My horse does that, but I think it's just her conformation, she has enough fat everywhere else :) Just make sure you get a good vet check her out, and take xrays of her naviculars and her hocks, you don't want navicular disease or arthritis setting in. Or any abnormalities for that matter. Also, if she is only 2-3 yrs old, then I really would try to wait on the heavy training. I wouldn't even think about trying to get up on her for probably another year so she can finish growing. Maybe do round-pen work, no faster than a trot. Sacking her out and making her walk around with a towel or a saddle pad on her neck, close to her ears, so she won't be head shy. That's a good thing to do, we did it with a horse Ray we were training and you can do anything to her. I would just go slow with her and stop and go back if she stops understanding. Just remember they get bored easy, so don't train more than maybe 30 minutes per session.

Sorry if I seem overbearing, I just want ya'll to have a good horse. It gets expensive, but it's worth it IMO. They are wonderful animals to have.

Also, don't forget the West Nile shots, very very important and aren't expensive. :)

Yeah, I think we'll hold off rider- training for awhile. I do not really think she is at her full size yet. I do want to get out there as much as possible for grooming and bonding though.
The thing that kind of stands out about her, is she seems a bit domineering. I would say she's one of the more dominating mares out of the herd (of about twenty horses; about ten are mares, two are fillies, and the others are geldings.) I don't think she was ever really singled out and cared for as an individual, except for a few grooming sessions, vet checks, foot care, etc. This is not to say she's afraid of people or skittish; shes actually one of the "hams" of the group, the one who shoves the other horses out of the way to get to you for pettings. My friends check out the herd every night and bring them into a smaller paddock to feed them and examine everyone. They do have a QH stallion on the premises, although he is kept in a stall in a seperate building and has his own exercise yard.
God I could go on and on about this for hours! Becky and anyone else, I could use all the advice I can get. :)

Domineering... Sounds like my horse. Ever seen a horse snarl? Dixie knows how... They call her Sybil where I keep her. Evil... :) But anyway. That's good that you don't plan on riding her anytime soon. It's ok for her to be pushy with other horses(in the pasture only), but not while you are around her, messing with her. That can get dangerous if you don't show her who is boss now. If she ever goes to try to nip you or shove you, use the loud universal no "ack" and give her a smack on the nose. It's not a bad practice, it's not hitting, it's cause and effect and she will get the point. She nips/pushes, gets a resounding smack on the nose. If she has any of these problems, it's good to correct them now, so you don't have to keep worrying about it later on when she's older. Also, make sure to pick up her feet alot and handle them, not just pick them out. Hold them like the farrier would so he won't have to sedate her. Hmm... What else... Just pretty much touch her EVERYWHERE. Get her used to people touching her butt and her udder. Mine loves her udder to be washed.. Weirdo... She'll lift her back leg up and sideways so I can get at it better. Try getting her used to clippers slowly, so you can clip her mane where the saddlepads sit and her poll where the bridle sits so it won't rub the hair all goofy. Makes it look so nice for a parade too. :) Well, it's late, and I need to get to bed. If you have any other questions just let me know.

Oh! I almost forgot. This was the most adorable thing. I was holding my boyfriend's roomate's BP and while I was laying on the bed, he curled around my "girls" LoL, put his head under my hand and fell asleep. He was there, in the same place, for probably 45 minutes. He's such a sweet snake. Well, that was my fun and exciting night. Ya'll have a great Halloween and I will have pictures next Thursday of my snakie in a pumpkin :-D

Wow, thanks for the info! I will definately make sure that we both know how to keep her in line. I know that my friend is quite a "ballsy" person who does not let her horses walk all over her (but not saying she abuses them or anything, ya know.)
So today, actually tonight at midnight, the horse officially belongs to my friend, who is then selling her to us. Hopefully the idiots who owned her and abandoned her don't show up today of all days, lol, that would just be my luck!
Got any good ways to gain horsey trust while retaining respect? :)

By the way, I looked at your album, and your horse is cute. :)
Do you do English or Western? I think that by the bit you're using, it looks western?

Hrm. offer her an apple or a carrot or something? My paint loved carrots.

I ride both, but english is getting so much more comfortable and Dixie responds to the bit alot better than the curb bit.

Actually, treats can make a horse pushy since they will be expecting them every time you see them. It gets annoying. Here's an example of a pushy horse... Let's say you were walking along, do de do de do, with the horse just in a halter and lead rope. You stop but she doesn't and runs her chest into you or pulls you a good ways with you holding onto the lead. What do you do? Well... You get some body strength and using your thumb, press it into her shoulder fairly hard and push her back.Or you can, just using your hip, shove her back. This asserts dominance. Horses in herds do it all the time. Or they just glare at each other and don't even have bodily contact. If this is done consistently, the horse will understand that pushing and shoving to get her way isn't acceptable behavior and will usually quit.

During training sessions, alfalfa cubes are good as you can break them in little pieces and make them work for the whole cube. A 50lb bag is about $5 at the feed store. Or if you don't want to use treats, just some rubbing/scratching and calm talking is praise enough. They respond well to all of this. Carrots, apples and pears are good "every-so-often" treats, but are just too high in sugar, so the horse becomes pushy. Mine gets Cherry Pepsi every so often, remember, she's weird. And yes, they can burp. Eeeww...

So what is her conformation like? Is she long legged and long bodied or short-coupled?

I think she seems a bit leggy to me. I do not think she is underweight or anything, you can't see her ribs. But she seems to have an athletic-looking physique; she is pretty actuve compared to some of the other horses there, but it could just be her youth.
Personally I think my boyfriend is just a tad bit off his rocker, wanting to get such a young horse! But he has done a lot of riding in the past and is comfortable at all the gaits, and feels confident in being able to ride her once she gets some training. I think she's a great horse, don't get me wrong. But I am just hoping she will take to training well.
I have done both Eng and western, and I have to agree that english does seem a bit more comfortable, at least in saddle terms. Maybe I am just lazy, though, but neck reining seems a bit more relaxing to me. Maybe I could be an oddball, riding with a dressage saddle and a western bridle? :)
I am not sayin' I'm against english bits, but then again it depends on what each horse responds best to. I am pretty sure the trainer we are going through uses western; it's better to start with that anyway, since the big flappy fenders and stirrups let the horse know how it feels to have stuff on their back more. But I don't think she starts with a western bit.
Thanks for the awesome conversation!

I didn't mean all the time, I ment like once or twice when you started dealing with her. I really wouldn't call myself experienced with actual training. In fact, I probably know next to nothing about how to properly train a horse. I know how to stack haybales, muck out a stall, riding basics, and how to feed em properly, that's probably about it.

I've never ridden in any other style other than western.

Yeah, my parents have a horse that likes beer. We found this out once when my stepdad set down a can of beer he was drinking near the edge of the stall. Bam-Bam (the brown quarter horse that is part appalosa, so he has grey spots) picked up the can of beer with his lips, and tipped it back. Weirdo.

Haha, a horse getting himself drunk. That's funny. :)