Test drives

There was a bit of excitement this morning when E tried out the first of 3 horses at Ruben's place. Keeshell (the mare whose name I couldn't remember before) was unsure of E from the get-go. She did fine with Ruben but never relaxed fully when E was around. Not too huge of a deal - until E tried to dismount.

Keeshell startled when E began the dismount in an unfamiliar way, and then E lost her balance and was unseated...ending up behind the horse, with her foot still stuck in the stirrup. Keeshell freaked, but thankfully didn't kick back at the lump laying behind her (E), only dragging her a little. All of our hearts were pounding at that point.

After making sure E was okay (she was), Ruben got onto the horse and walked her up to E and it became obvious that the horse was afraid of E. Ruben now wonders what the horse's last young rider did to cause this fear. He asked E to help him re-train the horse and they began a series of small exercises to get the animal over its fear of E. Gradually Keeshell calmed enough that E could pet her. But the horse never did fully settle.

We all decided that this was not the horse for us. In fact, Ruben wouldn't have given her to us at that point even if we had begged. Not that I was going to.

The second horse was Indio. He was less responsive during longeing than Keeshell had been, but was also much calmer once she started riding.


At first E was very hesitant to assert herself with the horse, so he ignored her cues. After Ruben and I stopped being an audience, however, she found a bit of her confidence and discovered that he was so easy to ride. She really enjoyed her time with him. The only bad incident came when we went to take his bit out. He pulled back and up when E had the bridle half off, startling both us and himself. My heart started pumping fast for a moment again.

The third horse we looked at today was a new face to us. Monty is an arab paint that came in for training over a year ago and the owner has yet to pay the bill - which just keeps getting larger with additional board fees.


He was recently gelded (4 months ago?) and has not been riden since the procedure. Actually, he's only been riden 3 or 4 times in the past year - and has been in a 12'x30' stall for most of that time as well. So none of us were expecting him to be a good fit.

But when Ruben got on him, he turned out to be the calmest of the bunch. Ruben was amazed by the quiet disposition that the horse displayed, in fact. Turns out that Monty was a bit of a wild thing during his stallion days. Not so any more! This horse was so calm that Ruben asked E if she wanted to ride, so she took a short ride (1 to 2 minutes, tops!) on him.


When asked which horse she preferred, E said that she liked how easy it was to ride Indio, but that she was also wow'ed by Monty. She said that it took more pulling to get Monty to turn, but she also felt that that was understandable since he hasn't been riden in eons. And she actually preferred Indio's plain coat to Monty's flashy looks.

I would love to take both horses home. But I can't. Too bad, too, because Indio is really only available for lease right now, so he's essentially free for the time being. Monty's owner wants a little more than I had planned to spend, but is probably worth every penny.

We go back on Wednesday for another ride....