Ruben's mare......
.....and Indio
E and I drove out to Benton City this morning to take a look at the horses that Ruben Villasenor is currently offering for sale. His place is out in the high desert, surrounded by hills and little vegetation. He's currently in the process of upgrading the facility, hence our ability to actually afford one of his animals - he's selling them at rock-bottom prices just so he'll have some cash to finish up some of the construction that's already begun. (Even at rock-bottom prices, some of the horses were way out of our reach, so I could only "window shop" as we strolled past the $8k to $10k horses.)
When we arrived, he already had 2 horses out: a paint mare (whose name I can't remember for the life of me!) and a pretty Morgan gelding. Both were a bit skittish on the ground, but not terrible. Once under saddle, however, they settled nicely and did what was asked. Fantastic considering neither has been ridden in quite a while - almost 2 years for the mare, in fact.
The mare's story is that Ruben did some training with her a few years ago for a family with a young girl. Once the family took the horse home, though, she sat in the pasture and was only ridden a couple of times. The family had to move and gave the horse to Ruben a few months ago. He's only put a ride or two on her since she returned to his place.
Ruben on the mare...
The Morgan has also been with him for a few years, and has learned quite a bit, including the Spanish Walk that Ruben likes to teach his horses. He is a beautiful horse, but very skittish. He also has a club foot on the front right. After doing a little homework, I've decided that even though Ruben assured me the foot has not got in the way of the horse's movement, I don't want to take on the possibility of it becoming an issue in the future.
A third horse was brought out after we talked a bit - one that is calmer on the ground. He is a quarter horse gelding named Indio. This horse doesn't actually belong to Ruben, though. A (former) client brought a few horses in for training and ended up not paying his bill or picking up the final horse, Indio. This is the horse that E and I felt most comfortable with. Ruben said that he could lease this horse out, with the option to possibly buy at a later date.
Ruben riding Indio...
Indio is not as responsive as the mare, but still did as asked and appeared to have some solid training under him. Both the mare and Indio have been sitting for quite a while and are not in top shape - but that's to be expected since it's early spring.
It was decided that E and I would return at the beginning of her spring break so that she could ride the horses. If she likes the ride, we'll come back several times during that week before making a final decision.
All in all, I felt very comfortable with the whole experience. And secretly, I'm hoping that the little mare works out.....
