January 27, 2008

2 new horses!

I am really excited to announce that we got two more curlies yesterday. Ghost (hereafter known as Kekoa, or Koko) and Twister.
Koko is a straight curly, very animated and with "go power" He is going to be 10 years old this year. Neither of them had been worked with in at least 2 years. They're doing great. Koko is a sabino and is 15 hands. He is gaited, though I'm not sure exactly all that he does- he maintains his gait in a circle of 20 feet and manages to look beautiful doing it. He is very light and has a good way of going and a natural headset.
Twister is a VERY curly boy. He is 14.2, a buckskin, with a very long double mane and forelock that almost reaches his nostrils. He is the opposite of his good buddy Koko in that he is very laidback-- to a fault! But his sweet and adoring personality makes up for it, and the more he has been ridden the better he is getting.
Today I rode all three horses. Sunny I took out first, to make sure he still knows he's loved, and we rode bareback around the house and fields. Then I got Koko out, and first I was lunging him in the round pen. Then I unclipped the lunge and was working with him on free lunging. Well... lets just say I might need to wait on that until we replace some pallets. See, our round pen is made up of pallets, and we have a few shorter ones. So he was going around, and I could kind of see him sizing up some of them, but I didn't think he'd do anything, because after all my 17 hand TB never did. He was doing a fast gait around, and he stopped in front of one of the lower ones. He could see mom, dad, lee, and Twister and Sunny in the pasture. He checked himself, and then all of a sudden just jumped over the low pallet. It was a little over 3 and a half feet, and even at a standstill he just floated over it- it was so graceful! No throwing himself over.Then he headed at a gait toward the pasture. I think I might have a jumper. This could be fun :-)
I was really tempted to let him loose and get him going again, just to watch him jump it again when I was expecting it. (he only went to the pasture and stood to be "caught") I rode him in the round pen, around our circle part of the drive, and then in the pasture.
Then I rode Twister some. And, I even managed to get him to canter! I took him over to the pasture, and I rode with the reins in my left hand and a lunge whip in my right. I could smack the ground with the whip and get him to move. Of course, it also made Sunny and Koko go too, and that helped to give him a lead. Dad and Lee rode as well. (mom probably will on a weekday when they aren't here)
I'm not sure for certain what the pecking order is. None of the three are aggresive horses, there has been some nipping but that's it ( and not much of that)
I'll post some pics soon.

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