10 posts tagged “wishlist horses”

So after a disappointing trip last Wednesday to look at a Swedish mare who might've been a really good deal, but who turned out to be nothing I want deal with, I renewed my hunt for a nice Welsh pony mare.  I found this girl in Wisconsin and actually decided to send an e-mail inquiring about her this morning.  They have her filly from this year on the sale page (right above her listing), and her '07 colt on their foals page.  Cute babies.

I am a little concerned about her age (22), but I'd only really want her '09 foal & to use my breeding to Khan on her (for '10, I'd say).  Maybe breed her to Merry after that, but I should think I could retire her at that point or after the Khan baby with no regrets.  It's not like I have any need to be breeding constantly.  I'd just want a couple babies out of her and then she could hang out and just be, maybe get fussed over by the occasional little girl.

Speaking of little girls, Gimil has been giving rides!  I need to get some pictures up, but he's given rides to our neighbour's 18mo daughter and to my mother's cousin's five year old.  The five year old was adopted from China and currently lives in the L.A. area, so the whole pony/farm thing was very thrilling for her.  She just wanted to keep riding, but Gimli and I aren't used to this whole five-year-old-girl thing, and we got tired way before she did.  (Side note: she was very pleased to find out that Gimli is the same age she is.  It was pretty funny.)

So given the recent success of Theodore O'Connor - the sport pony who was voted 2007 USEF Horse of the Year - and the fact that I've been seeing a lot of (primarily) Welsh ponies that I really like the looks of in the Sporthorse Marketplace and various magazines, I'm thinking that breeding sport ponies might not be a bad niche to get into. 

I'd still like to get into Trakehner crosses eventually, but my mother pointed out that the ponies might be more saleable in the long run.  Obviously there's the children's mounts angle, but Teddy O'Connor has shown that adult riders can do amazing things with ponies, too.  They'd probably also be less intimidating for adult beginners and adults getting reintroduced to the sport.  Arab/Welsh crosses would be on the larger side for ponies and handsome, too!  Plus, they could be double-registered (triple even, if I get involved with the American Warmblood Society like I thought I might -- they have a pony book).

This is all to lead up to the fact that I've inquired about a 7 yr-o Section C Welsh pony mare I found an ad for yesterday evening.  She's a 13.2hh liver chestnut who was imported from Wales and has had two foals to date.  Her price is an amazing $4,000 obo.

She's in Illinois, so transport will have to be taken into consideration should I decide I like her & want to make an offer.  I've asked for photos of her and her foals (I want to see what she's produced in the past) and a video, if they have one, since the one photo posted of her isn't particularly good.

I don't know if I'll really be able to swing it right now -- a serious look at the budget will be in order -- but I've been really getting into the idea of ponies and she seemed like too good of an opportunity to let pass by without even investigating further.

I should also like to take a moment to blame my friend Bonnie for egging me on.

One of my favourite hobbies is to torment myself by looking for horses I would like to buy, but can't right now.  (I really need to be focusing on improvements to the farm, like better footing in my arena, more fence, an indoor arena etc, before I even consider another horse.)  I've been looking at new ones tonight, as well as some that I've coveted before.

There's this cute 2007 ATA filly over at the ATA website.  Her dam's sire was a successful eventer (Amethyst), and she's a well-built little thing.

Then there's my beloved Tanzbrise, who is looking fabulous under saddle ... and getting further out of my price range by the day.  I don't qualify as a show home, so there'd be no special consideration given to me.  I'd love her to bits, but I can understand that, with a daddy like Windfall, they want to see her compete at a higher level than the sort of local events I'd go to (if I could even ever find the time and money to compete again -- eek! it's been ages).  Think of the pretty babies she and Merry could produce, though.  ::sigh::

They also still have this cute Arab-Trakehner mare, who is $5,400 to the right home.  I see her more as a potential lesson horse than broodmare.  She looks sweet, but doesn't seem to have that "spark" of personality that I like.  I wouldn't mind having a sweet, innocuous creature around as an extra riding horse & companion for another mare.  I just don't think I'd breed her.

Now that my barn is going up (albeit slowly -- the contractors don't quite have the work ethic either I or my barn salesman could hope for), I'm on a serious hunt for a guest horse.  Of course, what did I find that I'm seriously thinking I might get (rather than the old plodder/ long-suffering family horse I was looking for)?  Two green broke rescue Arabs.  One is a mare (sadly not registered) & the other is a gelding (registered Padron Psyche paternal grandson -- though more to my taste are the *Ansata Ibn Halima and Ferzon lines on his dam's side).  They are four and six years old respectively, so they certainly have plenty of time to become all-around family horses.  It's not like I've never worked with green broke Arabs before...  ;)

The gelding can be seen here.  The mare can be seen here.

From the e-mails I've exchanged with the seller, they were purchased at auction here in MN, which basically means that the probably would have gone for kill if this woman hadn't picked them up instead.  She just wants to find them a good home.

I've been thinking that I could potentially use the mare for the breeding I still have to Blacklord Falkhann.  Technically one is not supposed to register as a half-Arab a foal where one parent is an "unregistered" purebred.  However, since there is no info on her breeding at all, I don't see why I couldn't just call her a grade mare an be done with it.  She looks like an Arab, but small as they say she is (14.1hh) she could be an Arab/large pony cross for all we know.  Something to consider anyway.  She looks like a total doll.

Anyway, we're having issues getting my fencing quote ironed out with Priefert.  Their sales rep is a bit addled as far as I can tell, and doesn't seem to get the concept of having a laptop to take with on business trips so he can create new quotes (& save the ones he's made) & e-mail them.  My mother finally called him on his phone (twice this week) while I was stuck at work to corner him about getting the revisions etc to us.  As a backup plan, we're talking with our installer about other options.  He has a farm he wants us to visit where he put up a couple different kinds of fencing.  I really like the galvanised steel that Priefert makes, but boy am I getting frustrated trying to get the stuff ordered!  Needless to say, I can't be bringing home more horses until I have fence up (though I suppose I could move the electric in a pinch).

I've been taking pictures as the barn progresses.  The question is: should I wait until it's done & post the whole sequence at once, or should I post what I've got so far & then do the rest in a second installment later on?  I may go with option two, but I need to get the pics off the camera first.

http://www.arabsporthorse.com/

Why do they have to be way out in California?  They have a nice chestnut gelding for sale for only $500 as a pasture buddy/ light riding horse because of an injury.  That's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for as my next horse.  ::sigh:: 

They have some nice mares for sale, too.

I had a nice ride today.  Merry was a bit on the fidgety side to start, but I got on straight away any how.  He needs to learn to concentrate on work right away instead of always getting to be on the longe for the first twenty minutes where he can gawk more.  He got spooked by the barn owner's husband throwing wood into the heater for the house that's on the property (it's visible from on of the windows in the arena and not too far away so the sound was startling).  He really wanted to just stare and have a snit, but I just kept talking to him and asking him to do circles and concentrate and he settled down nicely.  Merry does respond well to my voice, and I think he finds the contact of my hands and legs reassuring.  We ended the ride with backing up.  One step at a time with a pause and praise each, but he took three steps back and they were pretty close to straight.  Definitely the best he's managed yet.

Yesterday, I just longed Merry, but I put out a cavalletti for him to go over for part of the time.  His first jump over it was so beautiful.  He looked like a hunter who knew his job.  Of course he over-jumped the barely-18" cavalletti by quite a bit (both height and width wise), but his form was lovely.  He settled into a nice canter and just kept going 'round and 'round, popping over it, so relaxed, until he started getting tired and we moved away from it.  One of these days I need to set up something higher for him again.  I've had crossrails up for him, but since all I have for standards are my black plastic barrels, they get knocked over rather easily. 

I found a mare on the AHA web classifieds that I wish I could buy.  She's Crabbet breeding and is in the Oldenburg Main Mare book.  She's in foal to the Oldenburg stallion Frohwind, who is the sire of the gelding Frodo that I'd wanted for so long (Frodo was bred by Serendipity Sporthorses in Wisconsin.)  She's only about $7K, but she's in Oklahoma and I won't have facilities for foaling for a while yet anyway.  Judging by her picture, she has a very sweet face.

I'm still working overtime, so I think it's time for me to shut down the computer and go to bed.

I finally got around to looking at my new Arabian Horse Magazine today (I think I've had it sitting on the kitchen table for a week).  It's tormenting me with what I can't have.  There's an ad for a broodmare 3-for-1 (her, her current foal, and her in-utero foal) in one spot -- no price, but she looks like a nice horse and the sire of both foals is Ecaho, so I'm assuming she's expensive -- an ad for a herd reduction by a Straight Egyptian and Trakehner breeder, with a couple interesting prospects listed, in another spot and a 2 y-o, black bay, Egyptian stallion who's very handsome for sale in another.  (The young stallion has been bred already, which kind of boggles my mind.  I always figured you should let a horse finish growing before you breed him to make sure you know what you've got, if nothing else.  I mean, he's Merry's age and he's been bred!  I still stand by my decision that Merry doesn't get any girlfriends until he learns to work for a living -- and not just because I won't be able to afford to get him one until then, either.)

I wish I had the money and the property to at least look into getting one or more of those horses.  If I'm going to try breeding Bunny again next year, though, I'll need to be saving up for the vet etc...  (and hope, hope, hope I get offered the job I'm currently working temp on a permanent basis).  I have to admit, if I can try again and it is sucessful, I'm starting to hope for a filly.  I'd originally wanted a colt (still do in a way) to name Pippin and to give Merry another playmate, but I'm definitely drawn to the idea of getting a filly and having a broodmare (which is not to say I wouldn't ride her).  It's all speculation, anyway, and after the hassle of the first attempt, I'd be pretty damn happy just to get a healthy foal the following spring, nevermind the sex.

Speaking of property...  I have been running real estate searches during optimistic fits and have been amazed at how much cheaper land is in Wisconsin than even just on the other side of the border in Washington County, MN.  I'd never really intended to move out of the state, but if I could find a nice horse farm an hour or less from work for a reasonable amount, I'd certainly consider it.  Other people make the commute, no reason I couldn't.  The finding a new vet and farrier bit does worry me, but it'd be just as much of a problem if I moved north of the cities while staying in MN.  It's one of the reasons I'd always kind of planned on moving south.  There's so much less development to the north, though, which is a real plus, and I kind of even like the landscape better.

Oh well, like I said before: it's all speculation at this point.

I let my friend Becky bully me into applying for a director's position at Canterbury.  It's to do with the paramutuals, and they talk about preferring an attorney with equine experience, but I suspect that none of my experience is really what they're looking for.  The pay is good, though, and the worst they can do is not call me for an interview, so I took a chance and applied anyway.

Speaking of wishful thinking...

Tannenwald Trakehner has a sweet little Arab/ATA mare for sale & they just reduced her price.  Her name is Kasimira, she's a 14.2 hh grey born in 1999.  Green broke.  $3,900 to "the right home".  They've got lots of nice pictures of her on their site.  There's a video, too, but I've never had much luck actually getting their videos to play.  There is extensive pedigree info for her.

I still want Tanzbrise.  She's even further out of my price range now than when I first saw her, so I certainly won't be bringing her home anytime soon.  Her most recent photos show her in a bit of a chunky phase, but she still has a very kind eye and certain angles show off more of her daddy Windfall's refinement than others.

ETA: Julian. He was still a stallion the first time I saw him on this farm's site.  They've gelded him now, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him as a riding/show horse.  They call him "small" at 16 hh.  Granted, he does look small in the photo, but that woman riding him must be quite tall.  I'm sure he'd look plenty sizable with me up.  No idea what they're asking for him.  They're in Quebec, though, so his price would be in Canadian dollars, at least.

Somebody bought Honi Bee.  I guess it's good to know someone else realised that she was the best horse on offer at Orrion and snatched her up, but it ruins my fantasy of winning the lottery tonight and buying her myself.  :::sigh:::  She and Merry would have made such a pretty pair.

Tomorrow is Riding Day.  My mother is designated photographer and video camerawoman, so hopefully there will be lots of stuff for me to upload here tomorrow evening.

I found a filly I'd like to buy. OFW Honi Bee  (Scroll down to the yearling fillies.  She's the second one listed.)

She's $5K and waaay out in Washington, but man watch her video and look at her trot!  I watched the videos of a bunch of their horses (I didn't have the patience to look at them all) and I think she's probably the best horse they've got.  Most of their horses have this uncomfortable looking action in their hind legs when they trot -- they pull them up instead of stretching forward.  Very inefficent and makes for weak backs.  They're totally right to list this filly as a sport horse prospect.  Too bad she's the only one.  I wish I could buy her.

As for the sport horse prospect I do own...  The flat bed trailer is still in the arena, but the round bales and the bobcat are gone, so I longed him on a fifteen metre circle in the corner.  I had him trot both directions a bit.  He's not limping, but he's taking small steps with his hind -- presumably because taking big strides pulls on the scabby-healing sections of skin.  He's walking forward nicely, though, so I think it will just be a matter of time before his trot's as nice as ever. 

He stood still for having his saddle put on, which is very good considering how long it's been since he's had to wear it regularily.  He was just standing still for it consistently when it got so hot and then he injured himself.  He fidgeted for it the time before this (a week ago?).  He also stood nicely by the mounting block, which he hasn't had to do for four weeks or so.