There was a lady with us on the trail ride I took Dandy on last month. She was interested in buying him, and was there specifically to watch how the horse worked. She came back a few days later to watch us work in the arena. I guess she liked what she saw, because she bought him the next day. The fellow I work for sold him with a 30 day garauntee, and she still has him. Seems like it worked out well for all of us.
The next couple of projects were a speed racking horse, just retired from the race track, and a young walking horse. The speed racker did not work out at all. Her ground manners are atrocious, and she is much too excitable for the experience level of the riders at this stable. She rode well the first time, but had to be held securely while I mounted. The second time up, she was bucking and rearing before I was even in the saddle. Her owner still had her head, but he called for me to bail out. At several decades past the teenage bronc stomper I used to be, I followed his advice. This one is up for sale now.
The young walking horse is a tall, strikingly beautiful, pinto mare. She also has poor ground manners, but that's curable with work. Once under tack, she is fairly well behaved, and works well on the trail. Her owner, and the lady who is leasing her want to put her in the local amateur horse show, so I'm working on her consistency in the arena. I've worked her twice now. She is very responsive, picking up on voice commands and neck reining. She does need to learn to hold her gait until she's commanded to change it.
Tonight, I'm visiting a friend to help him work the winter kinks out of his horse. Life is good.
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