An update on the trial

I’ve had Dolly at my barn for two weeks now - I really like this little mare and can see her being a great fit for what I am hoping to achieve in my riding. I have one more week to decide what I want to do – I’m leaning heavily towards buying her at this point – she is everything the owner said she was (which is quite surprising) and I can already see her start to improve on that great foundation by being handled and worked on a more regular basis.

Her temperament seems to be great – she is friendly and easy to catch. She seems to like attention and is fine to handle on the ground. She was very nervous the first few days – but most horses are when they are faced with a new barn, new herd and a new human handler. I’m guessing that her current owner is the only handler she has had for quite some time. A boarding environment is probably good for her, as there are a lot of horses and several different people working with her/feeding her every day.

The only negative about her is that she seems to get attached to other horses fairly easily. I haven’t seen any really bad behaviour yet, just some calling to the other mare in the paddock. I’m hoping that will improve when she is out in a bigger herd. I would also do some work with other riders at the barn to get her used to leaving other horses or having horses go past her at a different speed, etc.

I have taken her out on a few hacks, but haven’t really pushed her too much, due to the hoof issue. It has also been killer hot here and it doesn’t seem fair to push an out of shape new horse too much – it wouldn’t really achieve anything. I have had two other ladies at the barn ride her as well and both of them loved her. She was very good on the trails – she walks out nicely and doesn’t seem spooky at all. We even walked her around all the jumps on the front lawn, as well as visiting the track across the road and she just took everything in with her ears forward.

She meets a lot of my needs – good age (9), good size (14.1hh!), good temperament, good to handle on the ground, well-broke and capable of doing 12-25 mile rides. All she really needs is some consistent work to get her back in shape.

My farrier is looking at her on Saturday and if that all goes well, I will probably bite the bullet and buy her! Rusty is still at my barn – the barn owner and I have negotiated a decent deal for now. I have also listed him for sale to see if I can get any hits – if I can’t find a suitable home, he will stay with me at my current barn. I may also try leasing him, if a sale doesn’t work out.