Number 14

I was going to hold off blogging any more about horse number 14 until after I'd met him, so as not to jinx it, or whatever, but hey, I'm not THAT superstitious.  Am I?  And I'm pretty excited about it, and I think my friends are tired of me chattering about it, so...

So yeah, horse #14 is half Arabian, half Saddlebred, technically its own breed (it has its own registry, anyway)--National Show Horse.  Most likely, any horse I buy will never see the inside of a show arena (well, not of a higher caliber than the local "Fat N Fuzzy" show anyway), but what's in a name, anyway, right?

He's six years old, which is quite a bit younger than the age range I'm really looking at, but he seems totally sane.  Like, maybe he's falling asleep while mylar balloons float and glint about him sane.   He wasn't started until he was 4 1/2, and it sounds like he was started slow and easy, which is great for a potential endurance horse--you don't want to strain their legs and joints while they're still growing and solidifying.  It seems like all the quarter horses, in my neck of the woods, anyway, were started at 2 or so.  Many Craigslist ads for three- and four-year-olds brag about how they've been out sorting cattle and leading trail rides and such.

He's on the shorter end of the height range I was considering, but there are benefits to shorter horses when you're trail riding.  Less height to heave yourself up onto when mounting, less height to fall FROM when you have the inevitable parting of the ways, and fewer cobwebs to glue themselves to your face.  (In my ideal world, I would be rich, and would have a horse for nearly every occasion, and one of those occasions would be when I want to feel petite, and I would have a huge GIANT Shire for those occasions.  I LOVE the drafties!  But unfortunately, they're not very practical for endurance.)

The biggest potential "issue," and the reason I really need to go see him in person even though he seems perfect in his videos, is he's pretty narrow.  I have LONG legs, and it's better to have a wider horse to fill out the space between them.  But we'll see how it goes.

He's the one I posted video of earlier, who is up in Washington.  And this weekend, I'm going to go check him out.  The plan is to ride him Saturday, both in the arena and on the trail.  Then I have a vet coming Sunday, but of course if the ride Saturday doesn't go well, I'll call him and cancel.  If all goes well with the ride AND the vet check, I may find myself making plans for horse hauling and figuring out how to work out the financial details when purchasing long-distance.  We'll see.  I'm pretty excited, but I've been excited before...