Jimmy (AKA “Rojito”)
A few postings back, I mentioned that part of our dream was to get a place where we could keep a couple of trail horses. At the time of that post, we had one good trail horse (my husband’s) but were searching for a second. With all of the horses on the market, you might think this would be easy. However, finding a suitable horse can be more confusing then buying a new car and more frustrating than buying a new bathing suit. Searching for the right horse for me has taken no fewer than six years.
For the past two years, I have worked with a wonderful and talented young trainer at the Historic Nelson Ranch (http://historicnelsonranch.com/) who is the best horse yenta I’ve met thus far. She has a knack for matching human with equine. My old horse was a great horse, but too spooky and unpredictable to be a good trail horse. So, Alyssa and I hunted.
One of the first rules of the hunt is to be patient. If you lose patience, you are bound to make a bad match. You have to be ready, willing, and able to walk away from that beautiful little paint mare or that sweet looking gelding. Beauty is as beauty does when choosing a horse. The type of horse you get should be guided by factors such as the use to which you will put the horse and the temperament you want. If you want to run barrels competitively, you will need a hotter, more athletic horse then you will need if you just want to mosey down a sandy trail. If you plan to ride trails in Arizona, you might want to consider getting a horse that will not spook at cactus, cows, coyotes, or quail.
Getting back to my own search: Yesterday I found what I hope will be my forever trail horse, Timmy. Timmy is a 15.1 hand, sorrel gelding with a white apron face and a couple of white socks. Alyssa and her friend Hollie found him and hauled him out to the Running I Ranch in Dunnigan http://runningiranch.com/home.cfm where Cindy and Dave let us put Timmy to the test. Alyssa hopped on first and to my delight, Timmy played with a huge ball, walked up and down hills, glided right past the scary animal hides, and walked nonplussed through the waterfall. He passed the Dunnigan Test with flying colors!
Next was the vet check. I don’t recommend buying a horse without a vet check. We made that mistake before. Now, no matter what the horse’s history and no matter how honest and decent the owner is, we get a vet check. The super Dr. Valcheck and his capable wife, Joy, took good care of us. Timmy is about 14, a great age for an older rider like me. No horse that age is going to be a competitive performance horse. We all get a little worn here and there as we age, and Timmy was not a two-year-old. But I didn’t want a two-year-old. I wanted a been-there-done-that safe trail horse. For his age, Timmy was in great shape! He had been loved and well cared for.
After the vetcheck, I said “yes” to that horse and took him home!
For information on buying and caring for a horse, see:
http://ag.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/horses/horsebookletscreen.pdf
http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/+symposium/proceedings/2001/01-061.pdf
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