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I am a Freak
Posts: 3326
   
Location: Nowhere Special | This is just kind of a little feel good story I'll share because I am home alone and its to hot to do anything else but play on here.. I found a pony advertised on one of the FB for sale pages, had been listed before and then price reduced which I found odd! Because she was listed as kid safe, dog gentle, anyone that can sit on her can ride her pony that also heeled, was started on barrels and worked in the sale barns, (super cowy and quick ) ponies like this are usually never for sale and if they are they are priced higher then a horse that does all the same.. The fact that she was not sold but reduced to hardly nothing was not only shocking but suspicious.. I need a pony like a hole in the head but if she really was all this then I just had to have her and curiosity was killing me on what she really was..
So I drive up to see her and yep suspicions confirmed this was not a "kids" pony at all! She also did not look like the pictures shes a little to far on the thin side. The whole anyone that could sit her could ride her was correct in a horse trader sorta way as she was so HOT most people couldn't sit her and those of us that could would not bother!
Just walking up to her I could tell something wasn't as it should be with a "quiet kids pony" she had the old sale barn eye and she was super watchy with it. I bought and sold ponies all thru college and made a good living at it, bought mostly kill ponies and resold them as they were whatever that maybe.. But in doing that you can kind of tell the ones that have made a trip or two or half a dozen thru a sale barn, they get really watchy, and its a different kind of watch then just a spooky or scared horse.. I'm not explaining it well but if anyone has ever dealt with very many horses you buy on the loose thru a sale barn you will know what I'm talking about it and that's just how this pony acted on the ground. But the story he sold with her was he owned her 3 years, trainer her "hisself" done everything on her so on and so forth and bless his little heart he was just a kid so I didn't really doubt him but dam he sure talked like a horse trader in training.. LOL
We take the mare to the arena and the poor girl has her eye on me trailing behind her the whole way there ( sale barn watch) He has a gag bit on her hanging a good two inches down In her mouth, bit sores and pinch marks that said it was always that way. He has the tie down strap hooked to the curb chain! I'm in astonishment at this whole get up at this point.. He offers her to me and there is NO WAY ON GODS GREEN EARTH I am stepping up on this manic at this point, hell I'm not even sure she actually broke! So I do the "no no you first with a smile" He goes to step up on her and the moment his foot leaves the earth this mare acts like she's shot out of a rocket and runs for the gate I mean flat runs out from under him... uh huh and that's why I didn't volunteer for that ride.. At this point I realize I have drove way to far for something that is nothing as described and now I know why she is price reduced.. LOL But I'm here and I don't want to crush the kids feelings hes got his adorable little sister out there with him, all his roping buddies so I'll stay for the show..
He makes two tight circles on her and then hauls butt for the first barrel, and now we know why she runs out from under you when you go to step on.. Amazingly the little sucker lays out a pretty nice pattern considering the bits hanging in her mouth there is no curb chain cause its sacrificed as a tie down.. She can FLAT RUN! Another truth to the add she is very quick! Hmmm shes got a little potential there.. I ask him to show me that he can swing a rope off of her and drag it (they don't have any cows to heel on her) He backs her into the box and she actually stood for the first time since I got there.. The whole backing process was well interesting he wrenches down on her face starts kissing and kicking and she starts kind of backing and rearing in circles in this really panicked type of manner but I guess 2 steps sideways one back kinda counts as a back.. LOL
So now its do or crawl back in the truck a sissy afraid of a kids pony time, he offers her to me again and I put on my big girl panties and say I'll try her.. Brother and sister are like manned guards on either side of her holding her so she can't run out from under me and I am sure she would have as I am no trick rider.. I get on and its off to the races.. UGH ok, ok, ok lets calm down, walk a little takes about half the length of the arena but we get there and she has a super nice walk on her for a small pony, she covers some ground.. I try bending her around my leg a little and shes a little stiff but she tries, I'm noticing this mare really works off your legs like better then most big horses that are not trained in some discipline to do so. I play a little more an I'll be but this little mare can almost spin, and shes doing it correctly. But everything is very jump, jump move now, hot, no smooth fluid motion to her shes just to jumpy and hot.. Just then a boom of thunder cracks right over top of us I mean right over top of us, it rattled the arena panels it was so loud.. She launched forward but as soon as I picked up on her she came right back to me and went right back to work.. Impressive! I decided right then shes coming home with me.. If she wanted to that was all the excuse she needed to break in two or be a runaway but she didn't.. I ask if she side passes he says "she should" I'm thinking you worked her in a sale barn and haven't opened gates on her? She kinda goes to the left but we got NOTHING to the right.. Ok whatever there is more to this pony then what shes showing and I feel bad for her..
I get her to the barn and its dark and I'm expecting some kind of melt down. For all I know shes never even been in a barn because they didn't have one.. But she just jumps right off the trailer and walks down the alleyway likes shes done it a 1000 times.. This is a BIG boarding barn, the radio is blaring the alley way is concrete, there are fans going, horses everywhere and she don't even twitch an ear.. She gets points for this because my gelding who has been hauled and trained extensively didn't do this well his first trip in here.. It was almost sad when she got to her stall.. They had it all ready for her, fresh water, bedded deep, hay manger filled up she walks right in and she looks around, looks at her hay, looks at me, and repeats this about 4 times.. I sware if she could talk she was saying "this is mine??" I head out the next morning expecting to probably get dumped off a pony that day.. I have no pony gear with me and all my tack is for a 16.1 hand gelding so I had to improvise a little to say the least.. My girth went D ring to D ring, I put the snaffle and split reins on her, I don't have a tie down here and I am a little worried shes gonna rear cause she did that several times with him and he said he never rode her without one and she was always really high headed.. Mostly concerned she may rear and flip but well I'm gonna take a leap of faith on this. Because at this point I'm not even sure I can get on her without someone there to hold her.. Get down to the arena and of course there's 10,000 things going on... Cutting trainer is there giving lessons, he got the cows in there, couple girls riding, dragging the far end with the tractor oh yeah this is a perfect storm in the making.. So I decided to be a sissy and walk her around first, we have all kinds of horse eating monsters from banners to pop up barrels, fans, sprinklers, bleachers just way to many excuses.. Then I start catching the wrath "what r u doing" shes not a dog, oh just get on her, its a pony, on and on.. LOL So I man up and get on warning everyone not to laugh if I eat dirt.. This was the first time she made a liar out of me.. She stood perfectly still as I got on.. Hmmm Ok good start.. I start riding her around and she is dead level on a loose rein and just as honest, quiet and relaxed as can be. The only steps she took were the ones I asked for and OMG does this pony have a handle on her out of this world, its all leg pressure and someone has put some time on her, and there is NO way that kid taught her this.. I end up turning back on her most of the morning and she is COWY and reads a cow.. These cows are fresh and snorty and she is no bigger then they are and she gets right in the middle of them and holds her ground like a big horse. Every step this mare took I got more and more impressed and so did everyone there.. She is broke, broke and she knows a whole lot about working cows. From the minuet we pushed the cows into the pen her ears stayed perked, she never took the slack out of my reins all morning and her head never came unlevel. She stood rock solid on a loose rein and even relaxed enough to cock her hind leg. This was NOT the same horse I bought yesterday! When we got done I tied her to the side of the arena and she just stood, no dancing, no whinnying, no bad antics just like an old rodeo horse standing there.. I'm in complete shock and aww at this point and wondering just what did I buy and how can a horse go from that much of an extreme to this in less then 12 hours? I have bought and sold a lot of horses and this just does not happen!
Rode her again today and she dang near lost me turning back a cow she flat gets after it and I was not expecting a move like that, but again, quiet, head low, came to work, and never quit or gave me a lick of trouble.. She opened and closed the gates (she side passes and backs like a big horse) You can practically step off of her in the pen and let her go pick a cow to drive out to work, she is just flat AMAZING and she has not only impressed me but everyone there as well. I wondered if she would get hot if we set up the barrel pattern and nope, she just walks the prettiest little pattern with no fight, loose rein and she tries super hard to please. This mare is SMART and learns really quick what you are asking and then just about turns herself inside out to give it to you. The only time she ever flinches is when I pet her to tell her shes done a good job and that's such a shame because this is really one amazing little mare. But shes quit that now to.. I was still baffled on how she knows all of this, I know this kid didn't teach her this and there is no way without some real good foundation that she could correlate and become a super little using horse with a change of bit, atmosphere and rider in 12 hours. So I pull out the coggins I got with her and had just stuck in the truck.. Sure enough this kid lied through his teeth this mare went thru the sale barn on June 14th and I'm going to guess she was probably on the loose by the way she acted.. He bought her made up this story about training her and owning her 3 years had maybe some idea what she could do or they announced it at the sale and he passed it on under his own regard but lucky for me he did because he had no idea what he had or how much a pony like this is worth. I would love to know the whole story on her but its just as much fun finding out for myself. I just can't believe a pony like this ended up in a place like that! |
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Veteran
Posts: 247
Location: Crossfield Alberta |  |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | Pictures or it's too good to be true!! ;)
I truly believe when a rider acts like a hooligan, the horse acts like one too. She knew he had no idea what he was doing....
Thank you for taking her home and I'm so happy for her as she has a good home now...are you planning to keep her? |
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I Am a Snake Killer
Posts: 1927
Location: Golden Gulf Coast of Texas | Awesome story! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 984
Location: Southwest Minnesota | That's awesome! I would really love to see a picture of this little gem! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 428
Location: God's country | That's a great story!! I'm glad you ended up with her |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | Wonderful story!  |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado |
Stories like that make me miss my sale barn days something terrible. I can't tell you how many horses I stepped on that have a story like this. They just need someone who can understand them and give them a chance. |
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Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | Love this! She knows that you are a horseman. We grew up getting a lot of horses this way and our best tossed me nearly an entire winter but once he trusted me, he won tons around here. My brother and I ate a lot of dirt growing up, lol but they usually come around and love us right back. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Thank you for sharing that. What a great story.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | PICTURES - We need pictures!
Great story. I'm thinking the barrel/pole pony market is up and coming. At least I hope so.......I'm riding a 13H pony on barrels and poles this year.
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
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 You just got to get mean and mean it.
Location: Arkansas | Sounds like you and the little pony mare stepped in and came out smelling like a rose! |
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I am a Freak
Posts: 3326
Location: Nowhere Special |
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 rsz_1rsz_pony1.jpg (51KB - 201 downloads)
pony3.jpg (94KB - 205 downloads)
pony5.jpg (90KB - 196 downloads)
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 Ones with the Hotties
Posts: 1451
Location: Centerburg, OH |  Bless you! this is the best thing I have read in quite awhile. Im sure that when the time is right she is gona make some kid or little lady a very special mare. All thanks to you
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | The pony knows you know what you are doing. Cool story thanks for sharing! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | WOO, WOO, WOO...........I have a black Welsh pony stallion that would love for her to come visit. |
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 CSI Agent for BHW
Location: AR | Well, I just loved this story & how you painted the picture up for us!! That was one good read!!! Might not be a pony, but a cutter reject!! Either way, I'm so glad you have her & can't wait to hear more about her! |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
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I agree! I enjoyed reading it too! |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | Aww thanks for taking a chance on her and getting her out of that situation. She's beautiful.  |
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