Not The Introduction I Intended

[EDIT: Not sure what happened but my first two posts got updated and shuffled around to a newer date.]

I bought another horse. That’s why I’m starting this blog right? To write about horses and my bad/crazy decisions about them…

She’s the first horse that basically checked all the boxes in my horse fantasy land. I wasn’t shopping for a horse. I didn’t even really want another horse. Currently I have a 20 year old Quarter Horse/Paint gelding and a 4 year old Andalusian filly. I was totally covered in the horse department. However, I saw her ad online and knew a thing or two about her lineage and the stallion she is in foal to.

I realize how crazy I sound. I just bought my 4 year old filly almost exactly one year ago and here I am buying another horse. I think I checked out when I saw her picture because suddenly I was emailing the owner asking if she was available to show the mare. After a few hours I had a time and date set up to see the mare and was doing some calculations to figure out what my budget was for a purchase.

The Spanish horse community is small. After I arrived for my viewing appointment it took about two seconds to discover that the woman selling the mare knew all of my trainers (past and present) and owned another horse by a very well-known Lusitano breeder. Other than an insatiable hunger for the grass growing at her feet the mare seemed very pleasant and calm. That’s a big bonus for me. American bred Andalusians can be pretty hot so I tend to go with the more level-headed versions when I can. Her eye was really soft and it wasn’t hard to see her potential. I told the woman I could pick the mare up the next day and drove home.

The next 16 hours was spent jumping back and forth between elation and panic. I was so incredibly happy but I was also terribly afraid I made a mistake. I’m terrible at second guessing myself even if I’m 100% confident with my choices when I make them. Now that she’s here I’m glad I listened to my gut. She’s a little unhandled, which is understandable for a broodmare, but she’s an honest horse and I have high hopes for her. After she drops the foal and we wean it she’ll go into full time training. The goal is to show in dressage or classical equitation.