EVALUATIONS: Meeting Cali

EVALUATIONS: Meeting Cali

We had a CRAZY afternoon. Met Big Louie in Marysville then we had to speed home! Why? Because we had to deal with some very poor planning and lack of consideration on the part of a human. The human scheduled a farrier visit for a horse that is staying with us, gave us less than 24 hour’s notice and didn’t bother to attend the visit or send a representative. Sigh. Add to this that the farrier visit should have lasted about an hour took over two and one-half hours because a certain off-the-track Thoroughbred (OTTB), who is staying with us for a couple of months to rehab/get some time off, being really naughty. Laurie and I had to tag team on holding him and even had pull Ronan out of the pasture to help keep the OTTB a little more calm. A conversation with the owner about getting some ground manners and giving us more the 24 hour’s notice that a farrier is coming out and that the owner or a representative is available to come out and deal with it not being cool is going to happen. We literally got back from meeting Big Louie (see previous post) then had to deal with this situation and then head back out to meet our next project.

Great.

So already running late (thank goodness the folks were cool about it) we sped off to Stockton to meet “Cali” who is an AQHA Registered silver bay roan mare who is about 5 years old. Very unique looking to say the least. Because we were running late the nice humans had Cali turned out into very nice round pen. It is here where we met this pretty mare.

After getting some basic history Michael went into the pen and gave the Horseman’s handshake – basically letting the horse get a sniff, retreat slightly, repeat and when things look good a few soft rubs of the shoulder and neck. When that went well it was “rub all over time” to see if there are any “oh no” spots. One that is done we got to work in the round pen! Cali was a little tender from a hoof trim that happened the day before (this is why we LOVE our farrier because he does a great job and never makes the horse sore) but worked through it. She was a bit sassy about moving out at the trot. When we increased to the lope we got some more sass and some kick-outs. Yes, it had been a while since the mare had seen work, combined with some negative training experience the mare had previously. We worked through it and got “two eyes” consistently from both directions. She picked up her trot and lope better too by the end of the session. As we ran through the gambit of “what do YOU know” exercises we took lots of breaks to praise and rub. Cali “locked on” pretty quickly. Giving up the “horse trains human” union card will take a few more sessions but Cali seemed to learn quick! She got lots of rubs and praise for trying hard. We even slipped her a cookie on the down-low. We then hooked up the line, did some “despooking”, backing, yields, flexion and even introduce the concept of “ground school circles” to Cali. She had not really had training like this (lots of corner were cut and steps left out in our opinion) and much of what we asked her to do was new to her. Overall she did really well considering that he has not had much done with him in a (by our standards) long time. She seemed willing for the most part. Not too over-reactive but often unaware of “personal space” which will need to be worked on. We spend close to two hours with her. As the sun was setting we said our goodbyes.

We really liked this mare. Sassy is challenging but once you break through that attitude that all young “teenagers” have you can see that there is a good mind and a willing heart in there. The current owners are aware of our budget and goals. Bonus factor is she comes with papers! We think that with proper conditioning, training and polish combined with her age, breed registration and striking color that Cali could be a $3500-$4000 horse in today’s market with at least 6+ months of work. If we don’t get her we REALLY hope one of our friends does so we can continue to play with her!

Of course because of the lateness of our appointment we forgot to take pictures until the last moment. Sigh. We did a few as the sun was setting.

We have a few more leads to check out but would like to not see this search drag out too long. Hope to make a decision by the middle of the week.