I had my first real ride on Timmy today - we had a dressage lesson with E. He was such a star and is so much fun to ride! I'm still trying to figure out the leg/contact ratio, but E said that when we get it, we're going to make a killing in the dressage ring ;) He is so rideable, has tons of suspension in his trot, and has the loveliest floaty canter... swoon. Unfortunately, I couldn't coerce anyone to watch and get proof of his awesomeness, but I have another lesson on Thursday and XC schooling on Saturday, so it will happen soon - promise!
In the meantime, enjoy how ridiculously adorable he was during his first bath in KY, as well as some pictures from his first couple of days here :)
Fresh off of the trailer!
First Ride!
To serve as the Before - stay tuned for an After. Check out the boniness :(
I'm apparently a pro at choosing horses with huge cannon bones... Limerick's XL dressage boots fit Timmy perfectly
My new horse!! His show name is Still Time - barn name Tim :) He is a 15 year old, 16.2 hand English Thoroughbred. He was imported a while back for an amateur client of Kyle Carter's... She has one other horse and is going through a n-a-s-t-y divorce, hence why she has to sell Tim. Kyle has only had him in training for one week, which is why he isn't in the best condition. His tail also wants to make me cry, but hey, hair grows back (It was chewed off by the yearling he goes out with).
He was the first horse I rode yesterday in FL and I loved him from the get go. He has 25 prelims under his belt, he's incredibly loving and sweet, has gobs of experience, etc. I included the video of my ride on him - feel free to skip most of the flatwork, AKA the first 9 minutes basically. He got vetted today and will hopefully be here on Sunday night! I got crazy lucky in that we ran into a working student from Louisville at the Holling's barn and she is coincidentally coming home on Sunday with one open spot in her trailer!! YAY :)
Awkward, but he's still SO CUTE
Sorry for the screenshot, but he's pretty B.A. - With Kyle Carter at Training
You guys aren't going to believe this, but someone bought Limerick today! Crazy, I know... we sent him up to Pennsylvania a week and two days ago!! It's bittersweet, but I also feel like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. Now I can go to Florida and just enjoy the experience without having to worry about anything else horse related. On that note, the Florida trip is still on for Thursday and I'm pretty sure we're going to find a horse down there. I really hope that horse is Apollo, but I'm trying not to get overly excited about him! He's just so stinkin' cute <3
I'm sure you're all wondering what kind of person snapped Limerick up so quickly... feast your eyes:
I shit you not. A FOOTBALL PLAYER bought my horse. Not just any old football player either... he was on a Super Bowl winning team!!! I'm comforted by the fact that he certainly has the means to take care of my boy, but rest assured that I will run him down in my truck if he even thinks of mistreating Lims. Hehe ;)
I tried Jekyll today and it went much better than I was expecting :) He is really lovely on the flat and a pleasure to ride. We jumped around a little bit and he took care of me through all of the awkwardness and the communication errors that come with a first ride on an unfamiliar horse. That said, E believes (and his record suggests) that he cannot be successful past novice. I really want a horse that at least has the potential to go training, plus I'm not a fan of his shady history or tendency to knock LOTS of rails in stadium. I'll still share the videos with you so that we can collectively drool over his fancy trot and incredibly comfortable canter! Blogger could only find one of the three vids, so I included links to the other two.
Tomorrow will be yet another busy day for me, as my horse shopping trip keeps increasing in size... it went from looking at one horse in Lexington to looking at four! It still includes Liam, the 16.2 OTTB, but I don't have much info on any of the other horses just yet. I'll keep you posted :)
I woke up this morning to a text from E saying that Jekyll's trainer needed to push back trying him until tomorrow... BOO. So, our appointment is at 1:00 and I'll make sure to post videos and pictures tomorrow night! Hillary and I actually got to watch him go at River Glen over the weekend, and I have to say that I was impressed. However, he was only going Starter and has a rather questionable past with lots of stops and rails on his record. I have accepted the fact that he is probably not going to be my next horse, but it can't hurt to try him!
In other news, E and I are working on scheduling a trip to Florida! Kyle Carter has four horses lined up for us to look at :)!!!! The most promising candidate goes by Apollo, and I'm obsessed. I want him. He has been competed and brought up the levels by an adorable 14 year old girl, which makes his story even better in my opinion. He is definitely the most promising candidate we have found so far and I am incredibly excited to go see him! Fingers crossed that he doesn't sell before we make it down there!
16.3 hands
10 years old
Oldenburg x Selle Francais
ADORABLE
Brought up the levels by a teenager, selling because she wants a prelim+ horse
Thank you all for your support during this time, it means a lot! I know that we obviously chose to sell Limerick, but I still couldn't contain myself in the days before he left... I was a total wreck. Hillary was there for me through it all and I don't know what I would do without her <3
Just to catch you all up with everything that is going on... First, Limerick left on Monday to be sold. Seeing him walk onto the trailer and pull away from the farm was the hardest part. I was not sure when exactly he would leave (the hauling company said any time on Monday or Tuesday), so I went ahead and scheduled a lesson on my trainer's horse for 12:00 on Monday. Wouldn't you know, the hauling company called Sunday night and told us that they would pick Lim up at 11:00 the next morning. Impeccable timing. I decided to go out to the farm early so that I could start getting both boys ready before I had to say goodbye to Limmers. At about 10:30, I decided that I wanted to take Limerick out and let him graze on the yummy KY grass one last time. Right as I was getting ready to attach his lead rope, I heard the ominous sounds of a large rig pulling into the parking lot... the driver was 20+ minutes early. Cue the water works :( I managed to hold it together well enough to call my mom, sign some papers, and load him onto the trailer, though I think the poor Brook Ledge man was probably scarred by the whole experience and definitely concerned for my wellbeing (haha).
Probably the last time I'll ever see this sweet face :((
Following that terrible-ness, I went back into the barn to get Stormy ready, AKA The Perfect Storm. And perfect, he is! E's youngest daughter rides and competes him at training level, and he's a total saint. He definitely has the potential for some pep, but he mostly jumps anything and everything you point him at without question. He's calm/easy/relaxed, he thinks things through, he's a great jumper, and he's exactly what I want in a horse. My trainer of course knew this, hence why I had two lessons on him this week!! These videos are from the first lesson:
We had to re-do the barrel jump because of our slight wobble in the first video... He's so darn eager that he locked on to the wrong fence!
Stormy on a hack
Meet Stormy! I wish I could just buy him....
In other news, I'm trying a few horses next week. I will post about each one after I see them, but here are the preliminary details that I have gathered:
