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by, Staci Layne Wilson. Special GUEST author for this article.
I was five years old and ready to enter the magical realm of horsedom. My mom was dating a rodeo cowboy at the time, and she took him with her to help select my surprise Christmas gift. Boy, was I surprised when I ran up on that misty Yule morning to hug my brand new pony and was promptly bitten! Cinnamon Cinder was not only famous for his appearances on a local car dealer's TV commercials, but he was also infamous for his nasty disposition. I lived to tell the tale, but my introduction to the world of horses might have been a little less painful! The process of buying (or adopting) a horse starts with the idea. This is written with the inexperienced or intermediate horseman in mind, so the first thing you must decide is whether you really have the time, desire and resources to have a horse of your own. If you have never owned a horse at all, I'd suggest that you try half-leasing or leasing first. Post ads in your local tack shop saying that you would like to share a horse, and try that for awhile. Once you have decided that you do wish to own a horse, you must then have an idea of what to look for. Although you may have an ideal breed, age, sex and height in mind, be ready to compromise when buying or adopting your first horse. Soundness and disposition will be your main considerations. Once you have located a horse and gone to the stables to meet him, it is perfectly acceptable that you ask to groom and tack up the horse yourself. If the horse has been bridled already, ask the owner if you could take it off and rebridle; you need to be as certain as possible of the horse in the relatively short time you have to spend with it. Observe the horse's living area. Is it clean and well-kept? A person who takes good care of their horses physically usually takes good care of them mentally, too. I'll never forget a Quarterhorse gelding I went to look at when I was about twelve years old. There were red flags everywhere: the horse was already saddled and bridled when my mother and I arrived, and he was pretty sweaty, too. He'd obviously had a nice workout to wear him down before the little girl came out to try him. When I asked if I could see
The copyright of the article BRINGING YOUR NEW HORSE HOME in Horsemanship is owned by Gwenyth Browning Jones Santagate. Permission to republish BRINGING YOUR NEW HORSE HOME in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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