Truthful Tuesday: The One about Al

 

Today's confession is kinda big... I've been keeping a secret because I really wanted this thing to happen. Like really a lot. And things happened, and so now I can tell you all about it. 

Back when Eros came up lame at the end of the summer, I realized that maybe I should start thinking about seriously starting to look for a new show horse. But like, I wasn't really seriously doing that. I was kind of just waiting for the right one to appear before me. Because I just don't trust my own judgement anymore. So one evening, I was doom scrolling through Facebook and saw this:

I mean... it says a child can ride it. And does it remind you of a certain horse from this blog? Just a little? Here's a hint:

See it now? I mean, I know logically that I shouldn't try to buy Rio again because that would never be successful. But obviously, I have a type... They aren't particularly closely related, but do come from a similar Holsteiner line. 

Before you all get too worried about my potentially buying a horse from Europe off a video... The agent representing him is the same one I worked with when I bought Jampy. So he knows very well the type I can ride versus the types I CANNOT ride. When I went over the last time, there was an entire barn full of sales horses that all terrified me. So he was well aware of what I wouldn't want. I had some semblance of trust that the horse was being appropriately represented. So after consulting with my investor my dad, we decided to go ahead and vet the horse. As we all know so well, things often come to a screeching halt right there anyway. 

"Ahhhhh" -Al, probably

The vetting went pretty well. He's not perfect, but I have never found one that is. He's a reasonable risk. So the next step was to negotiate the right price, and then... ahem... have him de-balled. No more Stallions. Listen. I know it takes me awhile to learn some lessons. But after the Vermont debacle with Jamp, that lesson is firmly learned over here. NO MORE STALLIONS. The only problem with having to geld first is that I have to wait that much longer for him to ship! Though honestly, it's the same amount of time if I imported first since stallions have to quarantine for so long. Geldings only have to quarantine for three days. In the end, it was probably still faster to my door despite gelding first. 

All of that took some time because things don't happen super fast in Czech where he lived. But finally, when I felt I could wait no longer, I had a new horse and he arrived at the boarding barn on Saturday evening! 

Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Casual! We're calling him Al in the barn, and so far he's an absolute love. 

Walking off the trailer into his new life!

Still smiling like an 8 year old getting a pony as I type this.

Testing out the water in CT

Meeting his new neighbor who happens to be my friend's horse!

Showing his good side for the camera.

Our first Selfie!

He's a six year old Holsteiner; Casall x Newton. He's shown a bit at the 1.25 level. Including jumping open water and a big wall, so he's pretty brave to the jumps hopefully! I gave him Sunday off to settle in. I took him out to groom, but he is still a little bit studdy (to be expected at this point!) so when the mom and baby walked by him he got a little excited. I let him go back to his stall to calm down before finishing our grooming session. Later in the day he got to have a few hours out in one of the med paddocks. (Grass paddocks are closed now because it's been so rainy.) And he seemed to enjoy that.

Today he even turned out next to an old mare and he behaved himself just fine out there. So that bodes well for the future!

Monday the body worker came so he got to have a nice adjustment after all the surgery and traveling he's done. Lucky boy! 

And today was our first ride! I had the trainer ride him first. You know. Just in case. She let him play on the lunge line first, since we're not really sure if he's been back to work since he was gelded. Might have had over a month off... Hard to say for sure. I should have asked. Oops. Anyway, he was fresh on the lunge line, but just wanted to canter a little fast, no real antics. And wasn't a puller. Also bodes well for the future. 

Once she got on, he was very sensible. A little tense, and was looky at the end of the ring. But it was noisy down there due to it being a very windy day, and there are some banners on the wall that a lot of the horses like to stare at. His "spooky" reaction was just to stare and wiggle a little. No attempts to spin or run away. So all good things so far! I got on after she flatted him for a while and just did some quick walk, trot, and canter each way. Didn't want to torture him the first day or anything! He didn't put a foot wrong, and I'm really feeling excited about him!

So that's today's confession! I bought a horse!