Introducing: Alice

As you've probably gathered, warm weather means my business is picking up and I have stuff to blog about again. For the most part, I have the same steady group of clients. I pick up the occasional new horse or rider, but it's pretty much word of mouth at this point, and I like it that way. Less crazies to weed through.

My newest client horse is a mare named Alice.

I don't know how many of you remember Marcus. He's my percheron/paint buddy. I still ride him pretty regularly when the weather is nice. I rarely blog about him because our rides are low key and uneventful. His owner has me keep him in working shape for her, and we trail ride alone in the woods with nobody to take pictures of us. I love him, and he pretty much never puts a foot wrong. There is no better way to start my day than by galloping a draft horse through the Pine Barrens.

Marcus's owner has been casually searching for a second trail horse for quite some time now. Last summer, she rescued a Percheron gelding named Tom from the kill pen. He was a total sweetheart and it was love at first sight for me. I adore draft horses, the bigger the better. Tom had never been ridden, but after a long life as a plow horse, he was about as steady as they come. I rode him the very first time that I met him. Unfortunately, Tom had string halt and wasn't going to hold up to any kind of work. Thankfully, my client found him a loving pasture home and he wound up safe and sound after all.

My ride on Tom. 

Sadly, my client's old warmblood gelding, Cosmo, passed away on Christmas. He was in his thirties and was her heart horse. I was pretty heartbroken for her. Marcus was also taking the loss of his pal pretty hard, and Cosmo's death spurred the search for a second horse. Some time later, she sent me an ad for a Clydesdale cross, a mare named Alice.  This was the same place she got Marcus, and the resemblance was striking, despite the fact that the horses aren't even remotely related.

My response was, "She has blue eyes and is a mare. Ick!" (My client had asked me to talk her down from the ledge. I swear I'm not a jerk!)

The next email I got was, "I bought the yucky blue-eyed mare- yes I should be smacked." When could I come work with her?

On Wednesday, I went down to meet my new draft ride. Alice really does look a lot like Marcus, though I personally think he's put together better than she is. The evaluation went well. I started off on the ground, as always. Alice has obviously been handled quite a bit. She has good ground manners and likes attention and company. She stood like a lady to get groomed and tacked. She knew how to yield to pressure. She did ok on the lunge line. I don't think she's spent a lot of time going in circles. She stayed on a rough circle around me and moved forward pretty willingly. She did throw some pretty impressive bucks at the canter, but I think it was just a lack of fitness and coordination more than anything else.

As with pretty much every draft horse I try, it wasn't long before I was on her back.

Alice stood like a total saint at the mounting block. Whoa is definitely her preferred gait, which is totally fine by me. She walked off with just a cluck and a slight squeeze, and definitely knew the word 'trot'. She had a surprisingly light trot for a horse her size, and she was very comfortable to sit. I don't think she has much experience with steering or dressage concepts, but she was game to try what I asked. We even got a clumsy canter to the right, thankfully without any bucking.

Over all, my impression was that she was green, but very quiet and level-headed. She certainly didn't seem spooked by much of anything. She does have a bit of a stubborn streak and it took some encouragement to keep her going once her quarter was up, but she didn't do anything dirty, even when I picked up a stick.

With some patience and miles, I think she's going to be a great horse. I went back to view her sale videos later and did some research. The girl who had her seems like a nice enough kid, but I get the feeling she pulls these horses from auction and lists them for a lot more than they're worth. They get to be pretty quiet in her hands, but don't get much in terms of formal training. It sounds like Alice started life as a plow horse, probably for the Amish. She is pretty well broke to drive, and is happy to just trot along in a straight line all day. Her riding experience is mostly walking down the trail at a sluggish pace, with the occasional short canter just to show that she can pick one up.

I am scheduled to go back out to work with Alice again this week, and I am looking forward to adding her to my 'draft horse Fridays'. I don't think it will be long before I have her going on trail with her owner, and I think the two horses will make quite the matched pair out there!