I came, I saw, I almost bought....

tristar said:
never underestimate chestnut mare.
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I agree with you 100% but the problem is that I made a deal with my husband that we would only buy horses that can be easily sold on if a financial problem arises. Chestnut mares are very difficult to sell on here. Actually mares in general are harder to sell than a gelding.

That said my all time favorite mare was a chestnut who was 15.1 hands. I mean really 'useless' in the eyes of my fellow competitors and when we tried to sell her we couldn't. I free leased her to a friend to compete while she was for sale (This was when I had stopped riding for a while, but the mare and I had competed for 4 years up to US Preliminary level in eventing). I was about to give up on selling her and breed her to something bigger when she was unfortunately struck by lightning during a storm.

I miss her still and I have not had another competition mare since.

This is her first 3 day with me, doing the long format... she ran off with me on xc and we finished 45 seconds under time. **TIP** When your horse is 15.1 you don't need to follow the legging up charts for a 16.3 Tb. We did finish 7th out of 30 some odd starters though. Nice to finish in the top 10 at your first three day event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mss8jYui1w0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Kb9DF6LyQ

https://youtu.be/2HAhF8tVCIY

Em
 
BunnyDog said:
I agree with you 100% but the problem is that I made a deal with my husband that we would only buy horses that can be easily sold on if a financial problem arises. Chestnut mares are very difficult to sell on here. Actually mares in general are harder to sell than a gelding.

That said my all time favorite mare was a chestnut who was 15.1 hands. I mean really 'useless' in the eyes of my fellow competitors and when we tried to sell her we couldn't. I free leased her to a friend to compete while she was for sale (This was when I had stopped riding for a while, but the mare and I had competed for 4 years up to US Preliminary level in eventing). I was about to give up on selling her and breed her to something bigger when she was unfortunately struck by lightning during a storm.

I miss her still and I have not had another competition mare since.

This is her first 3 day with me, doing the long format... she ran off with me on xc and we finished 45 seconds under time. **TIP** When your horse is 15.1 you don't need to follow the legging up charts for a 16.3 Tb. We did finish 7th out of 30 some odd starters though. Nice to finish in the top 10 at your first three day event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mss8jYui1w0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Kb9DF6LyQ

https://youtu.be/2HAhF8tVCIY



Em
Click to expand...


All my best horses have been mares, including a chestnut one! As I breed, I'm more than happy to buy a nice mare rather than a gelding, as I find them more straight forward, and empathic to their rider. I'm intrigued to know what a "loose rider/jumper" means? Is that what I would call a "dangler", meaning it doesn't bring the shoulders up when jumping? my pet hate, esp for eventing!
 
She was great. Very reliable to the jumps. Dressage was a bit of an effort but she taught me what having a solid partner is like. She's the foundation still for many skills I learned as a rider with her.

I appreciate a wonderful mare but I think the way our riders are these days there's a lot more riders into the instant gratification factor. The mares temperaments can often be a bit of a challenge to understand the long road view. What I mean is that fewer riders invest the time needed to really bond with a mare. More folks try to dictate how the mares should behave and that seldom works. I am not totally opposed to a mare but there has to be some amazing qualities to make it a no brainer situation.

Loose is a dangler. I posted a link to how my boys jump a few pages ago. But here it is again. I'm very serious that I want a horse that is inclined to jump very tightly and with their shoulders up in front.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/xctrygirl/albums/72157691220686095

Em
 
I really enjoyed those clips of you competing @ Radnor 3DE with Genie! She looked a great little horse - so incredibly bold! It makes it even more sad that you lost her in the accident.

Also, those photos of the "Great Jumpers" - all of the horses are super, but I loved the palomino - he has such unusual markings!

Thanks again for taking the time to reply to all of our questions and observations - I'm finding it so fascinating to find out all about the horse culture in the US - like everyone else I'm sure who's reading this thread!!

I'm hoping that your perfect equine partner appears soon - we're all really rooting for you to find a super horse that fits the bill perfectly - and that you can possibly turn around and sell on for huge $$$$$'s!! Then you can come back to the UK and Ireland to look for more - and post more videos!!!!!
 
tristar said:
oh lovely! you should have bred from her, i want one with that speed and bold spirit to breed from.
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Sadly I didn't know on the day that it is possible to extract ovaries for this purpose in the first I think it's 12 hours after death.

Lesson learned the hard way.

Since he's a name I should mention that Bruce Davidson's mother in law, the venerable Mrs. Hannum bred this mare. Her grand dam was a 'cracking' timber racer. 4 mile races over solid fences and such.

Em
 
Northern Hare said:
I really enjoyed those clips of you competing @ Radnor 3DE with Genie! She looked a great little horse - so incredibly bold! It makes it even more sad that you lost her in the accident.

Also, those photos of the "Great Jumpers" - all of the horses are super, but I loved the palomino - he has such unusual markings!

Thanks again for taking the time to reply to all of our questions and observations - I'm finding it so fascinating to find out all about the horse culture in the US - like everyone else I'm sure who's reading this thread!!

I'm hoping that your perfect equine partner appears soon - we're all really rooting for you to find a super horse that fits the bill perfectly - and that you can possibly turn around and sell on for huge $$$$$'s!! Then you can come back to the UK and Ireland to look for more - and post more videos!!!!!
Click to expand...

The Palomino is "Max". He's my resale horse. I got him I Craigslist for $1800. He's 15.1 Paint horse. Lovely and fun guy. He's resting a green splint now but I love him. Here's a playlist of him. He was a bit over impressed at Devon but I was proud of him. That's a tough arena for horses that haven't seen a lot of decoration and people up against the fence.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBarO_NR9rjN544WpEctR3k9I2yLTbwZ

Em
 
I'm going to jump in and create extra confusion. I'm in South Africa where we base almost all of our riding disciplines on the UK system. A friend of mine actually exported a cheapie OTTB to the US for colossal amounts of money.

We have "Equitation" classes on top of working hunters
Seems to be far more popular with juniors and pony riders than adults but essentially you come in, do a short flatwork test which is pre-determined. You then jump a course where normal jumping faults apply but the riders are also judged on how well they ride and the overall style of the round. At the upper levels or big events, the top riders after the first round on their horses switch horses and get about 5 minutes to watm up before jumping the track and doing the flatwork test on the borrowed horse. This would be about 1.20m fences.

Anything like that elsewhere?
 
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