Grey Haegerhof Gelding: Mag

S went to check out some Haegerhof horses for me in September and wasn't too impressed with Mag, because he's not a very electric horse. That sounds good to me, so J and I went to check him out today. Another full day of driving, ugh. And again, in the snow. Why does it always snow when I drive to Haegerhof?

When we arrived no one was around but I knew where the training barn was. The first stall had Mag, and when he saw us he came and pushed his head toward us and wanted our full attention. He's a puppy dog of a horse, and when we went and said hi to the rest of the barn, only one other was as friendly, and it was a baby. A cat came running up to us like we were his long lost relatives and stayed with us, rubbing on us, until the people finally arrived from their lunch break. Since Mag was so enchanting, we went back to his stall, where he licked my gloves, nuzzled my chest, and let me scratch his face and ears. I looked through the bars of the stall and saw he had incredibly sturdy legs. No kidding, in his online photo, his legs looked like toothpicks. Cameras lie again. (That link also has images of the big bay Drzewiec and the big grey mare Hegra described below.)

The owners brought out the big ex-racing Arabian bay in the next stall, but that horse had refused to come to me and has this look in his eye like he's going to explode. I told them I was not interested.

They brought out a big grey mare and said it's their most trained horse, their most rideable horse. I stood there silently, there was nothing wrong with her at all, but I didn't like her. In fact, the owners, as they tacked her up, told me to go ahead and touch her and try to get to know her. J said I was acting standoffish as if I didn't like horses. I told him later I must be just burned out from horse shopping, but I also don't need to touch a horse right away. I like to observe first.

They rode her for me and after a few minutes I told my husband I just don't like her, and he called the owner over and said he didn't have to keep riding, she didn't appeal to me. I said, "I want to see MAG."

Well, I'd missed him being groomed and saddled because we were watching the mare in the ring, but somehow they got most of the mud off him, he was coated all over, both sides evenly. It made me happy that he apparently gets turn out. But when they first took him out of his stall and were talking with us, he fidgeted around and pawed the air a bit anxiously, but he never nosed the owner roughly like some horses will do to tell people to get a move on. These dealers seem to know what they're doing.

The owner got on Mag and did the same routine, the horse must stand still a few moments and only move off when told. Very nice.

There was quite a difference between Mag and the mare, she was very looky, and he wasn't. He did walk trot and canter both directions, and backing up. And halting from a canter, very nice.

Now I must admit even on the drive over I was dreading riding another strange young green horse. A 4 year old! This one has been under saddle for 4 months. I was actually kind of shaky.

And then it got worse. The owner got very serious and said I have to be very careful with Mag, that he has run off with several potential buyers, because he's insecure about having strangers on his back. He said, "I just want you to walk around on him (ok you don't have to tell me that) and then, when you are ready to trot, I want you to trot just a couple strides - 10 meters max, and then slow him to a walk. If you don't, he may run off with you."

I got it, I nodded and said "verstehe." I understand. No, he said, it's very serious. You must be able to make a transition from a walk to a trot in a way that he finds acceptable. If you shift around or are uncertain, he will run away and I will try my best to catch him but I may not be able to."

I said OK I understand, and now that I've been given more warnings than every before in my shopping experience, I cannot say I'm feeling very brave!

In fact I was not even together enough, or fit enough to climb up on his back. The owner said, "I'll throw you up there" and I started to let him, but felt wrong and said, "No I would rather use a mounting block." In fact, he was probably astounded at my weight and how ineffective he was at getting me on the back of that horse. I was mortified. I have not been so mortified in memory. I said to J, "Hey, I haven't ridden since August." But honestly, if you always use a mounting block, you start to rely on it, it turns out: ( How embarrassing. Never in my life has someone failed to give me a leg up.

They said "He's never seen a mounting block before, be careful." Truly, the horse was staring at it like it was a torture device. I thumped it, bouncing a foot on it, to show him the noise it made. He relaxed.

I got on and didn't need to be told to take a deep breath, although they told me to.

Then to my astonishment, the owner took one rein in his hand and started leading me around like a pony show. This is only the second time in years that an owner has felt it necessary to *lead me around* on their horse. Hrm. Then he said, "I'm going to let go...." and he walked next to the potential-disaster horse.

Now I understand why he's been for sale for so long, and why he's not that expensive for his breeding.

I did my usual, riding walking serpentines, then stopping and backing and then doing turns on the haunches and I found myself on the most delightfully sensitive and willing horse. He would stop if I just thought the word. And easily cross his forelegs over when I asked. Mag was just perfect.

I kept interrupting my man and the owner who were talking, "He's wonderful, he's so light, look, watch me back him up, I didn't do anything with my body!"

I kept praising the horse and rubbing along his beautiful arched neck, telling him great he is.

Finally I got bored and said, "Can I trot now?" and the owner again repeated the warnings. He said, "I know I repeat myself, but you haven't seen what I've seen." I said, "I can imagine."

The owner stood in the middle and said for me to stay on a circle around him so he can try to catch him if the horse tries to run. Honestly from watching the man ride, I thought it would be no problem. And the owner told me about a one-rein stop, but I already had that in mind. OK, just do it.

I clucked to Mag and gave him leg and he bounded into a rough trot, and it was so rough in fact, I felt off balance in that slick leather saddle. I pulled him down to a walk and the owner said good, he's very tense in his back, he doesn't know you and he isn't sure what you want, so just do it again and again...

So I did, walk trot a few strides walk trot a few strides and I felt the tension in the horse but what could I do. Then the owner said, "You're good. He's fine, he's just tense and now you can let him keep trotting, he's not going to run off with you, you passed the test."

So I trotted him a bit but he kept hesitating and going to a walk, which is much preferable to his usual tactic - to run. I talked to him cheerfully, "You can do this!" and we tried  again and again and made a circle a few times without him slowing. I felt a brief moment of relaxation - hm!

I came back to the owner, interrupting again, and said, " How intensely odd, that he is so well trained, so light and responsive, but has an issue with transitions to the trot. Did he have a bad experience?"

"Not with us, he's just insecure under strange riders." I still thought it was particularly odd that he'd be such a lovely horse to ride until you ask for a transition, but oh well.

I wanted to try him on the trails, alone, with only J. That was the plan, I won't buy a horse without riding it on trails alone.

But I thought I should have a halter AND a bridle, because I was planning on leading him a ways, and then riding after seeing his reactions to the big world. Last time I was there, it went badly.

After explaining my plan to the owner, he decided to put the horse in just a halter and told me sternly, "If you want to ride him again, come back." Hm, to me that sounds like he doesn't think I'd manage to ride him successfully on the trails alone. I didn't argue, but that is something I regret very much now, because I like the horse so much, and have no idea what he's like under saddle outside.

J and I took him for a walk and I was so pleased at the way the horse stays behind me and doesn't try to pass me or pull ahead, he's only 4 and I'm sure he hasn't had extensive light leading training, he just naturally follows. He was snorting at snow drifts and things but kept his head very low to the ground, like a dog almost, sniffing, and occasionally grabbing grass until I tipped his nose up and said we're not eating. Not giraffing his neck ever was a very good sign for me.

We came to a field with strange horses in it and he looked at them with bright eyes happily, but didn't do anything. We came to a culvert where water ran under the road and he didn't like it, so I stopped and let him eat grass directly over the flowing water. We came to a single track and he followed politely on a loose lead, I didn't have to ever push him out of my space. We came to a creek and I crossed it and asked him to follow me but he looked at me like I'm insane. Then he put his nose fully in the water to test it. I wanted to pull him over - he could just jump it, it was tiny, but J said don't push it, you don't want to make this a bad experience for him. OK. But J found some puddles on the way home and said, "Make him walk in them!" so I did, and he did easily. I laughed, "I'm not scared of puddles, I make one in my stall every day!" (You can see now how my husband is becoming a horse person, unintentionally.)

As I led him along Mag kept sneaking over to J and putting his nose on him. Not intrusively, just curiously, and especially nosing my purse that J was so valiantly carrying for me as he does in horsey-situations. I kept laughing at Mag and telling him to quit bothering J! Mag would reach down and grab a branch in his mouth and carry it. 

Then there was the raspberry bush. Without my noticing, he reached out and grabbed a mouthful of raspberry bush. Then he sprang to the side in terror because the entire bush *moved*. I laughed so hard, "Yes, it moved because you bit down on it and pulled!" Do it again, take a bite of raspberry, yummy raspberry! He was too scared, snorting at the bush in long low gurgling snorts, entire body taut. I asked J to take a photo cuz it was so funny: horse scared of bush. I held out a branch and he nibbled it carefully, ready to flee. Then he took another bite, but still he didn't forgive that bush. Oh well, maybe next time.

I noted that his (awful) bare hooves did fine on the rough gravel, he never chose the grass over the gravel. Oh my his hooves look bad, ok, I'm obsessive, they're not that bad, they're just overly long at the moment. And I think he's at least a size 2, he's got massive hooves. And doesn't really yield them readily on request, people come on!

When we came back, J had to use the restroom and instead of going back to the barn, I made Mag stand still with me as we waited. Mag didn't want to, but complied, just every so often he'd sneak closer to me than I wanted, and I'd back him up, and then rub his enormously bulging Arabian forehead, "Good boy!" When J walked up, Mag had a string from his battered up lead rope in his mouth, like a dog, "I'm leading myself!" and J thought it was stuck in Mag's teeth and he carefully removed it. I said, "No, he was just trying to hold his own lead rope." So I gave a piece of it to him, and he held it happily.

Then we returned and I asked to lunge him, to see if he can. Well, he can, but not well. He wanted to keep reversing, and I am finally clever enough to not allow that, and he would trot without my asking, and then when I finally asked him to trot, he wouldn't sustain the gait. And waving the whip around on the ground didn't help! Amazing the difference between Mara and this horse. I actually had to touch his body with the whip to get him to sustain a trot! I just flicked it on his tail or hocks and he was insulted enough to keep trotting, but he's lazy enough that it was a game for him. I'm totally not used to a horse who needs encouragement to move out. But I know how to handle lazy.

Then I brought him back to his stall, carefully trying not to disturb another buyer who was riding that same mare I was shown in the arena. Mag politely walked in slow motion the entire time so to not disturb that lady's test ride. It would have been horrible if something I had done had spoiled a sale for them, so I was as arena-polite as possible.

After they unsaddled Mag, I couldn't see his brand on his back, although I know he has one. He's from Janow Podlaski in Poland, and they brand all their horses on the back.

He's so incredibly hairy for a 4 year old, like a polar bear. The saddle pad had roughed up his back hair a bit. He remained beautiful.

The camera lied again. He's so homely in photos. Even our own taken today, he looks pig eyed and chubby. In real life this horse is breathtaking.  He has enormous bulging ink-black eyes a teacup muzzle, tiny ears and a jibbah. J said, "He reminds me so much of Baasha." I said, "Baasha never took anything in his mouth that was not food!": ) Mag carries his cute little tail up, although not straight up, but up enough for me, especially in comparison with all the other purebred Arabians I've seen who do not bother unless they're actually pooping.

He has the most incredibly well boned legs I've seen since, well, that Welsh D! In fact, it was freaky how huge his legs are, especially in comparison with his rather absurdly tiny head.

Although they say they ride him 3 times per week, he's not fit at all and needs a topline, but wasn't born with a bad one to start.

When I put him back in his stall I just wanted to join him and stay with him, but the owner wanted to ask us to coffee and show us his papers. I said, "If you have the papers, I believe you, I don't need to see them, I've already seen his pedigree." (1/4 Egyptian, 3/4 Polish, most of whom date back to Skowronek, the horse of questionable purity: ((((, *sigh* but so do almost all non-SE Arabians.)

On the way home J said he really sympathized with the seller, who does this for a job, and J said he could never do it, ride a horse in circles for people day after day even when people are not interested. I said, they are both breeders and dealers, a special situation, they are in the business of moving horses from Poland to German buyers. I don't have to worry about how they feel about me, even though.....um...yah...they remembered me from 2012, when I did not buy a horse from them because it left me kissing the ground after I dismounted.

J told them, in fact, that I was dismayed on my last visit because I was promised 8 horses in my price range and training level, and it came down to really only the one.

We told them we'd be in touch, thanking them profusely, and I hung over the front of Mag's stall one last time to see him, and he left his hay to say hi to me again. What a dear.

J said he reminds him of Baasha. I told him he looks nearly identical to Baasha's mother Sheriffa.

I'm mad that I did not ride him in the woods, and now I'm trying to think of alternative routes - trains, busses, drive-shares, to get over there again without the ordeal of such a nasty snowy drive.




Oh people, my favorite things!

Honestly the entire time we were wandering about, this was the face we got when we got to his end of the barn. In contrast, well, if you've been ignored by a horse....



Who are you then?



You taste like Bergisches Land.









I like you too!

He reminds me of Hayyathm, Baasha's brother. Deep dish tiny ear tiny muzzle carved face, born thinking humans are the greatest.



Still watching me?



I hate you, you lead rope biting neighbor.



Still watching me? For why?



In this photo you can see how big boned he is. And absurdly small headed.









Those ears. So small he probably can't hear to save his life.



Best condition tail.



I'm like, "OK explosive one...."



His ears on me, whereas when the owner rode, his ears were always on his audience. I love his short fluffy tail. I could make it white in about two weeks.

Hey, aren't my stirrups too short for western riding? I felt totally over the horse today. I'm an English rider so I feel better so, but I felt too high above Mag today.









I remember my last time at Haegerhof, the gelding was scared of that speed bump. Mag keeps his head low, while he's a bit woried.




J took a shot of his hooves.




Raspberry bush, come on.




They taste great, here, try one.



No I cannot. It moved!