Chestnut gelding

I met another non-grey Arabian Saturday in the pouring rain/hail. The owner is a total sweetheart - I rarely connect with Germans so easily. When I first saw the horse I had the thought, "This is an NSH!" He was larger than normal for an Arabian, and he had bulging freaky eyes like National Show Horses often do. His face was extremely dished and lovely, but the hind end again reminded me of a Saddlebred.

Primus is 9 years old and was only started under saddle this year. He's barefoot and doesn't have trouble on our rocky trails.

I thought if he's sweet and sensible, I'd consider him.

He's straight Russian (hence the size) and a son of Kais.

I have to include a photo of Kais because Primus' face is as exotic as his father's.

The first thing when I arrived at their barn/shelter, the two horses were competing for our attention, nipping each other and pinning their ears and they were all over us. They had us backed against a wall and were trying to nibble on us. I had to keep backing him out of my space.

The other horse was a 9 year old stallion who I didn't recognize as Arabian at first because he has lost pigmentation on his face. The stallion's name is Orayan and he was also barefoot with beautifully shaped dark hooves. The stallion started licking my hands but very gently like a dog or cat, not like horses usually do. I really liked this horse but he's not for sale (and he's that awful color - white!)

We started grooming because even though it was pouring rain, I said even a 10 minute ride would show me a lot.

As I was grooming Primus, she led the stallion out of the stall and suddenly Primus lost it - he thought his friend was leaving him so he swung his body around and slammed into me with his hip and stepped on my foot. I haven't been stepped on by a horse in years cuz I'm usually aware, but this happened so fast I didn't have time to get out of the way. I was in terrible pain for a few minutes, standing there with my foot in the air, wondering if anything was broken.

The lady was embarrassed and said she didn't know why he was so riled up that day.

Later she was standing at Primus' head and he flipped her in the face with his nose, purposefully. It was so violent, so utterly rude, I couldn't believe it - even the lady yelled at him for that.

Then as we saddled up I noticed the gelding was trembling all over. She said it's the weather (the horses were both wet from the rain) but I knew that look - it was tension.

At that point I knew I was not gonna ride the horse. I saw the look in his eyes, I saw the tension, and I knew that getting on that horse would be taking an unecessary risk with my life. So I suggested I ride Orayan and she ride Primus. She agreed.

He was fine under saddle, even in the pouring rain as the trail became a river, he splashed through it. He spooked a few times and refused to go forward once. I was having a great time on Orayan and asked where she bought him. It turns out he's from Al-Najma, that farm I visited and blogged about. Orayan is a son of Ovid, that grey stallion I loved and took so many photos of. Ovid also has loss of pigmentation on his face.

The stallion nickered as we came around a corner and it was clear he was telling some neigbhoring horses, "I'm here!"

I only wanted to ride 10 minutes, but we ended up riding about 40 - in such heavy rain we were soaked completely through. The water was flowing down the saddle under my legs, it was miserable. The horses would sometimes turn without us asking, and she said they were turning their butts to the rain. The horses had to be surprised that we were out in that weather - crazy!

It's really a shame he does not have more experience undersaddle - I expect that of a 9 year old at that price. I will have to tell the nice lady I'm not interested in such a project, and thank her for a lovely time on Orayan.

Now the Arabian world here feels smaller. I'll have to tell Al-Najma I rode one of theirs!

I have another mare to look at next weekend. I had to cross out another bay mare because they want 9,000.00 Euros for her and she's not accomplished anything yet - she's just another green young horse with potential to do endurance and a free breeding thrown in. I don't want a pregnant horse, ever.

I'll let you know what happens.