Today I drove a very long time to look at another bay mare.
I didn't intend to leave my state but when I crossed a state border I realized my mistake. I spent 2.5 hours just getting there and 2 hours getting home, and 40 minutes in the sand arena watching the mare and talking to her owner.
Her young owner spent a year in San Francisco working with some endurance riders and attending rides. The names she mentioned supposedly were at Tevis last week - Dominique and Daniela I think. She had planned on doing endurance with this 5 year old bay mare but work got in the way. She says she works 6 days a week and is on call so she hasn't been able to get out on trails.
She has done some arena work.
This mare has had less than a year under saddle but is nicely greenbroke.
I wonder again why people don't teach manners.
This mare was all over us and a couple of times she just barged into me.
She said the mare was having a very bad day because they'd just moved her friend to another barn. She did keep looking the entire time, but she wasn't calling out. She did a fair amount of head tossing though, especially while loose. I could tell she was very annoyed to be working alone in that arena away from other horses, but she did it.
I cannot help but wonder how odd I've visited two horses now whose owners have said I'm seeing them at their very worst.
When she was free lunging her at one point the mare came straight at me at a canter fully intending to either run me over or make me jump away, some sort of game?
I jumped up threw my hands up and she swerved at the last second. My goodness! I think in one of the photos you can see another near miss moment: )
I feel bad this girl is selling her. I feel like she should tell her boss off and demand a normal weekend, so she can do what she loves. But maybe it's not a priority for her now, maybe there are other issues as well. They just seemed like such a good match.
I see things about her conformation that I would rather not have, but I won't say.
I'd like to hear your opinions to see how they mesh with my own.
I did not ride - I felt I saw all I needed as the girl rode her, and there was no possibility of going out on trails.
She's a Polish Arabian, her name is Melodika and she's 153 cm and barefoot.
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16 comments:
She is cute. Her neck bothers me, it looks short?? Her hocks look high set to, to me.
Quite a journey you are on to find another partner!!
She has a very sweet face. Too bad you couldn't see a very sweet disposition!
There's something about her hind end that caught my attention. I'm not sure if she's straight through the stifle or if the angles of her croup are a bit flat.
I agree, her hind end doesn't look quite right to me. But then, I'm not used to looking at Arabs much. There doesn't seem to be any angle at all in the stifle, and, yes, her hocks seem high.
She looks sweet, if green. Maybe she did just get out of bed on the wrong side, but you always hate to hear that.
interesting -- pretty mare - her face/colour look like my mare!
I won't comment on confirmation because I am bad at that, but I will comment on the attitude.
The looks in those pictures are very similar to looks I've seen on my mare - and it is mostly attitude, I think. Pushing the limits a bit, flipping her head, trying to run at you when she was free-lunging,etc. The mare just needs manners and boundaries set from a good leader. Sounds like you know all about that - not moving when she ran at you while lungeing is a good start!
How interesting that you are travelling all around looking at beautiful arabs!
So, when the horse charged at you, what did the owner do?
WV: lecoli
bacteria found in fromage and baguettes.
reddunappy, thanks for reading. her neck is atrocious. it's upside down and complete with shelf in front of shark fin withers. in fact her whole frame is upside down, and i believe she's hurting somewhere from the look in her eye. since the owner mentioned they had to have a chiropractor because she had unknown pain, i think yah, the horse is hurting.
dreaming, her face was adorable! she had a lovely dish, a small muzzle, tiny ears but also sadly small eyes. but a sweet expression nonetheless. i agree about the hind end but i cannot quite place it. i need deb bennett!
evensong, i wish i knew what that was. if it were not so very far away, i'd go see her on a better day. but then there's what her owner said, which made up my mind...
laura, you're right, and manners are easy to teach, so i cannot let that guide my decision, but my goodness how it might help horses sell better if people only knew!
aarene, the only communication about this was one of the times she barged into my space with her body, i poked her side away and said, "Hey, not so close!" and her owner said she never used to be so clingy but since she lost her best friend she's changed. as i said i should not let pushiness guide my decision because it's so easily fixed. it was something the owner said that made up my mind. i'll have to blog about it later - i wanted to get your opinion first. your word verification is grossing me out!
I find that kind of spoiled behavior really crops up when a horse is left to sit after having had a good bit of training. That seesaw in the relationship has been tough on two horses I've known.
And if she's in pain, that only compounds it. Id have her teeth looked at (how did she act with the bit?). Just read something interesting about teeth in four and five year olds over at mugwump chronicles.
Any who, look forward to hearing what her owner said.
Her charging you reminded me of the day I viewed Gabbrielle at her sale barn. It was raining, so the breeders trotted her back and forth in the barn aisle with the doors closed. Three of us were standing there watching and talking when the man controlling her from the ground yelled, "Look out!"
She was running right at me. I looked her in the eye and didn't move. She came to a stop so that we were face to face. She looked deep into my eyes and I felt like she was asking me to take her home with me.
She's pretty, but I think she'd be a bit of a handful. I'm getting major, young horse high energy, pain in and butt vibes off this one. Which is probably unfair. With time the manners would come and everything would calm down with work but eh, I don't know. Her back looks a bit roach to me and the hocks maybe a bit capped. I'm not an expert on conformation though, I agree there's something just not quite right back there. I was going to say her tail is set to high but that sounds like a silly thing to say for an Arab but you know, it just doesn't look right!
Breathe, the owner said that this horse needs to be ridden several times a week. That's not unusual for a young horse, but the opposite of what I was told about Wiszi - you can just get on after several weeks off and she's fine. (Confirmed today - I visited again.) Also since this girl hadn't had time to take her out on trails, I didn't need to waste any more of her time. I want a horse with at least some trail experience.
NM, good that Gabbrielle did not run you down!
Elena, you have good eyes. I saw the capped hocks too (what causes that?) and her back just didn't look right. It looked too long even though it's proportional to her legs. I don't know. The entire topline would require a lot of work. If you look very closely you'll see her lips are pursed as she's running around. I've never seen a horse do that but to me it means stress, probably from pain. I thought her tailset was fine but I don't know why I keep seeing all these Arabians who do not flag their tails! It's not like it's cold out! I jumped on my horse tonight for a 5 minute ride and his tail was up in a rainbow arch the whole time. Maybe the girls are shy: )
Wow. Such a long drive to visit this mare.
That's is a little odd that both horses were having their worst day, but I suppose it's better that a horse shows it's faults in it's behavior during a visit, than find out it was drugged and they were hiding something, and get the horse home to discover the problem.
I really don't like the looks of this mare at all. She doesn't hold a candle the previous mare, and especially not to Baasha (he deserves to have a pretty lady in his barn, of course).
First I think she looks 'sickle hocked'. Her back end and hocks just look wrong.
And her front legs look like they may be back at the knee as well.
Her pasterns look nice, as do her shoulders, though.
But her neck is what I see most of all. It's very unattractive. It doesn't match the rest of her body, is long and scrawny and doesn't seem to be growing out of her front end instead of smoothly from her shoulder and withers. First there's the shark fin wither, then a big dip and then a hump and then the withered skinny neck.
I'm not crazy about her head shape either. Her nose sort of protrudes pig snout-like and her ears aren't perky and lovely like an Arabian's should be. She also seems to be lacking the beautiful large eye that you admire so much in the Arabian horse.
I'm interested in what you see in her conformation.
~Lisa
I meant to type "looks like her neck is growing out of her front end and chest, instead out out of her shoulders and withers'
whoops!
~L
I'm glad to hear Wiszi is still in the running--she seems quite Sensible (for an arab, obviously...)! How on earth do you pronounce her name?
My new WV is "butewar", which I'm thinking is like what geldings do instead of spitting water at each other: they spit bute, electrolytes, beetpulp and everything else at each other in the manner of 2nd grade boys!
Interesting, I think its funny that 2.5 hours is a long time to see a horse, im sure the closest one I have ever looked at was at least 3 hours from home. But to her cofirmation, i too dont like her neck or her back end, and something about her front legs, not sure if its long pasterns or what, but then again Im not used to looking at arabs either, more quarter horse/Paints, so...
But at least you know what you dont want!
She just doesn't have a "quality" look about her. You're probably wise to pass on this one.
She just doesn't have a "quality" look about her. You're probably wise to pass on this one.
It's a line many horse sellers use that they're not at their best. After all, would you want them telling you they're being so good, when they're not?
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