He was shaking his head at my dad one year after the Van Norman Horse sale. My dad swore he wasn't going to buy a horse (he buys one every year it seems like), but brought his horse trailer just in case. We were quite impressed, he didn't bid on a single horse (my brother and brother in law each bought a horse, and the Cow Boss and I bought 2, one for each of us). Of course dad couldn't stand it and ended up buying one that had been no saled.
We were laughing about this to my grandma, and she told us that my dad comes by this naturally. It turns out my grandpa was the same way. He liked every horse he ever saw and was always bringing something home. I guess he was really good at gentling them down and was always making my grandma or her kids "Try out this new horse [he] just got. He's so nice!" Grandma said she was always about half leery of getting on these horses. So apparently it is in my genetic make up to want to have all of these horses.
The Cow Boss thinks I would be like the crazy cat lady but with horses if he wasn't here to slow me up some days I hope he isn't right. I really do like horses though, and like just about everyone I see. I like to think that I do have some sense though, and would stop myself before I had more than I could take care of.
On that note....I "rescued" 4 yearling colts this last week. I'm using the term rescued somewhat loosely. You see, my neighbor up the road is kind of a crazy cat lady but with horses. She had close to 90 head of mares, studs, and colts, and no way to feed them. She was out of hay. All of them are very well bred, but some are stunted from lack of feed. She really truly loves these horses, but let herself get carried away with breeding them and never really selling them. She had a horse trader/chicken feed guy coming up to gather up whatever she didn't have a home for last Tuesday.
We had talked several times about going up and looking at the baby colts and maybe picking one or two up, because like I said, they are very well bred Foundation Quarter Horses, and we are in a place where we can make some pretty nice horses and have had no trouble selling what horses we can't use. I guess the chicken feed guy coming was the motivation that we needed, to get our tails up there and getting a couple!
I fell in love with a little chestnut horse colt that was a late colt. I'm pretty sure he is going to turn gray. I also have a super soft spot for grays. I will get around to telling you why one of these days! Anyway, the Cow Boss said no way, no how because of how little he is, and if he doesn't grow he won't be something I can use on the ranch. I was thinking he would be the perfect size for my boys. Since he told me no, I called my dad. Knowing my dad and his soft spot for horses, I knew I could talk him into taking him.
I think he is a cute little guy. He has a nice hip and I kind eye. He is also pretty easy going so far, and if he doesn't get real big, I think he will be great for the boys. TR really likes him and thought maybe we could give grandpa the one the Cow Boss picked instead and keep "Smarty."
The Cow Boss had a hard time choosing, and was torn between a huge solid bay horse colt and a nice sorrel horse colt. He ended up choosing "Bulls Eye," (QT named him. He told me that he thought Bulls Eye was a good name for a horse and always wanted one named Bulls Eye, just like Woody). Kind of hard to doubt his logic since the sorrel has a huge white star that looks kind of like a bulls eye. None of these colts have really been touched, so this past week has been a huge change for them.
Our first priority when we got them home was to wean and vaccinate them. Knowing that they haven't had much care, and not the best hay (besides being in a dirt lot with about 30 yearlings), we needed to worm them before anything else. So we had to rope them to catch them. Bulls Eye was not impressed, and it took a good hour to get him to where the Cow Boss could actually touch him with his hands.
My pictures aren't the best, and he is standing horribly here, but he is a flashy looking guy. I think he goes back to King Fritz, and Freckles Playboy.
After the Cow Boss vetoed the little chestnut, I picked a beautiful buckskin filly. When I got them in the corral, I noticed a handsome bay horse colt that I thought might be better. People are funny about mares. I don't mind riding them, to me a horse is a horse and each one has their own little quirks. Gender doesn't affect that in my mind. I got to thinking though, that a gelding would be better to sell down the road. So we got the filly and horse sorted off and I was looking them both over in the corral. The filly was so calm. She just took things as they came and didn't get worked up at all. The bay on the other hand was obviously distressed being sorted out of the bunch, and wound more tightly than the filly. So I went with Scotch.
I think she will be a good fit for me. She goes back to Poco Bueno, and Three Bars. I like the way she is put together, and her disposition this far. As you can see we roped her too, but within about 15 minutes we had her all brushed off, hands all over her, wormed, and vaccinated. I really hope I can get some better pictures of them before we turn them out.
I sent some pictures to my dad after we got the 3 horses home, and I told him about the bay I almost took. He said he might be interested in another colt and for me to talk to the Cow Boss about it for him. Not 20 minutes after I hung up the phone, the Cow Boss called me. Turns out my dad called him right after he got off the phone with me, and we needed to set up another appointment to go get another colt for my dad. So we called my friend Corinna who knew most of the mares pretty well and sat down with her and poured over the website trying to pick out the perfect colt for him. Of course the one that was out of Corinna's favorite mare turned out to be a filly. So we ended up getting him the bay I didn't take.
We had to laugh at my dad. When we were trying to pick a colt for him, we called him and he said "Oh I don't care what you pick for me. I trust your judgement. I like a little color, sorrels, bays, buckskins, and duns, it doesn't matter. A little chrome is nice too. I like 2 white feet on the back, but not so much on the front."
I'm feeling pretty good about our little "rescue." I know at least 5 of them (my friend Rachel took the bay the Cow Boss liked) went to good homes. My dad gathered up his 2 yesterday. I know I couldn't save them all, but am hopefully making a positive difference in these few's lives!
I like every horse I see too. My brother has a horse that isn't "the best" but I still love him. I like the name Bulls Eye.
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