Shaken Not Stirred!

Introducing... MARTINI!



Firstly PLEASE yell at me for having forgotten my helmet. You know I never ever go without one but I was a total idiot and did it for this one ride. I don't care that he's a total sweetie and a simple cakewalk under saddle, ANYTHING can still happen. PLEASE scold me and tell me how totally ashamed of me you are and what a completely hypocritial moron I am!


But yes! My idiocy aside, I have finally found my perfect second horse situation! If you've been following my eternal what-do-I-ride-now saga, you'll remember I've been back and forth about breeding, leasing, or buying. When it came down to it, I didn't really think Gogo was worthy of being a breeding animal just yet, so I shelved that idea for this year and figured I'd revisit it at a later date. On the same note, I realized that I actually have no interest in owning another competition horse unless it was Gogo or Gogo's baby. Since I already own Gogo (duh) despite her inability to be ridden at the moment, and since I decided not to pursue breeding, I also put that idea away. Really, horses are damn expensive. To buy a second horse at this moment in my life would just be dumb. What if it didn't end up being suitable for what I want to do? And what if it breaks? You know my bleeding heart won't give up an animal I'm in love with. Should something happen to my hypothetical second horse, owning two large hayburners would just be ridiculous.

But I still wanted something to ride. I still wanted something to compete and play with. And I still wanted something that wasn't like every boring generic plain bay on the planet. I wanted something I could take on as a project while Gogo was healing and doing her horsey thing, but that I wouldn't have to commit to buy in case it didn't turn out to be suitable for me for some reason. But where was I going to find that?

Enter the magical good karma horse gods. Apparently I dealt well enough with all of last month's bad karma to be thrown a serious bone. (Also have totally found the total love of my life right here in the Fort Worth area... enormously huge story obviously but not relevant to this blog so you'll have to ask elsewhere. Clearly I was meant to come to Texas!) Marti's owner had an ad on Equine.com advertising him for free lease provided she could find the right situation for him. She was not looking to sell and doesn't have any intention of ever doing so; I am not looking to buy. She only wanted to send him somewhere within a three hour drive of her; I am an hour away. He is a strangely roan colored Belgian/App cross who turned out surprisingly well; I wanted something funky looking but still well put together. She wanted someone to give him some training and experience; I wanted something to give training and experience. When I contacted her about the ad, it was on a whim, just to see if she was still interested in leasing him out. Her first reply was that she was surprised that I somehow found the ad, she was sure she had taken it down because of all of the stupid responses she had gotten! She got asked if she'd have him shipped to Mexico.... ummm don't think so!

It's a perfect match. He is 5 with a good base on him, about where he should be for being such a young big guy. He walk/trot/canters and steers but doesn't know anything beyond leg-means-go yet. He is forward but enjoyably so, not too speedy and definitely not one you need to keep your leg on all the time. He was a PMU baby pulled off a lot as a weanling - nobody wanted him because he was an ugly duckling! (And I have seen pictures, he really WAS an ugly duckling!!) Somehow he turned out totally lovely... who knew!
He is totally eye-catching AND a cute mover. I've been out to ride him a few times and I LOVE him. Not sure if he shows talent over fences or not yet as I've only plopped him over a tiny crossrail a few times, but he was totally 100% willing to try, so maybe he could be a lower level be-bopper! He could absolutely do some lower level dressage and totally clean up. On my end of the lease all I am required to do is provide day-to-day care (expenses for feed and the like), and she will be covering vet and farrier expenses. He's exactly perfect for me, as is the situation, and according to the owner I am exactly the person she had in mind for a lease, so we have a contract drafted and ready to be signed and he is scheduled to arrive here on the 11th!

WHO'S EXCITED? I'M EXCITED!






Boy is my equitation rusty or what! Oye!