Puddles
I once bought a cute little 2 year old paint mare for $250.00. At the time, horses were more expensive. Nowadays finding a free horse is fairly easy but back then horses were costing a bit more. I was pretty pleased with myself for swinging this deal.
The mare was kept in a neighboring pasture with an old donkey, a llama and a couple of other ill-cared for horses. I first saw her as a yearling when she was put out there. I never saw anyone work with her although she was friendly and one day she had a halter on. Her care, like the others, was pretty minimal so I thought I’d find out if the guy who owned her might want to sell her. I asked around and eventually found the owner who was more than happy to unload her to me for the $250.00.
I called the little mare Puddles because her sorrel spots looked like big mud puddles on her white coat. She was a pretty mare, more brown in her face the way I liked it, beautiful build and a delicate chiseled face. Leading her over to my pasture was a challenge as she really wasn’t broke to lead. Obviously someone was crafty enough to slip a halter on her then just left it on her in the hopes that it meant she might end up halter broke! Fortunately I didn’t have far to go and I eventually got her settled in with the rest of the horses we had at the time.
It was a bit financially stressful having another horse come into the family picture, as we already had 4, so I told myself I would train her and then sell her – thus treating my horse purchase as an investment with some profit at the end.
I spent about a month messing around with her. Maybe not even that long. I got her lounging and saddled, put a bit in her mouth, and even started hopping up on her bareback. I was a little sporadic about working with her, got a little lazy, and never had a good plan in mind. We were starting to head into winter so after that month I thought I better sell her. I put an ad on Craig’s List for her, asked $650.00, and sold her in two days!
I kicked myself for years after that because she was a great horse – good looking, smart, great color and nice temperament. At the time I had my horse Moon, who I was sure was going to be the greatest horse I ever had. I worked and worked with him – lessons, training, riding, riding, riding but I could never get him to really ‘give’ me his best. He was always just mediocre and took a bit of peddling. I ended up selling him about 6 months later. And I should have kept the paint!! That’s what always got me, that I probably gave up this awesome horse to keep the clunker that I ended up selling anyway.
Although that’s easy to say in hindsight, a part of me wishes I had taken the chance on the little mare rather than the gelding I had.
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