APHA People - Need Your Help

[Wynette]

yes, I have heard that the Sonny Dee Bar-bred horses do tend to be laid back. I only know one person with one, and she's a bit stubborn, but she's a mare...you know how THEY can be!

 

[seminolewind]

Hi if she's going to be a lesson horse, you must be positive that she has a good temperment and forgiving. And sound, allowing for some stiffness due to age. I think you need to get one of your better students to ride her, and show up early, and ride her a few days in a row. On one day, tell the owner you are coming to ride and don't tell them that you are bringing the vet, and get a blood test for tranqualizers. This is important because it would be really difficult to be stuck with an aged horse who is a nut job, and an expensive mouth to feed.
I bought my first horse from really good people. They gave me a month at their place to ride, to make sure it was a good match. Was a wonderful horse.

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
Excellent advice, especially if she is to be a lesson horse. No animal senses better than a horse when the person around them is inexperienced, and a horse may respond fine to you riding her, and then take off like a whirlwind the first time a kid gets on.
I don't know anything about the lineages you are referring to, but obviously her type is Western, and you say you intend to put her in English tack. That isn't a problem, of course, unless your kids intend to start showing at a high level.
In my opinion, a good lesson horse just needs to be a patient sweetheart who can tolerate kids

and can manage to stay under them no matter how uncoordinated the kid is.

 

[FLF]

Nice looking mare. She is either a red roan overo or a red sabino. She may be alittle underneath herself behind, or she could be tucking her butt if it was cold and wind. Maybe alittle cow hocked, it's hard to tell with the photo angle.

She looks like overall a really nice girl and her breeding is quite nice. She does look alittle cranky, but she could just be alittle sour. Make sure when you try her out, you flop around, drop your reins, accidently squeeze with your heels and bump her in the mouth. She has to have a good enough sense of humor, to take these things in stride, and if she is to be a beginner lesson horse, she'll be dealing with them daily.

Good lesson horse are totally worth thier weight in gold!

I happen to love Sonny Dee Bar, they do tend to be super athletic, and laid back. I had a 4 year old Appendix, heavily Sonny Dee Bar Bred Gelding, who was a awesome hunter/jumper. I mean super fancy. He was marked very closely to this mare. I lost him to cancer when he was six, I have never found another like him

 

[bluerose]

She's either standing funky behind momentarily OR there's a pain issue. See how she holds her tail out from her?

I have two who do that if their hind feet get at all long or uneven and who are 100% immediately if it's fixed... but their issues are known (hocks in one, hocks/stifle in the other) and manageable. It isn't always.

I would definitely walk her on a hard surface and stop and look how she's standing several times. Another person to help might be good.

Other than that- she looks like she could be a nice mare, but hard to tell. Temperament is key for lesson horses..

 

[EggCentric]

Kate,

At the risk of being blasted here,, has that horse been tested for cushing's Disease?

Libby

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Kate
DH & I looked at your picture. She is not standing square, so it is a little deceiving. Her hind legs are under her pretty far in the picture, so it looks like her gaskin muscle isn't very long, it may just be the picture, or it could be from lack of exercise. If her personality matches her looks, she will be great.
I don't worry about a pot belly, that will go away when she goes to work.

DH said that is a pretty darn good mare. He doesn't say that very often, either. We don't ride English, so when I told him what you were planning on doing with her, he said "you don't put an English saddle on a horse like that" He also said if you knocked her head open, cows should fall out!! She has very good bloodlines. She is bred to work cattle.
I read the other comments to him & he said he sure would breed her if he had her.

She is a bulldog built mare, just our type. I hope she meets with what you are looking for. Let us know how it goes.

Jean

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Kate

OK...it's Sat. night.
Did you go look at the mare? Was she what you were looking for?
An update please.

Jean

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, Katie, did you see her?

 

[helmstead]

It was a no go. She's very soured and too sensitive to be any fun for a beginner. It just wouldn't have been a good deal.