I have a mare named Gemma, show name Gratified. Here's a journal entry I originally wrote on September 10, 2008, re: how Gemma came into my life ...
Well. I'm about in it again now. Despite swearing no more mares and no more not-dead-broke horses, I'm about to become the owner of a 4 y/o not broke chestnut mare if you, responsible reader, do not stop me. Please!! Stop me!!
Sigh. You can't stop me.
Here's what happened. About a month and change ago, I was browsing CL. It's entertaining. You never know what you're going to find. I was slow at work and the CR boards were dead. I know I'm not the only one who does this. Now, because I'm dumb as a post, I like to look at horse ads.
So I see one that makes me curious. 4 y/o warmblood cross. Located about 2 miles from my parents' house. $2000. I get curious, I e-mail the woman for some basic information. Well, it comes back and I'm still intrigued. The "cross" is a Hano stud to a Hano-approved TB. The woman bred her and then promptly got into endurance riding. I decide to go see her. And that's where I get into trouble ...
I get out there and the place is just, well, not a nice facility for horses. Could've been decent but hasn't been kept up. She brings the mare out. All ribs are visible as are jutting hip/butt bones. Feet are long and cracked. Mane has clearly never been touched. Horses stand all night on rubber mats, no shavings. First thought in my head: oh crap, I'm going to have to take this one, just to get her out of here.
Of course, I don't really need a horse. I'm happy leasing from my barn. Their mare has brought me leaps and bounds in my riding. Recently my trainer pronounced I'm ready for the 3 ft ring --well -- on deadbroke, saintly Dot anyway. I definitely do not have the skillz to make an unbroken 4-year-old a decent riding horse. But I do have the means to do so, and that darn fugly horse author recently wrote a blog entry talking about how the best way you can help with the unwanted horse problem is to take one and get it trained. All this is rattling around in my brain.
But the most important thing, for me, was that this mare get a good home somewhere. The woman tells me there is someone else coming to look at mare. I say ok, if someone else can give her the home, that's just great for me. Other woman looks at her. Likes her. Vets her. She has to be tranq'ed to flex her and she flexed positive on a hind. Person takes a pass. Seller comes back to me--are you still interested? I'll sell her to you for 1000. Even I am not dumb enough to take on a lame horse. I do think that the craptastic conditions could be affecting her vetting. We make an agreement. I will care lease her for a month and see if she flexes at the end.
And that's what's been going on. I bought a ton of food, got her feet done, have been teaching her to lunge, wear tack, and be sat on (that is within my capabilities). She has shown me nothing but sweetness, even in heat. She seems to enjoy the attention. When I come to the pasture to get her, she'll trot/canter to meet me. I thought with the ridiculous amounts of high energy food she's now getting that she might get kind of wily. She hasn't though; all the additional food/grain has done (other than put weight on) is make it so that she trots/canters when asked on the line (before she just seemed too lethargic). I vetted her last Friday. She did not need to be tranq'ed. She passed flexions on all four. X-rayed the hind that flexed positive last time and while vet saw a little something different, she wasn't too concerned and gave her approval for intended use of jumping. Vet also rated her temperament as "excellent."
Tonight, I'm going out to sign bill of sale. Mare will be moving shortly, directly to a trainer's to be broke. She's a G-line Hano, so I'm going to call her Gemma. You can see how skinny she is, although it doesn't show up as starkly in pics as it does real life. Shoot, will have to learn to re-size before I can put the best illustrative photo up ... so this will have to do for now:
And there she was, the day I first met her. So, there's the Life Lesson as I understood it on September 10, 2008: Do NOT, repeat do NOT, browse horse ads on craigslist. It's simply too much temptation. Although to be honest, now I couldn't be happier that Gemma entered my life ... more on that later ...
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