The New Girl...Edited

EDITED to add...Sorry about forgetting about her breeding. I guess I am just so used to our horses that I forget they are new to others.

This mare' registered name is Katie Boon and she is by our old King stud, Brown King Command. Lots of foundation breeding in him. He was bred by Van Norman's in NV. That family held the AQHA Remuda of the Year a few years back. The old stud, who passed away a few years ago, went to some cutting futurities his 3y/o year and then turned into a rope horse. My brother used him to head and heel on. My brother tried to show off his cutting abilities one day and ended up hanging off the side of his neck. He never tried to show off again-LOL.
The previous owner said that Boon's dam was 4th in the World in the AQHA cutting. I don't know what year-had to have been awhile ago, since she is in her mid-twenties now.

We ended up with her because her previous owner had promised my brother first crack at her if he ever decided to sell her. This guy, is a very nice guy...he just isn't a very good cowboy and although he loved the horses that my brother rode(all by our King stud), he can't ride them. They are way to much horse for him. That is a problem we have had with finding homes for some of our horses. They are wonderful using horses, gentle and kind. But, if you get to rough with them, they will defend themselves and it isn't pretty. With this bunch, it really is more about "showing" them what to do, rather than trying to "train" them for anything. I suspect that the mare was just too quick and got out from under the original owner. He seems to have a hard time staying in the middle of a horse if they move too fast-LMAO.

I like her. She is definitely getting better looking. She was so faded and washed out looking when she got here. Her head is pretty plain. Really long from eye to muzzle, but she has the prettiest eye on her. Very kind looking, but completely aware of what is going on. Long hip, good wither, decent shoulder...she will make a rider for sure.

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So a couple of weeks ago the Boon Bar grand-daughter showed up. Her soon-to-be previous owner was rather vague about "things". As in how she lost her head...

Just kidding...

What can I tell you? Nothing in the riding department. Haven't gone there yet. It became quickly apparent that this little mare needed some groceries and down time.

She's pretty flat in the chest at the moment, but is already showing signs of filling out.

Ignore the feet, she has been pretty touchy about them so far. She's getting better, but I have an idea is was no fun for her getting shoes put on. She still has the hind shoes on. I will have to get them pulled and her feet trimmed in the next couple of days. So we will have to have a nice calm come-to-jesus meeting. I think she will relax once she finds out I am just going to take my time.

She is pretty peaked in the hip too...

But the frame is there...

She isn't exactly thin persay, she just lacks a lot of muscle.

When she got here, she wanted nothing to do with people. Now, she will stand to be groomed without a halter and I can pickup and clean out her feet without her jerking away. She's touchy about her head. Not so much headshy, as just not sure about being touched. She loves her feed, so tolerates me messing with her throughout her meal. She is not about to walk away from that grain. She likes being alone during feeding time. I can tell she has had to fight for her share. But she didn't really like being by herself for the first week. She paced a lot and would grind her teeth. Now she only grinds her teeth when she sees her grain coming.

That's about it. I won't be riding her for awhile. She still needs some time to "forget", so will go to mom's this weekend and get acclimated with the herd. Her previous owner called mom and offered to come "show us how she works", but mom politely declined. He is afraid that we won't keep going with her and get her finished out. All I want her to do is forget most of what has probably been done to her and relax. She can take most of the winter off and we'll just ease along and fill in all the gaps she has in her training.

Oh yea, she is only 5 and we named her Boon. How could I almost forget important stuff like that?