Friday, October 24, 2008

Spooks

Because I have had absolutely nothing to "talk" about the last couple days...This is the black horse...Spooks!
So named because of his eyes...
One is blue and the other is a partial blue(you can see it if you click on the picture). His mother was a true grulla, with one blue eye. When this guy was born, we thought he was grullo too. Nope, he turned black on us. He has always been a bit different than other horses. The moment he could stand, he took off at a shambling lope-heading for parts unknown. No-he wasn't frantic about it-he just stood up and left momma in the dust.

My brother says he is his best horse-Period...
Obviously, that would be based on his athletic ability...since he is a bit on the coarse-side as far as conformation goes. Egads-that neck is not pretty.

But the motor...
Let's just say, he has The HEMI!!

So far, Miss Megan has been the only one lucky enough to get to ride him, besides my brother. He is a fantastic horse-no issues-I just haven't been able to fit him into the remuda yet.

Honky Tonk is his full sister. She is one of my brother's broodmares...
Except she won't breed. She is a witch, until you get a lead-rope on her and then she becomes putty in your hands. I believe I am going to have to hand-breed her next year to get her to settle. She almost went to the cutting pen, but she is just too aggressive with cattle. She prefers to eat them rather than move them. She loves to practice her cutting ability on other horses though. I have seen her sort a horse from the herd and practice moving them back and forth as if she was cutting a calf in the pen. A friend rode her in the feed lot and told us that if he could figure out how to teach her to open and shut gates-he could just send her out to do the work without him. She is actually so over aggressive that she keeps throwing her back out. After about the 3rd time of having a chiro work on her back, my brother decided that she would probably just end up hurting herself permanently, so he "retired" her.

I think she has a hormonal imbalance. That would account for some of her aggressiveness, general crabbiness and her inability to settle. She will be a supplements project this winter. We'll see if that Horse Sense stuff I used on my gelding works on her. If so-she may have to come out of retirement to become Megan's High School Cutting horse. It's not like a person would have to raise a lot of foals out of her to get a good one-one might be all a person ever needs...or wants-LOL.

Spooks though...he got just the right amount of "want to" work ethic. He will move 'em, cut 'em, hold 'em or drag 'em. He don't care. He lacks the finesse of his sister, but makes up for it in speed and determination.

15 comments:

ezra_pandora said...

That is the perfect name for his looks. He's gorgeous. My mare has two blue eyes. With a completely white face on one side, that's her scary side. Her other side is pretty though (the one in my picture).

All of your horses look so great.

Andrea said...

What a fun horse! His sister makes me laugh!! She attacks cows! I love the thought of a hormone imbalance. Poor Girl, she has anger managment issues!! LOL!!

Spooks is handsome. A true black!

How many horses do you guys have?

SunnySD said...

Halloween appropriate, too! "Spooks" - love the fact that it's for his eyes & not his behavior.

Thanks for the intros!

And a follow-up as to whether the supplement works would be great.

Mikey said...

Spooks is a good looking horse, I don't care what you say about his neck :) He's BUILT. I bet he's a blast to ride. There's nothing like a nice big honest horse.

Mikey said...

PS, thanks for the tick tip, I'm going to try that. I remember my mom feeding them bacon grease like that when I was a kid.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Thanks Ezra-ribs showing isn't exactly a problem around here. But it is cheaper to ride the fat off than trying to pack it on.;)

Andrea-counting every thing? Thirty! :O

Sunny-LOL-I didn't even make the Halloween connection. How funny! Will do on supplements-I am anxious to see if they help too-probably won't start until January.

Mikey-Megan says he is. I am waiting to get his teeth worked on before I start working him. I think he is going to make a super pole horse-he is so agile for being such a big-framed horse.

Vaquerogirl said...

Spooks looks so much like my friend Karens horse "SURE TO WINSOME". They'd be perfect together as a matched pair ( except for the blue eye thing).
I love a big solid horse like that.

Melanie said...

Thanks for the rundown on Spooks!

It is funny that you mention attacking cows, because my sister took Waska (1/2 Arab, 1/2 Saddlebred)to introduce him to them (he has never been around them,and she wants to do some sorting and penning), and he got really nasty towards them...once he realized that they were not going to kill him of course!

She said that he calmed down though, and even cut some out of the herd! How strange is that????
I can understand him getting some of these skills from the Arab side, but Saddlebred??? LOL!!

Vaquerogirl said...

HI I've nominated you for the I love your Blog Award! Visit my website to get the link.

Callie said...

What a great lookin' horse, thick neck and all! Love the name!

Train Wreck said...

I'm with Mikey. I think he is a great looking horse. He looks like he has a Hemi! I read the Bacon grease thing too! I HATE ticks! We don't get them so much here.The Ranch is another story!!

Rising Rainbow said...

Biting cows isn't good, although it does make me chuckle. Good luck with getting her balanced out if it's hormones. Too bad there isn't a simple test, but nothing seems to be simple when it comes to breeding.

sue said...

I haven't taken the time to comment in a long while, and mainly wanted to say I am still an avid reader of the blog.....

Chelsi said...

Is anyone else having trouble getting your "road trip" post? I just get a message saying that this page is ....something meaning that it is not there:)

lol...
I am going through BECG withdrawls!

Pony Girl said...

That Spooks is one pretty boy! I love the one blue eye.
I've only owned one mare, and she was pretty good. I have enough problems with my own hormones, don't need a mare to add to the mix, LOL! ;)