Thursday, September 24, 2009

How It's Going With The Crew I Have...

We still have buck...
This is getting a bit old! It's true, I haven't been as consistent as I should be, but come on, this mare was rode quite a lot. She is rather being a pig about coming around.

If you wondered about my opinion of the Tardy Too bred horses from the sale post...this mare is the reason I don't them. I will most likely never own another horse with Tardy Too anywhere on their papers.

I just keep pushing forward though...

I've progressed to ponying her around. Petting her head and neck, flapping the stirrups, slapping the saddle and petting her butt.

She always calms down. Never really relaxes though...

Always, always looking for a way out and stays as far away as possible. She has 3 weeks yet to come around. I'll have her rode in the next few days. Irregardless of whether I think she may buck with me or not. One thing about Queen, she never willingly progresses to the next point. You just have to do it and get through it as best as possible. When it's all over and done though, she licks her lips a lot, takes a deep breath and lets it out in a big sigh. Now, if she would just do that when I'm working with her!

You know, this is one thing if I could have a do-over, that I would never have done twice. This bloodline all started with one of my step-mom's mares, the 1978 World Champion Aged Halter mare, Senorita Tardy(Tardy Too bred). My dad bred her to a favorite local stallion, Paprika Pine. The Pappy/Tardy Too cross has got to be one of the worst nicks EVER. It's as rank as the Impressive/Tardy Too cross. I ended up with the resulting filly(Tardy) and in my youth and ignorance was smitten with her beauty and the fact she was out of a fancy show mare.
Brains?
Crap-I was too young to have any and she certainly wasn't bred to have any. Thinking, I could have a fresh start with a foal, I bred Tardy to my brother's black stud, King. Any brains Queen has, came from him. She has always been rank, even as a baby. She cornered the market on flipping out.
I'll allow, some of her attitude in her youth did have to do with her getting bit in the neck as a baby and the resulting damage. After that was fixed she did become a decent saddle horse. But I contributed too much to what had happened to her to take a really good look at the overall "brains" on her. My mom tried to tell me that this mare was just naturally NOT good minded, but I was determined to prove she could produce better than she was.
I have...somewhat. All of Queen's foals were nicer to handle than she is. But there is still that bit of "something" lacking in them. At least the "buck" is pretty much gone.
I've learned a few things over the years through these horses though;
You can breed down pretty quickly, but it takes generations to breed UP.
You might be able to breed up, but your better off starting with UP to begin with.
Some bloodlines die out for reason!
and the most important thing of all...
When more than one person is telling you the same thing...you might aught to pay attention.
The thing is, she will come around. Now, I am just wondering what to do with her. It's abundantly clear she is not going to work for My Honey. I refuse to take her home and dump her in the pasture again. I guess, either I ride her or I take her home and put her to sleep.
Could you see me trying to market this mare, not even considering how bad the market is out here...
Sixteen year old mare, bucks like crazy. If you can ride that and get her lined out, she's okay just really, really spooky. Likely to blow up or blow sideways at any given time. Must be careful catching her, sometimes she freaks when you put the leadrope over her neck. Not a big problem though as she randomly freaks after she is caught too. Be careful tying her-she will pull back, but if you give her a good swift kick in the butt, she is sure to lunge forward and try to go over whatever she is tied too, that is if she hasn't already pulled it down. Loads good-don't stand in front of her after you open the trailer door. Forget about worming her with a tube unless you like hoof prints on your head, which you likely will have anyway after trying to trim her feet. Clippers? Your kidding right? Watch the rear feet too-she an cow kick really well. Have raised foals out of her-decided no way in hell did I want any more like them so refuse to breed her again. Would make excellent kids horse or broodmare, call XXX-XXX-XXXX. Price negotiable. Not free though, cause somebody somewhere on her papers must have done something in their life that was recorded.
Okay, so she is not that bad. Only about 1/2 of that stuff true about her. But it's pretty funny right?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I trained this horse that would never relax around people. He was very unpredictable, not in a spooking at something sense but wanting to bolt or dive away from you. He has never been mishandled. I have known him all his life and know his mom and his dad and they are both great horses. He is just nuts. He hurt my arms and back really bad one time running away with me when I was driving him on the track. From the moment you put a blanket, harness, saddle, ANYTHING on him he is twitchy and nervous. Had four of the best trainers in Canada try and do something with him. They all had some sort of success with him but he always went back to his same extremely nervous habits. Hes getting to be an expensive pasture ornament for the man that owns him. I suggested putting him down and hes finally thinking about it. I guess theres that saying, I think John loyns says it: no horse is worth breaking your baby finger over. Don't break anything on that mare D:

Callie said...

Eeeegads! Good post. I totally see your point about marketing her, Yikes! I would run a mile!Good luck with her, for her sake.......Hope she get's her head.

Kristen said...

I grew up with a Tardy Too stud in the barn and ALL of his colts were buckers. Even as adults and they've been ridden for years they still throw bucks in there every now and then. I will never own one of them! lol

Michelle said...

Wow...16 years and still behaving like this? Flabbergasted... yeah, it definitely makes things not very fun. But at least it was a good learning experience for you!

Anonymous said...

My Tardy Too bred horse was a bucker and spooky all his life too - I sold him as a goofy coming 2YO and came back across him as a 7YO. He'd been ridden the whole time and hadn't changed a lick. I'm just too old and brittle for that crap!

Angie said...

I seriously could get flamed for this BUT you could use your time, energy, and resorces on a horse that would benifit from it. This mare is just leaching you. I thik it would be practical to take her home put her down. Then see about that auction horse you liked so much.

Mikey said...

Wow. That is crazy. Interesting the comments, see more and more people saying "enough is enough, get it gone" and oddly enough, my opinion is coming around that way too. Never thought I'd say it, but life's too short. Put her back out to pasture!
But you like a challenge :) I know you :) Gonna be interesting to see what happens. You're a stubborn one!

Unknown said...

Um. Well, wear a helmet. Okay?

Yikes.

Carroll Farm said...

we had a mustang that was like that. crap on the trail, crap in the arena, and ruined every pen that she was in because she was constantly kicking everything.

If i could afford a GORGEOUS lawn ornament then i would have kept her in a heart beat, but who has that kind of money.

I, too, see more and more of the get rid of them and spend time and money on a good horse. We had one put down; due to age, bad legs, horrible skin, etc... really all she did was eat and poop and she had a hard time at that.

It will be interesting to see what you do. :)

cdncowgirl said...

re 'the ad' sounds like one for fugly. Almost makes me want you to post it and see if she stumbles across it. lmao

Paint Girl said...

Sounds like she is one tough horse. I would not keep her, but that is just me. But I don't like the bucking kind. Too bad, she is so pretty!

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Hmm, very interesting processing all of this! Well I guess you have choosen your options and now need to see which one is going to work best for you!! I am very interested to hear what you do...

SunnySD said...

Now that's truth in advertising - LOL! Be careful - I don't want to read any more accident stories anytime soon :)


Have to wonder - has your honey seen her buck yet? This was the mare that he was going to ride, right?

Danielle Michelle said...

But she's black...and she's sooooo pretty.....lol. Love the advertising bit - I've been breedingmy bucking mare. Not spooky but not dependable in the run. But her foals rock! Good luck with getting her handled. You might find an okay market with her though simply because she is good looking!