which_chick | (no subject)

After the Very Successful Ride on Saturday, I went to the feed store with Liss. We swung by Odie's and Ruth's and Clyde's (three locations) on the way home to look at various horses. Riding in the Toyota with her on the washed-out back road to Odie's was scarier than riding the insane red horse. I said "The road's probably washed out. I don't think going this way is a good idea," approximately five minutes before we landed the right front wheel of the Toyota deeper than the hub in a washed-out ~~canyon~~ rut. Another star for my crown in heaven got added when I managed to NOT say "I told you so." as we sat in a vehicle with a 45-degree tilt and regarded our situation.

We were going home from the feed store the long way and looking at various horses because Liss and La think I need another green horse as I am obviously not dying on the insane red horse. I am starting to suspect that the previous sentence is missing the words "quickly enough" tacked onto the end. They think it would be "good for me" to have another young 'un to die on. I'm not sure I'm in favor of this idea, but I agreed to look at the young stock to see what the available choices looked like.

Anyway. Wren is Meat's baby and she's cute. She's nicely built, good-sized, and classy to boot. However, I don't want her enough to break her to ride. She doesn't do it for me. I spent most of the time we were at Odie's looking at Meat. Meat, I realized as I stood holding a bucket of grain and looking at the fifteen heads arched hopefully over the fence, is cute as all hell. I've owned her for nine years and I STILL think she's the prettiest horse in the field. She's gorgeous. She's my baby girl, and I have not tired of looking at her in nine years. Probably I never will. Six hundred dollars well spent, that was.

At Ruth's, we looked at Galen's new stud. He's about a year and a half old, will be two in the springtime. Right now he looks half-finished, but that's par for the course. He'll probably shape up a good bit in the next two years and what I saw looked pretty good. The reason we were looking at him was to see what I thought of him in terms of how he'd cross with Nick.

See, Nick used to be Galen's horse. He bred his red mare (whose name escapes me) to Jerez and she threw Nick, whom I met at a week old. I loved her the minute I saw her, but I never figured I'd get a shot at her because Galen was *well* pleased with her. Time passed. Nick (actual name G. F. Nile Kaia) was looking pretty weedy at a year and a half old. Since Jerez and his red mare were still alive, Galen figured he could make another... so he sold her. Liss bought her on the spot, one heck of a smart move in my book. Jerez and Galen's red mare subsequently died (neither was young). By that time, I'd started messing with Nick and had put a standing offer on the table for her. When Galen tried to buy her back, Liss said she wasn't for sale. (I still haven't bought her and I'm in no particular hurry to do so.)

However... Galen is a good guy. While he can't have Nick back, he raises VERY interesting horses and I like his eye. He was truly fond of Nick's mother and he likes her bloodlines. He regrets like hell that he ever sold her, but he chats about how she's doing and seems honestly glad she's making progress, instead of being a dick about it. Nick's six years old now, full-grown. I'd like to see what she'd throw. Nick reminds me of Jerez a lot and he was one of the best horses I have ever known. If I let Galen have the first baby out of her and his young stud... I can see how that cross works. Perhaps I'll want one of my own. Perhaps it'd be a really cute cross. One never knows. By giving Galen the first one, I get a free shot at seeing the results without having to take any chances.

The grey Whimsy at Ruth's is turning into a fine-looking mare. If I thought I needed another project horse, that would be the project horse I'd be projecting with. Good thing the horse people do not read this...