Fun evening horse shopping

I meant to get a photo of Liberty to post in my post about him, but I ran off without my camera. I'm much more relaxed now...playing with horses always does that for me.

I liked Liberty. He's very nice. He's grey on white now. Karen, his owner, gave him a bath and I could see all his darker spots and dapple grey. However, when he dried he was white on white again. He's very green. He's been started, a little...but he's very green. I loved his personality. He was respectful, not too pushy, alert, but not crazy spooky. A couple of times he spooked at things like the door to the truck and the hose, but he did it in place. He stands tied really well and loads in a trailer. He also picks his feet up very easily. He's been barefoot all his life, so his feet should be amazing.

His movement was very nice, but he's so green it's hard to tell how training him will go. I have to ask myself: is he a horse for me or a horse for her? The answer is that of course, he's for her in the long run and for me in the short run. I would have to start him and get him going and make him safe for her and that will take time. If she's not willing to ride Freeley next season, then I won't get him b/c she won't be able to really ride him for 6 months minimum. I have to make sure he's safe. Maggie says that she doesn't get on with Freeley and doesn't like riding him. I have told her that she hasn't given Freeley a chance. She says that she will if I will consider getting Liberty. The price is certainly right, but I still have to cover board and figure out what I'm going to do with Deli during all this. No word from Eric yet, so I don't know what he thinks. I have begun to hope that she'll get well and we'll be able to put her back to work, but the vets were not encouraging that she'd ever be NATRC sound again.

Do I Have the nerve to break a horse myself? Do I have the grit to overcome my nerves? I think that I do, and I want to find out. Do I want to pay to board yet another horse to find out. I will have a total of 5 horses, boarded if this happens. It would be ideal if I could find some place to park Deli. I need someone who will know to look out for her, let their kids ride her, take her to local shows. I want to get my foal back and raise him/her. I want Deli to have a meaningful life where we don't want her to do things she's unable to do. I think she could be a broodmare, or perhaps a children's horse. She's great with kids. I just know that I don't really need to board a horse long term that I can not ride. I wish that I could keep her forever, but I don't have property where I can just let her go. It's so hard to know where to take them. I just know how much we love her and how we want to make/keep her happy.