Tuesday, October 30, 2012

New kid on the block

If there was ever a higher force that has a sense of humor, I have a feeling that force and I have a long standing game of gotcha for a number of years.

When I was initially horse shopping eons ago, I wasn't looking for chestnut, mare, or anything remotely near that. I was looking for branded, black and stupid. Several years later, I still have a blonde chestnut, a blinged-out chestnut, and now, another chrome-ladened chestnut mare. I have the flashiest bunch on the farm hands down.

Reba stumbled into my barn purely by accident, I was looking around for another project, potentially another investment, and Maryanna Haymond, a friend and prolific breeder turned me over to Arielle Perry who was looking for a situation for her mare Reba's Song for four years during school.

Lots of Facebook messages, contracts, shipping arrangements and plans later. The well-bred Hanoverian mare arrived at 3am in Lexington.

A little less than three months later, she's coming along quickly. 

Reba is a southern diva and a half. Where Sinari is Tina Turner, Reba is the steel magnolia version of Aretha Franklin and Scarlett O'Hare. She's got a warm personality, and a work ethic to die for (makes the pony look lazy).  She also came with an in hand and materiale resume that is fairly extensive. Wins at Devon, Grand Champions at competitive shows like Raleigh, the girl isn't a stranger to the arena. 

Right now, we're just refocusing on fitness, she hasn't seen too much action in the last year and we're going to spend the winter developing her to second level, and then set out to compete. In between we'll go to the little winter schooling series.

This is a bit of a daunting challenge, because even though she gets everything mentally quick, the body is still catching up from the work. What's compounding the situation is that the weather has taken a turn and hacking opportunities have become limited  at best. Bare feet and slippery surfaces don't mix. So, It means that we'll be taking a few trips to KESMARC to do more fitness work in the near future.

But for now, she's coming up and fits right in.

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