So the remaining days of the trip in Holland were amazing! We looked at a total of 40 horses, and that was after I nixed all three year olds after one ran off with me in a round pen. Thank God Ryan was on the end of the lunge line as I spun around like a horse/human kite!
The feeling of the "click" definitely occurred for me. I rode a beautiful Dreamboy gelding with the most amazing canter and I just smiled (and bounced, there was a lot of bouncing during this trip). On the ground, he was a love bug. For a young horse, he was polite and loved being scratched and loved on. He was the first horse that I had under contract and then did not pass the x-ray review. It was a bit shocking, really. We actually had three vets give opinions because he was far and away the favorite. The vets were sort of all over the place, but ultimately, he had three separate concerns on the x-rays, so taken together, it just didn't feel like the smartest move. Below is the Dreamboy -- yes, I was smitten instantly.
And I'll summarize by saying the next 3 favorites also had issues on the x-rays that were enough to kill the deal. I agonized over some of these decisions as I never even did a pre-purchase x-ray of Gadget and we've managed to keep him going fairly well. Maybe these findings in these young horses are incidental and will never amount to anything. However, when it's money that was hard-earned and it's a young horse bearing the title of "dream horse," settling for one with concerning issues did not seem like the right move.
The 5th horse favorite was the PSG mare who is a 2007 model. Being around 10 years old, I struggled for a week as to whether to buy her. She, too, had a finding on x-rays, but her legs were surprisingly clean for her level of work and the fact that she's done a fair amount of eventing. Ultimately, I decided that if I couldn't talk myself into her after a week, maybe it's not the right choice.
So, although I did not come home with a horse, I had the most amazingly incredible experience riding many dream horses. In that way, the trip was totally a success. It was so, so humbling to get on these young horses and realize, I am really an amateur. It's easy to think you want that humongous trot and ground-eating canter, but riding it is an entirely new adventure! Each rider that showed us the young horses made them look easy, and then I would get on and struggle to figure out how the heck they made it look so good so easily! Thank God for Ryan coaching me through with many, many mini riding lessons.
However, on some of the favorites, I finally got to ride the feeling of a truly uphill canter (divine!!) and a trot with suspension (amazing but hard to sit!!). In those ways, I'm a bit spoiled for shopping now. I have a better understanding of what I want -- quick hind end and uphill balance. So now the quest for the dream horse continues while I get to enjoy my own homegrown dreamhorse -- my Gadget.
The feeling of the "click" definitely occurred for me. I rode a beautiful Dreamboy gelding with the most amazing canter and I just smiled (and bounced, there was a lot of bouncing during this trip). On the ground, he was a love bug. For a young horse, he was polite and loved being scratched and loved on. He was the first horse that I had under contract and then did not pass the x-ray review. It was a bit shocking, really. We actually had three vets give opinions because he was far and away the favorite. The vets were sort of all over the place, but ultimately, he had three separate concerns on the x-rays, so taken together, it just didn't feel like the smartest move. Below is the Dreamboy -- yes, I was smitten instantly.
And I'll summarize by saying the next 3 favorites also had issues on the x-rays that were enough to kill the deal. I agonized over some of these decisions as I never even did a pre-purchase x-ray of Gadget and we've managed to keep him going fairly well. Maybe these findings in these young horses are incidental and will never amount to anything. However, when it's money that was hard-earned and it's a young horse bearing the title of "dream horse," settling for one with concerning issues did not seem like the right move.
The 5th horse favorite was the PSG mare who is a 2007 model. Being around 10 years old, I struggled for a week as to whether to buy her. She, too, had a finding on x-rays, but her legs were surprisingly clean for her level of work and the fact that she's done a fair amount of eventing. Ultimately, I decided that if I couldn't talk myself into her after a week, maybe it's not the right choice.
So, although I did not come home with a horse, I had the most amazingly incredible experience riding many dream horses. In that way, the trip was totally a success. It was so, so humbling to get on these young horses and realize, I am really an amateur. It's easy to think you want that humongous trot and ground-eating canter, but riding it is an entirely new adventure! Each rider that showed us the young horses made them look easy, and then I would get on and struggle to figure out how the heck they made it look so good so easily! Thank God for Ryan coaching me through with many, many mini riding lessons.
However, on some of the favorites, I finally got to ride the feeling of a truly uphill canter (divine!!) and a trot with suspension (amazing but hard to sit!!). In those ways, I'm a bit spoiled for shopping now. I have a better understanding of what I want -- quick hind end and uphill balance. So now the quest for the dream horse continues while I get to enjoy my own homegrown dreamhorse -- my Gadget.
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