WildRose
Well-Known Member
Louie isn't the prettiest, fastest, or smoothest horse I have or have had but I can and have put kids on him who didn't know which end of the horse to face ride him alone at field trials all day and never worried a second. At the same time I can get on him, give him his head and run an all age dog down at a full run and never once worry about anything but keeping my eyes on the dog.
Since you got me telling horse stories... .
I have another big sorrel that looks like him minus the flax mane and tail.
I was at a trial a few years back and a friend's young son (about 10) who had been riding Louie at trials there for several years (only horse he'd ever ridden) asked if it would be ok to use him to plant birds and to take his little brother and sister along who were four and two. I said sure, if he was there and saddled they were welcome to him.
Hank however while being a great horse in many ways is always like riding a box of dynamite. He will spook at the damnedest things and when he does, he can do some pretty amazing athletic stunts.
I looked up in horror about the middle of the third brace after lunch to see him with BOTH his brother and sister just trotting along having a big time. I rode over as calmly as I could and asked him how it was going and he said fine, they'd been planting all day over on the other course while I was first judging and then in a later stake running dogs. I'd been gone all day and skipped lunch so I had no clue They'd taken off on Hank.
We stopped and I suggested them getting down and giving "Louie" a break. Only after they'd all dismounted and had a seat while I walked the boys off for some water and grass did I tell him of his error.
Scariest thing I'd had happen in many years. Hank just a week prior had gotten spooked when we busted through some very high grass into a herd of heifers that thought we were a grizzly bear. They blew snot and lit out in 300 different directions and Hank proved to me that a horse could jump as far straight backwards as they can forwards and then run more than 200yds straight back as well without taking his eyes off of even one of those heifers!
I knew it was going to end badly and that there wasn't a damned thing I could do to prevent what was coming so I kicked out of the stirrups and dug in with the knees.
Sure enough he decided to swap ends eventually and when he did we had a major crash. I just stepped off as he was hitting the ground and when he stopped stomped his eyeballs out with one foot while standing on his neck with the other.
I then led him up to where the heifers were so he could smell them at which time his ears relaxed and he quit snorting and blowing because he was finally convinced it wasn't the world's largest herd of horse killing grizzly bears and he settle right down.
We've had similar incidents over rattlesnakes and even a white garbage bag blowing across a pasture in a high wind.
The funniest one we ever had though was riding up out of the bottom of a steep canyon and him seeing the county rural water co op water tower he'd seen every day for most of his life at a distance but different time, different place, and a windy day turned it into a giant horse eating monster worthy of two hundred yards of some pretty impressive bucking.
One thing about Hank, riding him is never boring. He is however incredibly gentle and playful with dogs.
Scroll down the Page Here, Hank is the horse standing in the first horse shot, center page. He was about four here. He's now 16.3H and around 1450lbs. Half Walker/Half Trotter.
That's Louie a couple of rows down with me riding in carrying a dog and Hank coming over to have lunch with the puppies below that one.
Keep scrolling down and you see him (Hank) laying down playing with a puppy who in one shot is pulling on his nose and in another attacking his ankle!
My horses were raised with dogs from day one and actually seem to think that they are just big dogs that I ride.
Other than the buggering problem, He's pretty nice. He has a 14mph fast walk that is smooth as glass and he's just tough as nails.
I judged off of him for four straight days on the Empire Ranch in Southern AZ a couple of years ago while most of the handlers and even gallery folks were having to switch horses at least twice a day and he's as sure footed and smart as a mule in bad country.
You just have to know him and be able to read him to know when the monsters are about to get him.
