meet Q

In November a friend texted me "Are you only interested in a gelding, no mares?" I said if it was the right one, but I wasn't interested in buying right now. Then she said the owners were probably interested in a lease, and I got more intrigued.

Off of a couple pictures and a short conversation I went and saw the mare. Short, dirty, fat, friendly, pretty easy to work with, seemed sensible. Well-bred for endurance, had been started at 5, then pretty much sat for 4 years, except for the 1-2 times a year they pulled her out to trail ride around the property. 

meeting, who are you?

living in red dirt is bad for a gray

Hmmm, not ridden much, out of shape, moving to a new place, you know what, why not. I've made worse decisions lately (fatalism at it's best). Feed lease (except insurance) for six months (or when I want to stop it.) Picked her up the next week. A bit reluctant to go in the trailer, but did get in and rode home quietly.

Her name is Qamara, but I'm not a huge fan of that. I'm just calling her Q, it is short and cute (and happens to be an excellent Star Trek character besides). I was able to take her back to my old stable, which was a comfort. Luckily she really likes eating, so settled in pretty quickly, saying hi to the boys. She was so dirty the stable owner thought I'd bought a roan, not a gray!

settling in…oh food, cool!

meeting the boys

First week I let her settle in, just some short walks and grooming to get that red dirt off of her. She was respectful of my space, has very good ground manners and does like a good brushing! She even stood nicely for a bath! Second week I took her on some forest hikes, she was looky but not stupid, snorting softly at the new surroundings. 

forest hike

after her first bath

meeting her doppleganger down the street

Time to saddle up…in the arena. Did some ground work for a few days, decided to go for it when she stood nicely at the mounting block. We worked on walking, turning, listening, bending, all the basics. She had a lot to remember, I could tell her brain was thinking about all the changes, but she was good about it. After a few rides just in the arena, I warmed her up in the arena and then I took her down the road after each ride, where we'd been walking the previous weeks. We had some discussions about certain areas where monsters must lurk, but consistently not letting her get away with it resulted in a forward walk past the spooky place, yeah!

ready for the trails

after a few rides I felt I could take a chance at a photo

Then into the forest we went. We've now done some shorter and longer rides, single track and wider trails. She is spookier than I'd like, but has taken me with her spins (for now), and is pretty sure footed and more importantly seems to really like it. Working up distance as she's been a pasture puff all this time. Also working on saddle fit, which when riding a horse shaped like a propane tank can be difficult (she has no withers and is super wide).

green, and very muddy in places

 

awkward after ride, but mmm, grass

there isn't much mud in her field, but she can find it all

every day is like this, sigh…

So for now I have a project that is helping me look forward instead of back, though some days I'm still quite lost. I don't know where this is going or how consistently I'll write (not sure where my heart is right now) but 2022 is starting off better…