Omg.

So as you might know if you are on my fb or saw my new job thread in Random, I live on a 250-300 acre property now as part of the salary package. My boss ladies have given me permission to get a horse (or 100 horses if I want to) and we have several paddocks of varying sizes that are perfect for horses. So I started looking.

Originally I fell in love with a 10 year old palomino QH gelding that was a give-away due to a stifle injury. I liked him so much that I was prepared to take him purely as a companion horse/paddock ornament that I *MIGHT* be able to ride - walking at most - in the future. But I took too long to decide and another lady took him.

I got in touch with a guy recently that has three 5 year old tb geldings for sale that were given to him by their previous owner because they are hopeless on the track. They have been used as pleasure/trail horses for the past couple years and have thrived in that kind of life and wanted them to go on to something similar with new owners. I was shown pictures and videos and was very drawn to this pretty chestnut boy and I was told that he is the most chill, laid back and easy going of the three.

I arranged with my vet to go out and view him tomorrow as i'll be in town picking up meat for the dogs anyway. But my vet called me this afternoon and said she had a house call cancellation and that if I could arrange it with the seller we could go view this afternoon. I was able to get in touch with the guy and he was happy for us to go out and meet the horses today. YAY!

So we met, I fell head over heels in love, we clicked, he licked my face, I didn't stop smiling the entire time, vet was super happy with him, we decided we'd take him.

This big chunk of love comes home in 2 weeks!!!



He NEEDS a new name though. His name is Homer and I hate it lmao.

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW!

I am SO glad I don't have to wait another week lol!! I also got my camera back last week so there will be lots of photos :P

thats so exciting! He is gorgeous!!! 

He is beautiful!!! Congratulations!

I love the name Hunter, he looks like a hunter!

Thanks guys!

Melissa just messaged me and told me they have him at the stables ready to go, and that we can pick him up any time in the morning, so we're heading in around 9am instead of 11:30am! MUCH EXCITE

Hunter came home today!! Omg what a day lol. I only got to spend a couple hours with him because after we got him home we had to get the float back to Melissa (seller, she let us borrow it free to get him home) and then we had a BUNCH of stuff to do in town and while I tried to make Danny hurry up he still took forever everywhere we went LOL. Plus we live 30 mins out of town and it took like 45 minutes to get Hunter home because Danny drove extra careful.

So, we got to the stables and got the financials out of the way with Melissa, then she took me into the stables while Danny hooked the trailer up to our car. She took me to his stall and he had his head hanging out, ears forward and was SUPER curious about everything going on (lots of riders taking their horses out this morning) and he seemed pretty happy to see me! That was nice lol!

I went into his stall and gave him a pat and a face rub and a little scratch behind the ears and then put his halter on. He's only 15.2hh but OMG he's so tall compared to me LOL! I had to reach to get his halter strap done up! I haven't been around horses in AGES and at first I was just like holy crap you're tall!!

Melissa warned me that he can be a little subborn with people he doesn't know and he's known to just stand still and not want to be lead anywhere, but I instinctively clucked and he followed me right out. All the way out to the trailer. Melissa was like "he must REALLY like you because he's usually a bit of a jerk with new people" lol! He's been trained to load while the handler stands outside which was awesome. Melissa took me in after he loaded and showed me how to tie him properly. She told me how great he is to float and he rarely ever moves and he's a pleasure to travel with.

WELL.

Apparently after we finished loading him we were taking FAR too long to finish talking and he got very impatient. He kicked around a little, pulled back, turned himself around and stuck his head out the back of the trailer and snorted at us as if to say "HELLO? LETS GO ALREADY!" lmao. He broke my brand new lead rope! Lucky I bought 3 of them lmao!!
We fixed him back up and hit the road and he was fine. Travelled perfectly, not a peep out of him. We're pretty sure he was just excited about going somewhere. The last time he was taken out in a trailer was to his last race so being a TB his mind was probably like "OMG YES WE'RE GOING TO RUN COME ON LETS GO RIGHT NOW"

We got him home and unloaded him (he was a breeze to unload) and I let him go in his new starter paddock. It's a small paddock right behind our backyard and I pass by it every time I go up to tend to the dogs. I can go see him and give him a little treat whenever I go up to the dogs in the beginning until he gets used to us and his new home.

So, as soon as I let him go he went for a little canter around his new paddock and seemed very thrilled with everything! He found a corner of the paddock that he was most comfortable in for most of the day, where he could see everything going on around him and could even watch the sheep being herded in the property over the road from us. Later in the day he ventured away from his favourite corner and went exploring, he cantered a couple of laps around his new paddock, grazed a whole bunch, trotted around some more and then had some water. He seems to be settling in very well!

Whiskey is entirely new to horses and has no idea how to behave. Hunter is used to dogs being around him so I allowed Whiskey to meet him on a leash. It went great. They were both very chill and didn't seem to care much about eachother. I let Whiskey off the leash and at first he was fine, he just sniffed around, but then he started barking at Hunter's feet. Hunter didn't seem worried in the least and just snorted at him and went back to grazing. I called Whiskey back to me and then Hunter came trotting up and snorted at Whiskey again, spun around and trotted off, ears forward and tail high.. Was he trying to play? Lmao. I didn't want to risk Whiskey being kicked so I put him away and Hunter looked almost disappointed.

ANYWAY here are a couple of photos. I didn't get too many because he was just settling in, but there will be more to come!


In his favourite corner lol. This paddock is actually a lot more green than this picture shows!







I bought him a camo coloured halter before I got him because everyone assured me that being a tb he'd fit a full size halter. Well his head isn't quite big enough and while it DOES fit him, it's pretty loose and floppy. Danny found a produce store in town yesterday that we had no idea about and they have a BUNCH of horse stuff so he took me there today after we dropped the trailer back off to Melissa. I bought a couple things I needed to complete my grooming kit and also picked him up a new halter but I got a cob size instead of full. It fits him perfectly and i'm so freaking happy. I've always had this weird thing where I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of a proper fitting halter on a horse. I hate seeing a horse in a halter that is super loose and it's just hanging off their face lol.

This is him in his stall this morning right before I took him out to the trailer. It doesn't look super loose on him because of the angle but once I turned him out afrer we got home I was just like nope, this isn't going to work at all LOL.



I think he looks great in his blue & black halter anyways!

SO YEAH. It has been a day! I am SO freaking happy you guys. I love him so much already. He's such a ham!!!

Yay pony!

OMG I am sooooo happy for you!

I am living my horse dreams through you just saying!

Wow, he is a beauty! 

What a handsome man. He seems like a character.