Old friend

I am swamped at work ... and will be working 6-day work weeks for all of May at the very least. But so far I really like the new job and hey, not going to complain about the overtime. That should pay for a few shows and clinics in the fall. :)

However, I do have this weekend free and of course I didn't take this weekend to relax and organize! Duh! Nope, Hampton and I will be participating in the James Houston clinic in Lexington. Very excited about this and I will return will a full report.

....

One of the reasons I chose this farm for Hampton is because the manager is a friend of Barb, the lady who owns Hampton's sire. (side note, I worked as a young horse trainer for Barb in 2007) The BM (I hate using this ... it means barn manager people, not bowel movement) now owns Harley, the cremello German WB stallion who also used to be owned by Barb. When I worked for Barb, I rode Harley several times.

(Harley is not Hampton's sire. That is a different stallion, still owned by Barb)

Before Harley joined us at Barb's place, he lived for several years in North Dakota out in a big field. All he did was breed mares. He had very little human contact.

When he arrived, Barb told me that she was "pretty sure" he was trained in 2nd level dressage at some point. She asked if I would like to ride him. I said sure. It was my ego talking. Frankly, I was a little nervous.

I have worked with a lot of stallions. And Harley, despite spending the past 2 or 3 years doing nothing but getting it on, was by far the most well behaved stallion I have ever ridden or worked with. I climbed aboard and he when I asked him to walk off, he even came on the bit for me. Yes, he was rusty and pretty much going in a training level frame, but he was never naughty.

Here is a photo of our first ride:

I had so much fun that day!

Rusty, but a good boy!

So when I arrived in KY, of course I went to say hello to my old friend Harley. Who is turned out with an older gelding. He looked great, if just a little fat, and came right over to me when I called. :)

Hi old friend.

Later in the week I spotted a young horse (maybe a 2 year old) in the round pen. Can't argue that this little fellow is a Harley baby. I am pretty sure he made the trip from Barb's farm, too.

Friendly fellow!

It makes me smile to see that Harley now does eventing and seems to love it! I'm not really a fan of cremello horses but this stallion has such a great brain. Whoever started him as a young horse did a fantastic job as well.

Here he is now!