Let me introduce you to Max

You all may think this was a little soon, but I wanted a horse and I wanted him to look like Harley. That's exactly what I got, sans the white hairs ;-)

This is how I found him. I was casually perusing the ads on Dreamhorse.com, naturally looking for the dark seal bays. I was emailing everyone asking about their horse. If it was a dark bay, they got an email. I was emailing ads for horses from $7500 down to $2000. Not sure what I was thinking with the $7500 ones ;-) so... I see this guy up in Moorpark for $3500 and emailed them too.

In the meantime I'm looking close to my barn and go look at a WB that I thought to be $3500 and turned out to be $35K...not sure what the owner was smokin' but I choked on that one. So back to the ads.

So I'm back on Dreamhorse and see this guy again and now the price is lowered quite a bit. I email again requesting video's. This guy is darling and reminds me so much of Harley I can't stand it. So I make arrangements to go have a look. It's scheduled for a Tuesday and I ask my friend Sandy to join me in the trek. She's been around horses way longer than me ...so away we go. OMG...I really had not idea, nor did she, that it would take so long to get to Moorpark. Thank goodness we had the carpool! So as we get closer I call the owner to let her know we were almost there and she asked if she could go ahead and get the horse out...I said sure. When we got there he was being ridden and he looked great. Saw walk, trot, canter and he looked great. When going from trot to canter, he was a bit rushy but that looked to be rider error. After that he settled into the canter quite nicely. Sandy and I both thought he was a keeper and told the owners I wanted him.

I went up last Saturday, met the owner at her work, gave her the money, chatted a bit and then went to the barn and got him out. We walked a bit, gave him some carrots from my car, tried my saddle on him and he was a perfect gentleman. Not a spook or hesitation at all. I find him a bit mouthy, but that's correctable. It seems he's just not been taught his space and the handlers space....again correctable. A friend of a friend brought him down the next day, he traveled beautifully and he's all mine.

I think I'm very lucky and it seems we will soon had the kind of relationship Harley and I shared.

I can't believe I've lost him

I haven’t accepted the fact your stall is now bare
I can no longer smell your breath, or brush your hair
You were my crutch, my shoulder, one I could hug
Now you are gone, and I’m left here alone

My Harles

Here's another one of my loves. This is Harley..aka Harles.

I've had this guy around 15 years and still think he's absolutely beautiful....but man, does he have a mind of his own. He has the best ground manners, and when we play in the turn out he actually comes when I call, but sometimes, when I'm on his back, I swear he wants to bury me in the arena dirt. I just keep telling myself, if he was dead-broke he would be boring. right? :-)

I see him everyday and still ride him about 4 or 5 nights a week. After all these years I still look forward to riding him. I love this guy !!!

Maddie

Here is a pic of my first love. This is Maddison, aka Rock Hound. She loved playing with rocks...that's all she really thought of. I picked her out when she was 3 hours old and loved her from that moment on. She went everywhere with me. I sadly lost her in November '05 from a tumor in her spleen. That was the saddest day of my life. I still think of her and miss you to this day. She's always in my heart

Samalama

BAD DOG !

Just kidding...isn't she adorable? This is my rescue dog Sam. I got her December 05...she's just what I needed after losing Maddie.