I woke up about 4am this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. Got a little maintenance work done on the website. My thoughts were on Penny. Putting her down yesterday was a hard thing.

After the vet verified death, we stood and talked a minute. I was grateful for a listening ear in those difficult moments right after her passing. I told her about the day I first saw Penny.

I had decided to buy a horse for my teenage daughter, to see whether she would take to horses like I did as a child. I started looking on Craigslist for candidates and came up with a list of horses, ranging in price from $800 to $1,500. Most of them indicated “greenbroke” in the ad, or “needs an experienced rider”, or something along those lines, which is why they were selling cheap. I wasn’t concerned about that, because I prefer to train my own horses anyway. Neither was I concerned about buying a registered horse, since my enjoyment comes from trail riding and packing. Having a horse with papers serves no purpose for me. I simply look for a horse with a good character, good conformation, and good hooves.

The first horse I looked at was Penny. She was located in Spotsylvania County, VA on a small acreage with no pasture, just a large fenced corral where trees had been cleared away, in which no grass grew. She had a small pony as a companion. The owner advertised her as a 6 year-old unregistered, greenbroke Quarter Horse for $800. She said they had owned her several years and used to rider her often, but hadn’t ridden her in about two years. They had decided to sell her, since they weren’t using her any more.

 

When we approached the corral gate, the owner called to her and Penny approached willingly. She wore an old halter that looked like it hadn’t been removed since they had owned her. It had worn the hair away and left a mark on her nose from the nose band. She appeared to be in good shape, weight-wise, and looked healthy. Right away, I could see she had a unique personality. She was very personable and gentle and seemed to genuinely like people.

I looked her over and found she had a scar on the coronet band of her right rear hoof, but it was healed and did not seem to affect the growth or soundness of the hoof. All her heels seemed to be a little “pinched”, but I guessed this was from a lack of regular hoof care. She seemed sound and showed no tenderness on any hoof or joint. I liked what I saw.

I put my heavy-duty lead rope on her halter, walked her out of the corral, and tied her to a tree. I brushed her down and tossed my saddle pad and saddle on her back while the owner stood back and watched. Penny fidgeted a little, which was my warning. As I began to cinch her up, all hell broke loose! She buck-jumped, pulled back, then lunged forward, hitting the tree. She pulled again and bucked and jumped until she finally came to rest on her back, legs in the air, neck outstretched against the lead rope still snubbed to the tree. I just stepped back and watched the rodeo until she stopped struggling.

Once Penny came to rest, I reached up and pulled loose the safety knot on the lead rope with a jerk. She immediately rolled upright and stood up.  I looked her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt, then brushed her off a little. The saddle had stayed in place, so I finished cinching it up, which she permitted this time, although she hunched a little at it. I then walked her around for a few minutes to see how she moved and to make sure she would actually move with a saddle in place. She calmed down quickly and all went well.

I took Penny back to the tree and tied her again, then walked over to the owner, who was still watching. I smiled at the lady and said, “I like her. She seems like a horse that might work for me, however, there are several more horses I plan to look at. I may come back to this one, but if I do, I’ll be talking $300, not $800.”

The lady looked over at Penny for a long second, then back to me and said, “I can do that.”

Once that was settled, I spent a few more minutes talking to the owner and got the full story. They had owned Penny about 3 years, having bought her from a person they know. They started out riding her, but found she was lazy and slow. She seemed to be reluctant to do anything. The owner’s husband chimed in then and said, “We like horses that GO! So, I decided to get on her and make her GO!” Penny had promptly bucked him off and they never rode her again. It was pretty obvious to me that neither of them were experienced with horses, other than simply getting on and riding a dead-broke animal.

As it turned out, Penny was the best of a bunch of horses I looked at. Not the best conformation, not the best conditioned, not the best bred, but I could not get over her personality. I was taken with her the first time I saw her.

I went back for her. This time, just to make sure, I saddled her up (this time with no issues) and rode her around the place or a few minutes. I determined that she was simply untrained. She just didn’t know anything, yet she was willing. The last test was whether she would load in the trailer. I told the owner I would not give her the check (for $300) until I had her loaded in the trailer.

Though frightened of the trailer, after a little bit of coaxing, Penny hopped in, showing again her willing temperament.

I handed over the check and became the new owner of a $300, six year-old, unregistered, greenbroke, peach of a mare. Penny.