My readers will recall that last summer I had to make the difficult decision to put down my mare Penny. She foundered and I just couldn’t get her over it. My efforts and mistakes are fully documented in other posts. At the time, I knew I would be moving my family from Virginia to somewhere out in the western U.S., so buying another horse was out of the question until after the move.

We arrived in Utah in late August, intending to purchase a place where we could keep several horses, and where we would also be close enough to our children and grandkids to be involved in their lives. As it turned out, we had to sacrifice the former for the latter. We ended up buying a home in Salem, Utah in a neighborhood on about 1/4 acre. I was lucky enough to find a place within a mile of the house where I could board a horse.

Once I found a place to board a horse or two, I next turned my attention to buying a horse trailer that would answer my needs and desires for my future horse-related activities. I was able to find a 1991 Logan Coach Competitor 4-horse slant-load trailer that was in rough condition cosmetically, but solid and sound. I was able to buy it at a price that fit within my budget.

Now to find the horse.

During October this year, I had the opportunity to do a 1/2 day trail ride up near Strawberry Reservoir in north-central Utah with Jon Tanner. Jon was mounted on his Missouri Fox Trotter, while I was mounted on a large, very nice Tennessee Walking Horse. I quickly discovered that a TWH’s gait is very smooth and covers ground quickly when on level ground or climbing, but when descending a grade, their gait can shake your teeth loose. Jon was kind enough to let me try his MFT for a 1/4 mile or so, through varying terrain on a mountain trail. I was amazed at how smooth his horse’s gait was and how fast it could move in that Foxtrot gait. Jon’s horse can cover ground at up to 12 miles per hour in the Foxtrot, while the rider sits in perfect comfort. I have been a Quarter Horse man most of my life, but in that one ride I was converted. My next horse was going to be a Foxtrotter.

I started shopping for a horse toward the end of November, after we were moved into our house and starting to settle in. I perused the classified ads for the area almost daily, but found few MFTs for sale that would fall within my parameters. I was looking for a horse from 14-15 hands, from about 4-10 years old, and the price had to be reasonable to me. I was seeing ads for horses in the $7,500 range, which was above my price range. There were several horses advertised in the $1,500-4,500 range, but they were generally older than 10 years old.

Additionally, I had decided that if I were going to pay a premium for a horse, I was going to buy a good-looking horse. I have always wanted a paint, so that was on my mind as well.

Finally, I identified four horses I wanted to look at. In price they ranged from $800 for a rescued horse to $4,500 for a 4 year-old paint. In distance from home they ranged from Salt Lake City to Logan, Utah, to Blackfoot, Idaho, a distance of over 250 miles from home. I decided to prioritize my list, placing the horses I considered the best prospects first.

The first horse I looked at was a 10 year-old palomino, located near Logan, Utah with an asking price of $3,000. After nearly a 3-hour drive to see it, I was disappointed to find that the photo used in the ad was two years old, and that since that time, the horse had been used as horse for clients at an eating disorders treatment center, but that it had seen little use for quite some time, because clients were complaining that the horse was skittish under saddle. So, the horse had seen little to no use in over 2 years. It was overweight, lacked training and discipline, and was in poor condition overall. Not only that, but the horse was kept in a corral with 7-8 other horses, so it was somewhat beat up from fighting with the other horses. When I saddled the horse it tensed up and arched its back, as if it were expecting pain. I rode the horse in an indoor arena and found it to be quite skittish, although it gaited both the flat walk and the foxtrot pretty well, but acted undisciplined and afraid. It was registered and had good blood lines (as far as I know). In the end, I offered $2,000 for the horse, but was refused.

The next horse I looked at was in Blackfoot, Idaho. He was a 7 year-old MFT tri-color paint, advertised at 15’2 hands. The ad said he hadn’t been used in more than two years and was not for a beginner, but had the personality to become a kid’s horse with some use and training. It also said that while the horse is gaited, he must be made to stay in gait, due to his lack of use and training. The asking price was $1,500. I called the owner to ask a few more questions. The sense I got was that the horse lacked training, but was sound in every way. That I could handle.

I decided that since Logan was about 1/3 of the way to Blackfoot, I might as well go on from there. I let the owner know about when I’d be there and asked if they had a saddle I could use to give the horse a test ride. She assured me he would be ready. When I arrived I found the horse tied in a round pen covered in sweat. The owner explained that the horse has a lot of energy and is a bit unruly under saddle, so she had run him around the round pen for a while to use up some of his excess energy. Of course, that was a warning to me.

I was surprised to find that he was a perfect gentleman under halter in the training ring. I walked him around and moved him this way and that way. He was very easy to handle and obeyed every command. I was impressed. When I mounted him, that’s when the fun started. I found the horse to be undisciplined, buddy sour, untrained, and disrespectful. However, he had no buck in him. After riding him for a minute or two in the training ring, I asked to go out into a pasture to see if I could get him to gait and get a better sense of his abilities and training. The owner was reluctant to let me go out of the round pen until I assured her I was capable of handling him. Once in the pasture I found he was quite buddy-sour. His main intent was to get back over to the next pasture to see his buddies. He would side-step, back, turn in circles, etc, but he never offered to buck or do anything I considered to be dangerous. In fact, I found that he was quite athletic in the way he moved. Though the pasture was damp in places, he never slipped or tripped. After about 5 minutes of working with him, I found that he quickly began to respect my abilities and began to obey me. That indicated to me that he would be easy to re-train. The last thing I wanted to do during my test ride was to get him to gait. I could not get him into a flat walk, because he wanted to trot all the time. I finally got him into a good foxtrot for about a hundred yards. That satisfied me that he could be trained to gait.

Conformation-wise, he stands about 15’3 hands, I estimate, has a deep chest and somewhat fine hind quarters, and short back, as is common with MFTs. He is built well, with fairly heavy bones in his legs and good hooves. He is a little “turkey-toed” in his front legs, meaning he is a bit toed-out, but not enough for me to be concerned. He will not be a show horse or a breeder. He lacks good muscling, due to not being used for two years, but it appears to me that he has a very good, stout frame and that with some work the muscle will fill out his frame very well.

The owner told me that the history of the horse was that he was registered, but that the previous owner had not provided the papers and had said he could not find them. She and I both agreed that a horse without papers is not registered and the price should reflect that. She had bought the horse for her husband to ride, but quickly found out that the horse was not well enough trained and was hard to handle for an inexperienced rider. So, the horse stood unused for more than two years before she made the decision to sell him.

The thing that attracted me most to the horse was the same thing that brought me to buy my mare Penny: The horse had a very personable way about him. He was not afraid of people and genuinely seemed to like being around and handled by people. He was not head-shy at all and seemed “interested” in what was going on around him. That is very important to me, as I do not enjoy riding a horse that has no desire to be out on the trail with me. I believe this horse will enjoy the trails as much as I will.

So, I overlooked the fact that he was untrained, that he is poorly conditioned, that his front feet are a bit “turkey-toed” (toed-out), and that he may not be registered, and offered $1,000 for him. We settled on that price with the provision that the owner would provide the Coggins test, A certificate of general health, and a brand inspector’s ownership transfer form. I would return to pick him up the following Friday.

Everything fell into place and I picked him up yesterday. We had a bit of trouble loading him into the trailer, but once in he settled down and the 4-hour trip back to Salem was uneventful.

During the drive home, my sister called me to ask whether I had been able to pick up the horse yet. I told her I was heading back home with him. We talked about our horses and other things for a while, when the topic of a name for my new horse came up. I told her his name was Ringo, but that I intended to change it, because every time I heard his name it brought to mind an appaloosa she had owned during our high school years. In my mind the name just didn’t fit this new horse. I was looking for a name that reflected what we were going to do together over the coming years: travel a lot of miles in the mountains. My sister suggested the name of Ranger. At the first sound of it I liked it. By the time I arrived at home, I had decided that Ranger would be his new name.

I arrived back at home at about 5:15 PM, after which I took him to his new pasture and unloaded him. He backed out of the trailer carefully and slowly, just the way I like it. I left him in a pasture with the resident “old gelding” that looked so much like him that I had some difficulty determining which horse was mine for a few minutes.

I went out this morning to see him. He had been separated from the other horse, as the old gelding had been running him around the pasture the night before, after I had left. I checked him over and found one good bite mark, but nothing to worry about. He came up to me in the pasture and followed me as I went to the trailer to get the halter. He was easy to catch, which pleased me immensely. There are not many things I like less than a hard-to-catch horse. He seemed happy to see me, although I’m not sure he really knows who I am. I think he just likes people. I brushed him, which he seemed to enjoy, then trimmed his hooves. I did a little ground work with him to see what he does and doesn’t know. I’m pretty pleased with his aptitude for learning and his demeanor. I think we’re going to get along well as trail partners. I kept this first session short and sweet, just sort of a “get-to-know-you” session.

Snow is falling now, so I may not be able to work much with him for few days. I’m looking forward to getting to know him and starting to get into his training as a trail and pack horse.

Stay tuned for more.