When I decided I would buy a Fox Trotter as my trail horse, I was told one can not own only one Fox Trotter. Seems that has proven to be true. I recently came home with my second Fox Trotter, Lizzy.

Lizzy is a coming four year-old mare (May), registered Fox Trotter of good breeding, standing 15.1 hands. I bought her from a friend and Fox Trotter breeder out of Ephraim, Utah, named Michael George. Mike had heard I was looking around for a second horse, so on a ride he mentioned he had a young mare he would part with if I wanted to come look at her. He said he had brought her from Missouri to train as a working horse and use as a brood mare, but that she just didn’t have the lateral movement he looks for in a good working ranch horse. She moves down the road well and is a willing worker, but just didn’t have the movement he was looking for; for what I wanted she might do just fine. We talked about it a few times and I decided I would take the drive down to see her.

Seems like the best-laid plans can always go awry. I made arrangements half-a-dozen times to head down to see this little mare, but each time something would come up to side-track me. As things would turn out, I was invited by a mutual friend, Jon Tanner, to fill a slot in his trailer for a ride down in the Saint George, Utah area last weekend. Since Mike was also planning on attending that ride he agreed to take the mare, so I could take a look at her and evaluate her on the trail.

During two days of riding, some of it on pretty rough trails, I was favorably impressed by the young horse’s temperament and willingness on the trail. She proved to be very sure-footed and not prone to be excited or panicky. I didn’t take the opportunity to ride her, since I was busy trying to put a few more training miles on my gelding, Ranger. In retrospect, I should have traded horses with Mike for a few miles, just to get the feel of her. Regardless, I saw enough of her to convince me that I should buy her.

I made arrangements with Mike to meet him last Friday to finish the purchase and get the brand inspection done. As things would happen, again, I had to cancel and postpone the meeting, because I was called-in to work on a new part-time job I have acquired (to pay for my horse habit), and I didn’t feel right about trying to get out of it. I called Mike and explained. We put the meeting off until yesterday (Saturday). It turned out, however, that I got off work early on Friday, so I called Mike up and headed down his way.

Mike had explained to me that one can buy a lifetime brand inspection in Utah, that is transferrable to any new owner. It turns out that Utah State law requires a current brand inspection to transport a horse within the state, but with the lifetime inspection they issue a nice plastic card with a photograph of the horse that is good for as long as you own the horse. The lifetime inspection costs $25 and transfers to a new owner with a simple application and a $10 fee. Since I was going to have one horse inspected, I figured I might as well have both done at the same time, so I loaded up Ranger and took him along.

I arrived at Mike’s corrals around 3:30pm. I was greeted by several horses, all Fox Trotters, gathering around the truck and interested in the new arrivals.  After a minute or two most of the horses had satisfied their curiosity and moved off…all except for this one little colt that was constantly into everybody’s business and making a general nuisance of himself. That one belongs to Jon Tanner, and what a beaut he is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more precocious horse animal in my life. I told Jon that if he ever decides to get rid of that one, he is to call me first!

As I said, Lizzy is a registered Missouri Fox Trotter, and while I don’t know anything about MFT pedigree, Mike assures me she has some very nice lines in her pedigree. She is coming on 4 years old in May and she stands a measured 15.1 hands. She looks a bit on the small side, because she could use a little muscle and a few more pounds on her frame, but Mike actually measured her height with a gauge. I think she’s going to fill out nicely. She is sorrel with flaxen hocks, and once she slicks out, she just might end up with a flaxen mane and tail. She has a spot of brilliant white on her nose that isn’t quite a blaze. It looks more like she has some paint in her and it only showed in that one spot on her nose. Unique, and I like it. She has a longer back, in proportion to her height, than Ranger and her shoulder line may be a bit more vertical, but she has a good, deep chest and moves well. She has an old scar on her right rear pastern from a bad cut when she was younger, but it has healed up nicely. It doesn’t seem to cause her any tenderness and I did not see her favor it at all in two days of some pretty aggressive trail riding. Since I’m not going to be showing her, and since it was a contributing factor in the low price at which Mike offered her to me, I am OK with it.

I let Mike show me his process of handling and saddling the young mare and as he did so I began to realize she is a little more green than I had thought. She was a bit jumpy, due to the other horses ranging about, and a little less focused on what we were doing than she might otherwise have been. Mike took her out for a few minutes to work the kinks out before I got on her. I then took her down a dirt road a ways and into a pasture field for a test drive.

I found Lizzy to be less concerned with me than with the fact that she was leaving her pasture mates, but she continued ahead nonetheless. After a little riding around she began to settle down a bit and pay a little more attention to me. I was able to get her into a fox trot a time or two, but it was a very rough approximation of the gait. I was not able to get her into a flat walk, as she kept wanting to go from a slow walk right into a trot, due to her agitation at being away from her pasture mates with a rider she didn’t know. Eventually I was able to get her into a decent enough fox trot that I was sure that she will smooth out and produce a very nice gait with a little more work and training. She seems to be at about the same place with her training and gaits as Ranger was when I got him. He has begun to develop a very nice flat walk and fox trot and I’m sure a few more miles on Lizzy will produce the same results.

The one thing about her gaits that concerns me at this point is her walk. She has about the most exaggerated “camel-walk” I’ve ever ridden. It is very uncomfortable and would be a killer to ride that walk for a full day’s ride. She has an enormous over-step, back to front, of maybe 12-14 inches, about the longest I’ve ever seen in a horse her size (being mostly acquainted with Quarter Horse types, myself). She walks with an extremely long stride, causing a very pronounced up and down motion in her withers, however, once she speeds up just a bit, that seems to go away. Once her flat walk develops, I think she’ll be a very comfortable horse to ride. Once I got her moving comfortably, she seemed to step out nicely at a speed that will match Ranger’s pace very well. I am told the long over-step is one of the factors that contributes to a fast and smooth fox trot. I have seen that in other fox trotters, particularly the big gelding Jon Tanner rides.

Having watched her move and negotiate some rough trails the week before, I had noticed none of the few negative issues I’ve just mentioned, so I’m pretty sure it was mostly her anxiety at having a strange rider on her and being so near, yet so far from, her pasture mates. I’m satisfied that she’ll smooth out and become a very comfortable ride with a smooth, fast gait eventually.

But right now, I have about one month to get her tuned up for a very long ride.

Lizzy is a little light – could use a few more pounds – and a little greener than I would have preferred, but I’m pleased with my new mare and look forward to many, many pleasurable miles with her and Ranger.