Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Dakota,My First,My Love,My Nemesis! Part 1


There seems to be a lot of talk recently about the right horse, the wrong people, the right trainer, etc.. So I thought I would share my experience with my first horse. The horse of my own. The first horse I ever bought. And this horse is Dakota, registered name Dusk Te Troubles. And don't ever let anyone say that there's nothing in a name..........
This story begins in the year 2000, when I had finally good reason and bit the bullet to get a divorce from my daughter's father. I had the property. I had wanted a horse and pony for years, but the marriage being what it was, well, it just didn't happen. So onward I went, keeping the home and Zoe in my care and meeting Steve over the Internet. I decided that it was time to get my horse.
I asked Jess to keep an eye out and help me find my horse as I had "0" experience with this process and Jess had horses currently and off and on throughout the years. Of course, me, knowing nothing at this point wanted a gelding and one with color and one not too old. Rule #1, Never look for color first! Rule#2, Beginners are more suited to a more experienced aged horse!
So Jess did some looking and found Dakota for me. To this day, I believe that Jess had much more confidence in me than I did. Thank-you, Jess, for believing in me. And having started the divorce with a new love in my life, having gone through a whole bunch of tragedy and conquering it, thought I could do anything. So off we went to look at Dakota. I loved him instantly. But he was the first that I had seen and I thought this is it, I have to have him now. So Jess closed the deal and I gave her the money and we picked Dakota up and brought him to her property and I set off to get my place ready with fencing and lean-to and training pen. Dakota was four years old and the previous owner had said that he was seasoned on trails...and blah, blah, blah!
Unbeknown to us, and we found out later, Dakota, although a gelding had been kept from the rest of the herd and in my opinion, treated much as if he had still been a stud. Some "training" technique in which the previous owner wanted him to be solely dependant on him, so consequently Dakota misbehaved badly at Jess's as she had mares and he was trying to breed them through the fence and injured one mare. He also managed to injure himself getting a lesson in being tied and cracked his eye socket. Vet bills and a check of hormones and proper gelding revealed that he should not have behaved like he still had "kahunas"! The first visit from the farrier, Huck, at Jess's place proved to be quite hellish as well. It involved me standing back and letting Huck handle him with ropes and corrections and you name it, so has soon as my property was half ready, Dakota came home. And in the meantime, Jess had worked with him at her place, lunging and riding him in the training pen.
To be continued...........................

8 comments:

Twisted Oaks Quarter Horses said...

Callie you left out one little part. After the vet check I did suggest that you reconsider. He was such an ass to handle on the ground. You were already in love. He was fine when I rode him, he had issues on the ground. He was broke by the owner using training videos.

Callie said...

Jess, I'm sure that you did, but I refused to listen, as usual, instant gratification. I'm lucky I can remember this as much as I did so far. You may have to fill in the blank spaces here. Not forgotten on purpose, just some memory loss. Ask Steve, I look at him like he's nuts when he reminds me of places he's taken me too and I deny that I've been there, simply because I don't remember! LOL

Rising Rainbow said...

Oh that first horse can be a killer for many. Not making the right choice can make or break future horse ownership. I'm glad that your experience didn't put you off horses entirely.

And you're right about color, that's a lousy requirement to buy a horse. lol

Callie said...

Mikael, I was so excited to get my horse that I went into it with narrowed vision and hastily. Lesson learned.........

Twisted Oaks Quarter Horses said...

There is one cool thing about memory loss, it makes it a new experience. I did learn something with regards to the Dakota thing, I will ride the horse a little longer before recommending it. I rode Misty and she came from very novice horse riders. She was a good fit.

Callie said...

You're right, Misty is a perfect fit.

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten that you guys met over the internet!

Callie said...

Yeah back in the olden days before on-line dating.....