Striking Out

So, I lied a little when I said I was done until spring...but when stuff falls into your lap, and it sounds good, it's not like I'm just going to ignore it!

Friday, a coworker emailed me an ad for a black and white pinto (ooh!) Missouri Fox Trotter gelding (oooh!!) with two blue eyes (OOOOOH!!). I also received an ad from B (can I just tell you how sweet I think she is for sending me ponies?) about a cute little chestnut and white pinto MFT gelding. Lastly, surprisingly enough, an ad I had emailed on back in August (!) finally responded to me about an adorable bay Paso Fino mare.

Well. All righty then.

Unfortunately, the chestnut pinto MFT fell to the wayside relatively quickly. He sounded very sweet, but our schedules simply didn't mesh. The horse returns to his owner's property, where this is no place to ride, on Wednesday, so I'm just chalking that one up to fate telling me it ain't gonna work. The Paso mare was in PA, and I was planning on seeing her next weekend, but she sold to someone this past weekend. So, that left the little black and white Missouri Fox Trotter gelding in Maine.

I had a great correspondence with N, the critter's trainer. The gelding was a tall guy with a bit of a murky background: he was well started as a four year old, and then was turned out to pasture for a good few years. He was then purchased by N's friend as a horse for her mother, and it simply wasn't a good match. N took him on and in seven weeks, helped him become quite a nice horse. He was polite but inquisitive, easy going but attentive, sweet but not overly pushy. He was definitely a greenie stuck in an older horse's body, but because he was a green 11 year old and not a green 4 year old, he had a much longer attention span and tended to think before reacting. He had an adorable little fox trot, and a gorgeous canter. I was thoroughly impressed with him, and equally as impressed with N and her barn girl/surrogate daughter, C.

I swear I didn't plan the color coordination -- I just always match my clothing and he happened to have a blue pad!

I wasn't, however, in love.

With Dorada, I wanted to stuff her in the back of my car and take her home. I didn't voice that, obviously, because I knew that I needed to come down off of my riding high to make sure I wasn't just reacting off of emotion. I knew the second we met that I would have had a great, longterm relationship with her. Image and GP spoiled me for what it means to have a bond with a horse, and I won't have anything less.

I just didn't have that magic moment with Rennie, the sweet Fox Trotter gelding. He did everything right to woo me, but I left un-wooed, much to my (and N's!) chagrin. I really wanted to be in love with him. I've dreamed of blue eyed horses with dark faces for a long, long time, so to get up there and not have any sort of spark was a little bit of a downer. I was honest with N, and left with a "probably not going to make the purchase, so don't hold him, but I'll be in touch by the end of the weekend." I usually leave with that sort of clause just in case I wake up the next day and have a complete change of heart.

I got a text about an hour later saying Rennie had sold. Guess that made my decision for me.

I made the best of the day, however. I met a cute horse, some cool people, and spent the rest of the day on the beach in York, ME. I spent a lot of time in the little vacation town as a younging, playing in the waves and hunting down sand dollars with my sister and cousins while the adults in my family hung out on the shore. August 29th marked 12 years since my father passed, and this upcoming Saturday, the 21st, is 4 years since my mother passed.We haven't been to York as a family for a couple of years now, but just being there brought all of the light and laughter flooding back.

I went with a beach chair, a book, a pair of sunglasses, and a sundress. I sat on the beach, toes dug into the sand and read my book. I hardly ever read these days, unless it's about product for work or blog posts from friends. I used to devour a few books a week up until I stopped being a regular phone rep at Dover. It was comforting to be on the very quiet beach (end of the season, and it was a leeeettle bit chilly!). I miss my parents something fierce during the fall and winter months. I hope GP and Image are harassing them...neither Mom nor Dad were horse people, so the thought makes me laugh.

So, with fall approaching, I'm hoping to distract myself with Henry the Huge Draft Horse and some fall shoots...and hopefully, a lot more blogging!