For some reason, I end up buying horses in August. Maybe it’s because prices are usually better since people want to get horses off of their books before winter, but probably it’s just because that’s when the timing is right for me to buy.
Mocha came into my life nineteen years ago. Marker a year ago.
It’s been a ride. Mocha was my show horse and she was pretty decent at that. Marker is…well, we’re still figuring it out. Mocha is royally bred for cutting and reining, but I decided years ago that her bloodlines were common enough that I didn’t need to breed her, plus she was my only riding horse and I didn’t feel the need to be raising a foal (plus the expense, plus until nine years ago I wasn’t in a good place to raise a foal the way I would want to). I didn’t get Marker until after Mocha retired due to arthritis in her knees that led to her starting to trip and fall during our rides. More than that, she just didn’t have energy to do what she loved–and it broke my heart to feel her try to GO when she just didn’t have it in her, at age twenty-three. She is now settling into a nice retirement, getting handled daily and fed treats, with good days and bad days. Still more good days than bad, but the bad days hurt. On the other hand, in summer pasture with Marker, she is definitely the Queen. Besides her Very Own Gelding, she has the over-the-fence buddy retired gelding who has been madly in love with her for the past several summers. The old girl shows a definite preference for the quiet company of a small number of geldings over other mares–she is quite happy this summer with Her Boys. While Marker will try to boss her around occasionally, it’s still clear that She Is In Charge and that the pasture rules are Hers. Her weight is good. Her teeth are excellent. She still comes up with Cunning Plans to get treats, and it’s clear that there is The Mocha Way and The Wrong Way even in her retirement. She’ll be strong-minded until she dies.
Enter Marker. The horse of mystery, starting with just how old he is–somewhere between seven and nine is the best guess now, based on vet assessment of his teeth. No papers. He was sold to me as Quarab–Quarter Horse and Arabian–but over the past few months, as he’s matured physically and come into condition, I’ve been wondering about the Arabian piece. I thought that perhaps it was Morgan because he didn’t quite look Quarter Horse, either. But he gaits–and while gaitedness happens in some lines of Quarter Horses (and Arabians as well, though the gaited Arabian I knew was in the hands of someone who managed to get darn near every horse in her barn to gait, so…), it’s more common in Morgans.
I pulled hair and sent it off to Texas A&M for DNA typing. Those results were fascinating–and came back (in order of probability) 1.) Quarter Horse, 2.) Missouri Fox Trotter, and 3.) Tennessee Walker. Not a hint of Arabian in the mix. No Morgan. A little searching revealed that there are people who cross QHs with Fox Trotters. He has more of a flat-kneed movement common in Western Pleasure-bred Quarter Horses than any elevated movement you see in Arabians or Morgans, which kept throwing me a little bit (a daisy-cutter rather than high knees). His head carriage is NOT Morgan or Arabian, but the level top line of a Quarter Horse. But…the way he’s put together doesn’t match a lot of Quarter Horses, either. And his butt isn’t a QH butt. I figured that since the second two options were gaited breeds rather than what you would expect from a straight QH (which would be Thoroughbred or Morgan), that he definitely wasn’t all QH but QH mixed with a gaited horse.
After the results, I kept eying the way he’s put together. Hmm. There are certain physical similarities to the Impressive-bred Western Pleasure horses I’ve known, and some of his temperament quirks match one particular tough Impressive-bred gelding I knew in lessons. But. No real way to know. My best guess is that he is a WP-bred Quarter Horse crossed with Fox Trotter (he doesn’t move like a Walker. I think his gait is a fox trot). Nonetheless, he’s matured over the summer so that leans more toward the younger side of his probable age range. I’ll never know for certain, most likely.
Some things I do know. He naturally parks out and will take that stance frequently when saddled up. He looooves people and treats, but will happily settle for scratches and petting. He’s pushy on the ground, but that has improved a LOT. One of the things that made me question the Arabian side was the way he handles being reprimanded, especially as we moved past the “getting-to-know-you” stage. He didn’t react the way I would expect an Arabian or Arabian-cross to behave, and as we settled in together he became much less anxious about reprimands. He responds to reining cues when asked to spin, as if he’s been trained (and I don’t think I’m that good at putting on those cues). His undersaddle behavior can be better than his ground behavior, though the ground behavior is improving. One biggie–early on he would rebel by bulging his shoulder and trying to push into me. That behavior is long gone, thankfully.
He is a smart horse and learns quickly. Unlike Mocha he doesn’t do well with repetitive drilling. And since I don’t have the show horse pressures, I’ve been taking my time with him. He likes the fox trot gait and will hold it easily without needing to be cued for quite a distance, even up steep uphills. He doesn’t have the body bracing that Mocha did from early days even in the snaffle. Putting him in the curb was a non-event, probably because I’ve been developing indirect rein in the snaffle so he pretty much neck reins without a lot of drama. We’ll be transitioning to a single curb rein and only using snaffle and curb when schooling soon. Once the ground gets softer we’ll go back to schooling canter, which seems to be an issue with him.
His biggest issues are mouthiness (I suspect again that this is a factor of age) and dropping his–ahem–male appendage at the end of a ride. I think he sees it as a game so I’m taking measures to make it less enjoyable. Because he’s very treat-motivated, if he drops, he doesn’t get a treat. Plus instead of capering in a circle around me, I’m making him back up. That’s not fun.
But. He is a bold horse when riding out, especially with more exposure. At first he was worried about seeing road equipment, but now he wants to go inspect it whenever we see a parked one (Mocha always was suspicious and snorty). If something worries him, I can talk him through it. He’s a fun horse to ride on the gravel roads and that smooth gait of his is so nice.
A good horse for my senior years.
