Willy

We woke up earlier than necessary Saturday morning.. we were not due to be at the farm to see Willy until 10am. But we got up and out, ate a delicious continental breakfast, drove past the farm and then spent the next hour driving around the Redmond OR area.. went to Sisters OR, an area many friends have been to for an annual big Rodeo down there.. Finally returned to the farm at 10 to see the horse I've been anxious to see for the past 2.5 weeks!

The seller, Christy, is very nice. She does not ride, she breeds and raises halter horses. Her son Matt is the one that trained Willy so he was there as well. We chatted for a bit and then went over to Willy. OMG, he was frickin HUGE! I mean, I figured from his pictures he looked pretty big, but I think he had gained weight since those pics and he was just huge. He didnt look fat, but definately the WIDEST non-draft horse I have probably ever seen! His back will hold water! :)

He looked great though.. he has a slightly dainty head compared to his body, its a bit girly! :) I think the purple halter wasnt helping him look more manly. I watched him free lunge in the arena, wanted to see how he moved without a rider, check for any visible lameness etc. He looked sound and sane, he definately has been worked a lot with lunging commands!

I asked if I could saddle him at my car instead of in the barn, they seemed leary of doing that since he had always been saddled in the barn, but my point was to do things outside of his comfort zone to see how he reacted to new situations. I had told Christy and Matt this before I drove down that I would be doing odd tests to him since he is an unproven trail horse.

He handled the saddling just fine, but apparently he had never had a back cinch or breast collar on before, but again he didnt seem too fazed by them. I asked Matt to ride him first. He seemed to be a bit rusty, Matt only walked and trotted him around which was fine as I already knew he didnt have much loping work yet. Willy is not even 6 yet, so he is still green. Derek gave me a bit of a boost and I got on. I was only the 2nd person to ever ride Willy and it was only his 3rd ride in the past 6 months.. the first ride was 3 days prior and then Matt riding him that day before me! :) He was doing okay. I was a bit nervous I have to admit, because Willy didnt feel 100% relaxed under me. At the walk, he started to test me in one corner of the arena, he kept wanting to stop there and after a few rounds, he did stop and refused to move. With a little bit of nudging he reared a tiny bit but he did not win the battle and after that he was a lot easier to ride because he finally started to relax and just listen.

It was funny because although Matt knew I was an experienced person, he kept wanting to chime in when I was riding Willy and trying to tell me how to handle this or that.. if Willy sped up to a faster walk or tried to trot on me, Matt would walk towards me and start to tell me how to ride. His mom Christy kept telling him to stop doing that, that I was just fine! :) I think it was a little weird for him seeing someone else on his baby... He did apologize for doing it, he wasnt trying to be a know-it-all, he just couldnt help himself.. I finally worked up to trotting Willy around the arena, it was VERY smooth and comfy. Willy has been trained to do that slow western pleasure, drag your feet type jog and it was nice. He did break out of that into a faster job which was comfy too.

Willy is very responsive to WHOA! Matt says it very sharp and stern.. to much so in my opinion as he is WHOA and I am whooooaaa. Willy didnt know whoooaaa! lol I tried backing him and he refused, Matt then told me he had never backed the horse. WHAT! I didnt say that, but was thinking it... the horse has 30-40 rides and has never been backed.. odd. But by the 3rd attempt, Willy was backing perfectly and with little pressure. I also turned him into the wall a bit, it was making Willy a bit testy but he was fine. Matt had never done that either.

I got off, content that I had not loped the horse. I was feeling very iffy about him though, as I knew he had a long ways to go with training and work. Basically he has been babied.. Matt didnt use pressure on him and I think he worked more on getting that slow jog than on anything else. Willy wasnt sure why I was putting more leg into him and didnt like it.. swished his tail mostly. He never offered to buck and I wasnt satisfied with the bridle setup he was using either. Once I got off, I put my saddle bags on him, he was very uneasy about that. We turned him loose to lope around with them on, and at the trot, he seemed ok, but once he loped, he got to buckin. But it was a very controlled buck, he was not bolting nor out of control because as soon as Matt said WHOA, that horse quit bucking and stopped... impressive! :)

He didnt love the plastic bag I put on him either, but he wasnt panicky, just uneasy and uncomfortable. Christy by this time was feeling like Willy had been put through enough as everything I did with him was new to him. I didnt feel like it was too much, but I could sense that Christy was starting to worry about her baby!

We unsaddled him at the car and I led him out around the driveway.. the other horses started to get excited and amped up so Willy do too. He actually reared, never struck, just reared in excitement and danced around me a little.. but after a minute he settled back down to earth and was calm again. He is not real respectful on the lead, he walks infront of me and not with me, so he needs some work on that. When he would stop ahead of me, I put my fingers on his chest, asking him to back up to where I was at and he didnt like that. He actually at one point reached over and nipped by arm.. didnt get me badly but he definately made contact. I punished him! Felt kinda bad for doing so because I think that was the first time he had ever been "spanked".. lol the next time I put my fingers on his chest, it was funny because he looked at me and wanted to nip me and I just looked at him and said noooo and he actually thought about it and decided he better not! I was laughing because I could see his thought process, which told me he will get over that. He just has never had his buttons pushed by anyone and he doesnt understand why this stranger is doing these things to him.

I put him away and told Christy I needed time to think on him, that Derek and I would go for a drive and either call or come back. 30 minutes later I called her and told her I needed a day or two and that if she sold him in the meantime, I would have to accept that, but I wanted to talk to a friend about him and decide from there. She said she would give me the 2 days to think it over. Derek and I talked a lot about him for the next hour.. I REALLY liked him as did Derek, BUT he is greener than I anticipated and he needs some work. He is unproven as a trail horse which I knew that going down and he was a little testier than I thought he would be.. but I had to keep thinking that he was ridden just 3 times in 6 months! And I was very impressed with how in-control he was at all times. He never panicked and took it all in the best he could for what I put him through.

Derek and I were an hour outside Redmond, stopping to have some lunch when I called Christy back again.. she was asking $2800 for him, but I wasnt quite willing to spend that because I knew he was going to need further training, so I offered $2500 and she accepted! :) He is worth that much to me for all that he is. I'm paying a lot for build, conformation, looks, potential and his level-headedness... a smaller portion of that pay is for the little training in him. I spoke with Shannon and she is going to put 30 days training on him for me.. she will PUSH his BUTTONS and really test him and get the time and experience on him that he needs for me. I could do it all no problem, I am not afraid of Willy but I dont have an arena or dry area to ride and she can accomplish more and much quicker than I can. If at the end of 30 days, he needs a little more time, then I will pay it because I really like this horse! He is a perfect age, best built horse I've ever owned and he's just a nice horse.

I am heading back down to OR with a friend on Thursday, will bring him home on Friday.. well not home, he's going straight to Shannon! :) I cant wait.... I have wanted a horse like him almost my entire life and I am just so hopeful that he turns out to be all I expect and more!!!!