Juniper Moon Wind
Affectionately Known As Iggette
April 6, 1977 To March 20, 2008
She Was An Outstanding Horse For Many Years
She Will Be Greatly Missed
By All Who She Taught to Ride
& By Those Who She Helped Overcome Their Fears
I’ve been referring to my first horse in several posts. Let me introduce you to Juniper Moon Wind, affectionately called Iggette. If you’ve read my posts on what & what not to look for, this is a very good lesson in what NOT to do for your first horse. Iggette, in her younger days, was an absolute nightmare for any novice. I will add that in time with a lot of patience & training, she became the best horse ever for both me and the countless students that she taught how to ride and overcome their fears.
Iggette is a race bred Quarter horse. In 1979, she was in training at a smaller track in my area. She had about 60 or 90 days of training. To be quite honest, I just don’t remember anymore. As with a lot of young race horses, her legs just couldn’t stand up to the strain of hard training. Before she ever had an official race, she hurt her front legs. This wasn’t a life threatening injury, but it did end her race career. The only good therapy was complete rest.
Iggette was taken off the track to recover at her owner’s home. She was put in a pasture with feeder cows. Unfortunately for Iggette, she has a lot more cow sense in her that a race horse should have. She herded the cows around the pen, cut them into corners and wouldn’t let eat. She did this several times a day. Let’s just say she wouldn’t let the cows fatten up and a skinny cow is not what you want to take to the butcher. To top this off, Iggette bucked off the owner’s wife when she was ridden. Remember Iggette only had race training, she didn’t know how to be a pleasure riding horse. This just added insult to injury. It was time to sell her.
This is where I come in. I had never owned a horse, I had never taken care of a horse and I had only ridden a few backyard pets that my friends had. I was a stupid 20 something and was just as horse crazy then as when I was at 4. Oh yeah, I was also recuperating from a very bad fall off a lesson horse trying to learn how to jump fences. I was told Iggette was going to the sale barn and I just couldn’t let that happen. I talked my husband into buying her. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with her, but I knew I couldn’t let her go to the sale where she might end up in the hands of the killers. I bought her without even going to look at her first. This is how I became a novice owner.
When I went to get her, her former owner had offered to trailer her for me since I had neither a truck or trailer. Being off the track, I thought she would just jump in the trailer & off we’d go. We tried loading her the normal way by just walking into the trailer, she won that battle. We tried a rope around her backside to try to pull her in, she won that battle. We tried backing the trailer in the ditch so she wouldn’t have very far to step up, she won that battle. We finally had to put her in a stall and back the trailer up to the door. After an hour of trying to coax her in, we won – sort of. She did get in the trailer, but she did the 4-foot shuffle all the way to her new home. Whew, was I glad that was over.
Iggette’s new home was a stable not far from my house. I did the good owner thing and walked her around the pasture so that she would know the fenceline. Just as I took off her halter, a jet flew overhead as it was taking off from the airport. The airport was less than a 1/4 mile from the stable. Needless to say it was low and loud. Iggette reared up at the sound of very loud jet engines & took off running. She had never heard this sound before & it scared the daylights out of her. I couldn’t catch her the rest of the day. Within a week, jets didn’t phase her anymore. Catching her while in the pasture remained one of her biggest vices for quite a few years though.
As for riding her, I quickly learned race training is just what it implies. The only gaits she knew how to do were a fidgety walk and run at top speed. I needed help and decided to use the resident manager/trainer. This was another big mistake. ALWAYS – ALWAYS – ALWAYS check out the trainer before hand. Talk with some of their customers, watch a few of their training sessions and talk with other people in their barn. If the trainer discourages or flat out won’t let you talk to their clients or watch them train, pass them up. Don’t even think about it. After finding out a few of his “training techniques”, I knew this was definitely not the trainer for me or my new horse.
I suffered through trying to train her myself or maybe it was Iggette who suffered through a complete novice trying to train a green horse. We didn’t get very far. Since I had no idea of what I was doing, the best I could manage was a somewhat slower walk and a trot that would jar your teeth out. I didn’t try to lope at this point. To be quite honest, I was intimidated and she knew it. She never tried to dump me or rub me off on the nearest fence, but she was never willing to give to in to me either. She seemed to do better with women than with men. My husband would ride her and she would do little bunny hops sideways.
So to sum up this part of my novice experience: I bought a 3 yr old horse. I bought a horse off the racetrack. I bought a horse that only had race training and no other type of training. I bought a horse I had never even seen. I bought a horse from sheer emotion. I bought a horse that at times was almost impossible to catch. I bought a horse that would not load in a trailer.
How many more wrong things can a person do?
You can see now why I am passionate about helping other novice horsemen out there. It can be mighty painful without some experienced help.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’ve talked about riding lessons, checking the stable for possible flooding problems and what and what not to consider for your first horse. Now let’s talk about whether or not a pre-purchase exam is necessary.
First let me say, you need to get the March issue of EQUUS. If you don’t have a subcription and would like to subscribe to EQUUS, just click on the EQUUS picture at the right. This issue has a 14 page article on the pre-purchase exam. It tells what the process is, takes you through an exam and gives you a few stories about different outcomes based on the findings of the pre-purchase exam. This is another MUST read article for the novice. I really can’t tell you any more than what is in this article.
I have only had 2 full pre-purchase exams on horses that I either own or was considering. I had a partial exam on a horse that had an eye defect. One horse failed the exam because of arthritis that I would not have found without the vet check. The horse with the eye defect was cleared because it was a birth defect and it was determined the defect shouldn’t bother her. I still have the eye checked every year though. The other horse passed the exam and then I had x-rays done on the knees. I wanted these x-rays because the horse was just a 2 year old and I wanted to see if the knees had finished developing. My decision for just knee x-rays was based on what the cost of the exam would be with full leg x-rays. I simply couldn’t afford all of the x-rays.
You should consider your budget for horse expenses. Pre-purchase exams are not cheap. The cost will probably vary depending on which part of the country you live in. Are they worth the money? If it prevents you from buying an unhealthy or injured horse obviously the answer is YES! If the pre-purchase exam proves that the horse is sound, then you not only have piece of mind, but now have a better idea what the horse can do. Also, the more expensive the horse, the more obvious it is that you should have the pre-purchase exam done. And if you are considering a less expensive horse, that shouldn’t keep you from considering the pre-purchase exam. If you are trying to save money & buy a cheap horse that costs you a ton in vet bills, well . . . it wasn’t a cheap horse. You, with the help of your trainer and/or vet, should make the decision of whether or not to have the pre-purchase exam or at least how much of the exam you can afford.
Like I said above, I had 2 full exams done and only came home with 1 horse. One exam ABSOLUTELY saved me from buying a gorgeous palomino I really wanted but had unseen problems. If you are actively looking for a horse, maybe you should consider a pre-purchase exam for the top candidate. If the horse passes, you have a new equine friend. If the horse fails, you are only out the cost of the exam instead of the price of an unsuitable horse plus whatever else it will take to keep the horse sound and healthy.
Read the article. Be informed. Consider the costs. Ultimately, the decision for the pre-purchase exam is yours.
It’s been a few days. Have you read up on the type of horse that is right for you? I do hope you’ve spent some serious time on this subject. You don’t want to go into horse ownership on just a whim. To make it work out for both you & the horse, you have to be as prepared as possible. So in all fairness, it’s time to talk about what a novice should not consider as their first horse. That’s not to say you should never consider one of these next types, but maybe you should wait until you are a little more experienced.
I already talked about my #1 horse a novice should not consider. That is the stallion. I won’t go into stallions much more than I did in my previous post. Stallions need absolute distinct differences between what is breeding routines and normal everyday routines. You need to be to the top dog . . horse. . . with a stallion. They need to respect you as the herd leader and you need to respect them for what they are.
My #2 horse a novice should not consider is a foal (weanling) or 1 year old. But you say they are sooooo cute & irresistible. Just remember foals are babies . . . big babies . . big babies growing bigger. Their nutritional needs are more than an older horse. This will end up in a higher feed bill. As with all babies, they take an enormous amount of time to raise and train properly. They absolutely need to learn who the leader is. If you don’t have the time EVERY DAY to spend with a foal/yearling, you are not doing yourself or the foal any good. You have to teach these guys everything a good horse should know. The only real discipline you can do with a baby is halter and if they are 1 year old maybe longe line. You can’t ride them until they are closer to 2 years old. Remember these are growing babies. They need consistency and repetition, repetition, repetition.
The #3 horse is the unbroke or green broke horse. I want to teach my horse myself you say. Green horses need consistency in their training, which means either you or the trainer needs to do something with them at least 5 or 6 days a week. Training a horse needs a steady hand that is also gentle and forgiving. A cool temperament on the rider’s part is an absolute must. If you can’t keep your cool when stressed, trying to train a green horse will be a disaster. If you are a novice, you are still learning. It is better to get a horse that can teach you.
The last horse I’ll talk about would be one fresh off the race track. These horses are trained for speed. While they can make excellent horses, it will take a lot of just quiet riding time to retrain them for gaits other than running. I would also watch for injuries to their legs. I tell you this from experience. My 1st horse was off the track. While I knew of the injury to her legs that ended her race career, she had another leg problem that took a little time to show up. I would definitely have a pre-purchase exam on an ex-racehorse.
This is my list of the top 4 horses not to consider if you are a novice. You can buy one of these if your heart is set on a horse from one of these groups. Just remember that you will probably need the help of a professional trainer not only for the horse but for you also. You can make it work, just don’t expect miracles overnight. Any of these will take a lot of time and even more patience.
Let’s talk horse breeds. There are soooo many breeds and color breeds to choose from it’s mind boggling to a novice. Take your time, figure out what discipline you want to pursue (riding, jumping, halter, trail, etc). While any breed of horse can do just about anything, I would suggest that you read up on the different breeds. There are lots of books and magazines at the book store and on the web. I could go on for a long time about the breeds but you should consider this more homework. Choose a breed that will be best for your desired discipline. An example would be if you wanted a miniature horse, your desired discipline shouldn’t be dressage or trail riding. If you want to show in the quarter horse shows, you shouldn’t get a loud spotted paint. Talk with your riding instructor or horse friends. Talk with the people at the shows. Unless you are smitten with a certain breed, picking a breed will probably be a tough task.
Don’t just consider a pure bred. There are lots of show circuits and fun shows that you don’t have to have a pure bred horse to show. You don’t have to have a pure bred to ride the trails. If showing in the breed show is not your cup of tea, you might even consider a grade horse. What is a grade horse? This is a horse that can’t be regisitered in a recongnized breed registery. This could be a solid colored paint that the owner just didn’t want to register. This can be a cross between 2 different breeds that don’t recognize the other in their registries. This could be a pony breed that the pony just grew too tall. There are a lot grade horses and all of them have the same potential as any pure bred horse.
I will say right up front, I’m partial to the quarter horse. This would include the Quarter horse & any breed that recognizes it for acceptable breeding. Why you ask? The only reason I can give you is this is what I grew up on. I personally own a Quarter mare, a Paint mare and a Palomino gelding. They are all mostly quarter horse in their breeding. They are not a small horse nor are they too big. I like their temperment and they are versatile. With that said, these qualities can be found in any breed.
You can have just as much enjoyment from your equine friend no matter what his breeding. The key is picking the right horse for you. Have you read my slogan?
Success is not what horse you have . . . but what you do with that horse.
I talked about the mature horse and their many good attributes for a novice owner in my last post. Let’s talk about the next choice to be made. This choice is a personal preference. This choice is gender, whether to get a mare, gelding or stallion.
The first on my list for a novice of what not to buy would be a stallion. Yes I know, they are so majestic and powerful. You may be like me and grew up on Walter Farley’s "The Black Stallion" books. I actually thought as a young girl that a stallion was my ultimate horse. Well, I grew up and found out that stallions are hormones on 4 legs! During breeding season, any mare in heat that comes within 500 ft of them is fair game. Breeding season is as long as there are mares in heat. In today’s world, that is all year long. With breeders trying to get the 1st foal of the year as close to Jan 1 as possible, mares are artificially stimulated with lights in the barns starting as early as November. Stallions are actively breeding from Februray through June or July. When you throw in August & some of September, this is almost the entire year! If you are a kind soul and have trouble with discpline, if you are hot headed, or if you are just a bit scared of horses in general, a stallion could be a dangerous animal. I know I will hear from stallion owners that say they have the best mannered stallion in the world. I will agree that I have come across some very outstanding stallions. I still say a stallion is not a good candidate for a novice.
The actual 1st choice for most would be the gelding. Geldings are castrated male horses. They are, for the most part, even tempered. Yes they have personalities and even they can have a bad day, but what creature doesn’t. You will also run into some that are unruly and bad tempered, but that is true of even the mare or stallion. Most geldings aren’t bothered by the mare’s heat cycle. My experience with the geldings that I’ve owned is that they are looking for a playmate. They don’t care if the buddy is a mare, stallion or gelding. They are all about playing. Life is good for them.
My personal preference is the mare. My mares have all been sweet natured. They learn fast and are always wanting to please. They seem to handle each individual that rides them better. (Remember in my About Me page, I told you my horses are school horses.) They do have a down side. They have a heat cycle every 28 or so days from spring to autumn. Some, one of mine included, cycles all year long. Some mares will tease anything in the pasture or stall next to them. Some mares can get very witchy at this time, but then again so do some women. You don’t have to breed your mare. They are more than just a baby vessel.
Like I said above, the gender question is purely a personal preference. In my book, you can’t go wrong with either a mare or gelding. The stallion, on the the other hand, is best left to the more experienced and the professional.
Have you done your homework? Have you figured out your budget? I truly hope you didn’t skip that assignment. You are finding out that even if you have your own place, owning a horse is NOT CHEAP! It’s better to find out the cost of horse ownership on the front end of this process. You don’t want to find out in a couple of months that you have to sell your dream horse because you under estimated the cost of upkeep. It is far more important for you to make your mortgage payment and feed your family.
If you’ve found that your finances are in order and you can afford the maintenance of a horse, you are going to ask what horse is best for me? For a novice owner, there are sooo many choices. There are also some that you should steer away from for now. I’m going to break this down into several posts. This way I don’t have to try to condense the information too much.
In my Jan 9 2008 post, I suggested a mature horse. By this I mean a horse that is an 8-15 year old, I would even go as far as a 20 year old for the right horse. Why? Because these guys have been around a bit. They probably have years of training/riding and unless they are the nervous type, they are well out of that fidgety young horse mentality. Beside this, there are a few other manners that they probably have learned with age. They should have good ground manners, they have probably learned not to lean on the farrier, and they shouldn’t try to hurt the vet at shot time. If the horse has been shown or was a ranch horse, it will probably load in a trailer easily. I absolutely can’t emphasize enough just how much that is worth.
You want to find a horse that has a kind soft eye, not one that only shows the whites and has that wild scared look all of time. You want a horse that stands quietly no matter if it is tied to a fence, on crossties or tied to your trailer. You want a horse that respects you, your space and your authority. You don’t need a horse that strikes at you, tries to walk over you, or challenges your leadership. You want a horse that is reasonably trained. While it doesn’t have to be a "push button" horse, it should be a well broke horse. You want a horse that is healthy in both body & mind. You and the horse should have mutual trust for each. Without trust, you will never develop a rewarding relationship, you will never become a team.
Where do you find a horse like this? Like in the post mentioned above, your riding instructor may know of a prospect. Try your horse friends. They may know a youth or amateur who has outgrown their current horse and is looking for more of a challenge. Horse shows, especially the big breed shows, always have horses for sale. Use caution here though. You may find a good prospect. But if the owner is from out of town, they may want to sell while at the show. This could make it more difficult to test ride the horse a couple of times. It would also make it very hard to get a pre-purchase exam (I’ll discuss this more later). Working ranches will also have dispersal sales. This would be a good place to pick a nice ranch horse. This is also an instance where you need to be careful and taking a knowledgeable horse person with you would be best. They could help steer you away from a horse that may not be right for you. There are the classified ads in both the paper and on the internet. And finally, there are the bulletin boards at feed stores, tack stores and livestock sales.
Remember what I said about being in too much of a hurry. You don’t want your dream horse to turn out to be your worst nightmare.
You’re so excitied. You’ve scrimped and saved until you finally have enough money for the purchase price for your new horse. Congratulations should be in order. But wait!! Have you thoroughly researched the cost of keeping a horse? If you haven’t, you’ve missed a VERY important step. Relatively speaking, buying the horse probably is the least expensive part of horse ownership.
Let’s start at the begining. You have a lot of homework to do. The first step is look at your monthly expenses. I don’t want to discourage anyone, but you have to be brutally honest here. Sit down & figure out what you have as far as expenses. This includes utility bills, insurance, daycare, car payments, food and any other type of expense that applies to you. If you are only living paycheck to paycheck, you can’t afford a horse. If you only have a little left over at the end of each month for a few extras, you can’t afford a horse. If you don’t have enough left over at the end of each month to cover one of those life’s gotchas, you can’t afford a horse.
Now here is your homework. You have to research costs for each of these, because prices vary in every part of the country. Have you found a stable? Are you going to do self service or full board? Are you bringing the horse back to your own property? Have you found a hay supplier? Which feed is right and where is the feed store? Have you decided on a vet, found a farrier or trainer? These are just a few fundamentals for horse ownership and if you don’t have an answer for even one of them, you are not ready to buy.
As a novice horse owner, it is your responsibility to make yourself as edcuated as possible. As a horse owner, it is your responsibility to make sure the horse is cared for properly. Doing your research on the costs of keeping a horse is the first step in making sure it is healthy and happy.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I think the only resolution I’m going to make this is year is to try to provide more information. I wasn’t very good at this last year. Soooo . . .
I have heard new horse people ask if a certain color of horse is the best to get. Unless you are going to stay in a particular color breed, color should not be the first thing to look for in a horse. Although some colors & coat patterns are very eye catching, resist the urge to buy based solely on color. If you are a novice, you should look for a horse that would be good for your skills, one who has a great attitude, and probably an mature horse. A horse that is too young, green broke, nervous, or labeled “needs experienced or intermediate rider” is not a good candidate for you. Also, don’t read what you want to see in an ad.
If you have done your homework and invested in riding lessons, ask your riding instructor for help. He/she may have good leads for a suitable horse. Or if you have found one, ask your instructor to go with you to look at the horse. Let the instructor ride the horse. He/she will have good judgement for matching your skills to the horse in question. If the instructor is satisfied, you ride the horse. Discuss your ride, the horse’s skills and its attitude with your instructor. But do yourself a favor and go home to discuss it. You may feel pressured to make a quick decision if you stay. Listen to what your instructor has to say and keep an open mind. If you go into this with a case of the “have to haves”, you are likely not to accept constructive criticism.
If the horse still looks like a possible candidate after discussing all of the its qualities & flaws, make arrangements to go back for another ride. Go back for a third ride or fourth. The point is don’t make a decision too quickly . This is one purchase that absolutely should not be made in haste.
