New Horse!!!!

I'm so excited! We now have a new horse and it was sort of by accident. Yesterday my farrier told me about a carriage rental farm she'd gone to for shoeing/trimming. She told me there was a black Percheron gelding they were giving away for free because he was too skittish to pull carriages for weddings and birthdays and she is too busy to work with him on it. We said we were interested (because he sounded exactly like what my husband wanted for his riding horse) so she emailed his owner.

This morning my farrier calls me to tell me that if we want the horse we had to get him by Tuesday. Since today was my last day off I asked if today was okay. She said fine. So we drove down there.

His name is Zorro (we're going to change it if anyone has any suggestions). He is 16hh tall, eleven years old, black with a star, trained to drive (pairs or singles, although he doesn't have the confidence to go in singles, needs more training), he's had a rider on him but not much training so we will be starting with the basics as if he hadn't had any training. The downside to this gorgeous boy is that he is distrustful of humans and painfully shy. He's very difficult to catch and is very jumpy. It's all stuff we can work through. His owner hadn't had him long and knows nothing of his history because she got him on trade.

He's in good health except he's too fat and his hooves need work, but those aren't big problems. I'm excited to start working with him. Right now we have him in a round pen away from Chrome and Zeppelin for quarantine. Then we will move the round pen onto the lease land so he can get to know them before we turn him loose. We have to get him reliable to catch before turning him out because I'm not chasing a horse down on thirty acres!!

So anyway here is what I'm sure you have all been waiting for. His pictures!!

Keep in mind I'm 5'11" tall.

Keep in mind I'm 5'11" tall.

Our new Percheron looks more Friesian than my Friesian cross lol!!

Playing with his rope.

He definitely shows curiosity about people and his surroundings, but he's so sensitive! I think he's going to settle in just fine. He needs a ton of desensitizing and the clicker training should teach him for think for himself instead of just reacting. I look forward to sharing our adventures.

As soon as we think of a name I'll edit the blog to include him and Zepplin in the title and banner. :) Again I'll take suggestions on names! My husband is picky and this cutie will be his trail horse so it's up to him.

P.S. I was gone all day so I didn't get to do Chrome's monthly progress report. I'll do it tomorrow.