16 Days Until Our First Ride Countdown

 Thanks for all of the questions guys!  Allison from Adventures with Shyloh asked,"How did you find Chrome?  Was he bred for you?"  I'm glad you asked, because that's where we are in the story.  I don't think I mentioned, but I'm covering two months each day so that we will be up to the current time by the end of the countdown.  Day one was one and two months old, hence the baby pictures.  Day two was three and four months.  I did more baby pictures since I only had the one three month old picture.  That makes this post five and six months.  I brought him home at five months.  :D

I've wanted a Friesian for over ten years now.  I think I fell in love with them when I was around fourteen or so.  I think the first place I ever saw one was in a book I had as a kid called encyclopedia of horse breeds or something.  It wasn't until I saw something online or in a magazine that I really fell for them.  I wish I remembered the exact article/picture/video, but I don't.

In 2007 I moved to a new town and had to give away my Appaloosa pony because my new house didn't have any pasture.  I went two years without a horse before it got to be too much.  I started casually searching the internet for Friesians nearby (there weren't any) and then started looking at crosses.  I found Chrome's breeder and was actually interested in a different colt, but the sire's owner (same sire) had dibs on him.  I was disappointed because he was black and going to be very tall.  She convinced me to take a look at Chrome.  I didn't want to fall in love with him because his dam was gray and short (I do want to mention after meeting her I realized how awesome she was!) lol.  After seeing a current picture (at five months) and video I was convinced.  He was perfect! 

 

 The picture she sent me.  His conformation is part of what convinced me.  :)

Another thing that convinced me was his awesome trot!

She was sad to part with him because she had intended to keep him, but couldn't.  I felt bad about that, but I was thrilled to have the chance to have him.  I'm so happy I ended up with him because his personality is so perfect for me!  Her intuition was right.  He's such an awesome colt!

We're not done yet.  Appydoesdressage from Musings from LogDog Acres asked several questions.  First was "Do you plan on driving Chrome or just riding him?"  I definitely plan to drive him!!  That's something I have always wanted to do.  I've never even been in a horse drawn carriage/wagon/buggy though so I have a lot to learn first, not to mention I need to save up the funds for the gear needed lol.  It may be ten years from now, but I definitely do plan to drive him.  :D

Second was "Would you want to repeat the experience by raising another yearling until they are under saddle?"  I have thought long and hard about this one and I'm still not one hundred percent sure what my answer is.  I have really, really enjoyed the experience and I do think each subsequent time would be easier just because I would be more experienced/knowledgeable and wouldn't be so freaked out by every tiny thing.  I'm also a perfectionist so I would be constantly trying to do better each time as far as diet, hoof care, training, etc.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but I love raising my dogs from puppies.  I understand that adult dogs need homes too, but to me there is nothing like raising a puppy.  A puppy learns to behave by certain rules and because I do clicker training they learn to learn at a young age.  If you could see my two dogs side-by-side you would be amazed at the difference clicker training makes in the early adolescents.  I think it's similar with horses.  I didn't start as young as I would have liked with Chrome because I couldn't find a treat he liked and it got really cold that winter, but I still think the clicker training we've done so far has really shaped who he has become.  Clicker trained animals are just so different from traditionally trained animals and it's a difference I really like.  I'm not dissing traditionally trained animals or saying I wouldn't have one, it's just a preference.  So I think I might do it again someday, especially if I could get a purebred Friesian because they are a lot cheaper if purchased in-utero.  :)

I'm going to save her other two questions for another post because I want to put some thought into my answers.  So now I'll leave you with pictures from when I brought Chrome home.

On the trailer ride home, saying hi to my husband.  

We had wire over the windows because the plexi glass was broken.

My first time meeting Chrome. 

 Ignore the fact that I look like crap and not very excited 

(I was impatient and didn't want to stop for the photo lol).  

 

 

 

 

  

Meeting the neighbor's horse.

 Meeting my Siberian Husky Storm.

  

That's all for today.  :)  Keep on asking questions for the next post please!