Perfect? What?

I am happy to report that the pre-purchase exam went swimmingly! I was prepared for something to be off, and wasn't expecting a perfect exam. Given that I wasn't buying a horse to be a high level performance horse, I wasn't too worried about it if something did come up either. Quite frankly, I've never had a horse vet "perfect" before (I didn't do a PPE with Rose, I imagine she would have been perfect though). My vet was quite happy with Gentry, and thinks he will be a great horse for our needs. That being a fun baby project for me in the mean time, with the goal of doing lower level dressage and jumping up to 2'6"ish, and eventually being a horse that Hubs and Junior can ride and that anyone can hop on when they come to visit. My vet's only word of caution was that, with all draft breeds and drafts crosses, one should expect that in old age (20's) ring bone is likely to occur.

Because we all like video's, here is one clip of his left front flex. I just love his tail and squishy behind. On a side note though, don't you love our house color? I cannot wait to get that painted!

Ever so pleased with the results of the PPE, I let the seller know the good news right away, and that I would get back to her with a final answer regarding the trial soon. Of course I instantly had an urge to tell her I was keeping him, but I contained myself, in an effort for once in my life to not be completely impulsive. I guess you could say Hubs has slowly rubbed off on me after eight years.

I just want a little more time to play around with him and ride him some more before making a final decision, as I didn't want to longe or ride him prior to the exam. Right after the exam, I did just that. The longe session went well. He started listening to me right away and really worked hard to figure out what I expected of him. Since everyone longes just a little differently, and I'm fairly certain he's never had a longeing cavesson on before, I expected that. I was really please by how quickly he figured things out. Then I adjusted my dressage bridle down to it's smallest holes (he has a much smaller head than Rose did) threw on my dressage saddle and I hopped on for a quick ride.

Quick it was. It lasted about two minutes, because just after I hopped on the asphalt guy showed up to sealcoat our driveway and started up his blower (to blow off all the driveway crud). I think Gentry would have been fine with the noise, but I didn't want to push it, so I hopped off and decided we would have our first ride later or another day. Later didn't happen, today didn't happen, but I am hoping that will be tomorrow. It didn't happen last night as Junior got sick and I spent my night sleeping with a 27lb toddler in a very uncomfortable chair in his room.

Note to all prospective mothers out there, I don't care how ugly they may be, but do yourself a favor and go buy the biggest most comfortable lazy boy recliner for your kid's nursery. You will thank me a million times over. I daydream about them now, but at his age and with no other kids planned, it's hard to justify the cost right now. 

Seriously, I dreamt about this baby all night long! Why brown velour? Not sure. But that's what I think of when I think of lazy boy recliners.

That brings us to this evening. I was hoping for a ride, but sadly I had no childcare today and the darn sun is setting sooner and sooner. However, I did have a half-hour of daylight left once Hubs got home tonight to go play with Gentry. I groomed him up, longed him for 20 minutes, and then decided to sus out the purported fly spray issue. I found my old spray bottle and filled it with water. I figure if I am training him to tolerate spray, no sense in wasting fly spray in the process.

I grabbed a handful of cookies, untied Gentry, and had him stand for me. I started by letting him sniff the bottle, which he quickly determined was not made of nor contained cookies. Then I started spraying it off the the side pointed away from him. He flicked an ear, but did not really react. Then I sprayed his front hoof and slowly moved up his leg onto his shoulder and neck. He was slightly concerned at first, but as soon as he got a "good boy" and a cookie shoved in his face he was completely complacent with the whole thing. I moved slowly over his whole body repeating the same process and was able to spray him entirely. I completely determined that he is a keeper for sure. Now just to get on him for an actual ride!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•Renee•