Big Bad Arabian Stallion

I'm a little behind, since this actually happened last weekend, and I've kept meaning to go down to the barn and get pictures.  Work/life has had other ideas this week.  So you get the pictureless version.

Last weekend, I had the chance to ride the barn owner's Arabian stallion.  Like, properly ride.  I've hopped on him before for a few minutes, with too-long stirrups, and briefly experienced his Western Pleasure jog.  This time, it was with properly adjsuted stirrups, all three gaits, around the arena for a good 20 minutes.

Awesome horse to ride.  He's 25 years old, and with the exception of his locking stifles after about an hour of work, doesn't look or act his age at all.  He's really well trained -- Western focus, but with enough cross-training in English to know how to stretch out and offer a gorgeous trot.  If he were 10 years younger, I'd be offering to campaign him on the endurance circuit.

It's been a while since I've ridden that well-trained of a horse (besides my own, who, depending on the day, may or may not remember that she is, in theory, that well-trained) and it was sheer joy.  It took me back to my riding origins and dropped me right back into my show-ring boots.  Old habits die hard and are deeply ingrained, I guess, since I went right back to all of my OCD, show-ring micromanaging.

(Somewhere in the distance, Mimi grumbles, "And I had just gotten that all trained out of her, too...")

But it's kind of a different story when the horse likes being micromanaged and told what to do.  Exhausting for 50 miles, but fun for short-term circles around the arena.

But just a little more gushing...you wouldn't know this guy is a stallion.  He's so well-mannered and polite, and one of the sweetest horses in the barn.  He truly loves people and is very affectionate about it.  So yeah, despite the post title (and the typical stallion stereotype), this boy isn't bad at all.  (Or big...maybe 14.2.  But he's got presence and acts a lot bigger.)

Will get pics this weekend and post them of this gorgeous guy.

(And Mimi actually approves of him, since she didn't get all crabby and pissy that I had the nerve to ride another horse.)