For You Quarter Horse Lovers

Meet Tangy. She is the mare who looked like she could give birth to a house. A very big house. A McMansion. Mostly thats because Tangy is just 13.2, and only if she's been left long between trims and is wearing shoes. She could be smaller. The photos just don't do justice to her enormous middle.

Tangy is one of the reasons I was so sleep deprived yesterday. While Curt was in the hospital, I arrived in the wee, wee hours of the morning to keep an eye on our little mare. And as luck would have it...there was no baby on my shift. I'm glad as she'd had some complications giving birth to the filly below a few years ago.

This is Tangy's three year old daughter, Doxee. Look at that dream tail! It drags the ground. I'm in love with Doxee's tail and think while no one is looking I may snatch it and try to glue it to Sandy. That may frighten him, though, as he's not so sure about things following him and dragging on the ground.

Doxee is sired by Dox Chex, an aged stallion that Curt owns. Dox is an own son of Cal Bar and out of an own daughter of King Fritz. For those of you into the old quarter horses, you know that reads like royalty. Dox is still there, but I didn't snap a pic of him in his stall; didn't want the flash frightening him. Doxee is a full sister to Lil Rip, who's photo I posted a couple days back. I swear this cross of Tangy and Dox makes the most beautiful babies; they ought to be Breyer model horses!

Tangy is also the dam of Peppenary, who's sire was an own son of Peppy San. She's a diminutive little thing, just like her mother and siblings, but this girl is a huge mover! At 13.1, I've ridden this little stick of dynamite and other than being so close to the ground you'd think you were on a Thoroughbred! She and I have become buddies of late and today she followed me around the arena even after I'd turned her out to play.


Of course, as much as I've always enjoyed a good quarter horse, I'm onto the wilder side of life these days! Jay popped in this morning and Curt asked him to help with a new method (new to Jay and I) of tying a horse up for the first time. You put a hobble on one foot, tie a rope to the ring and then send it up through the halter and then tie the horse to a post. When the horse pulls back, he lifts his foot into the air, which of course isn't his intent. Curt says it works like a charm with all the horses he's used it on.

You may recall that Sandy had a few issues early on, and while I didn't think it'd be a problem any longer, we figured we'd give it a go just to make sure. Along with helping him figure out the whole tied issue, I figured it couldn't hurt to have him learn to relax while a foot was restrained. As I suspected, though, he didn't even test it. Jay walked up to him and turned his head a bit so that he'd realize he was tied. Sandy tried to back up, his foot was lifted, and he stepped forward again and stood still. Curt was happy with what he saw, and Jay and I moved on to bigger and better things.

I rode for about 30 minutes today. That's the longest ride yet! We worked in the arena and Jay used the lunge line rather than the shorter lead. He let Sandy go way out to the end this time with plenty of slack. I walked and trotted and stopped and turned. Everything was directed by me and Jay was happy to step out of the way as I went this way and that. We ended with me taking the rail and walking around the arena, both directions, a couple of laps while Jay walked down the center.

Sandy was great. He had been concerned about the big door (normally open) being closed at the east end of the arena, but although he arched his neck and looked, he listened to me and kept moving forward. By the end of our session he was dropping his head, trotting soft circles and tipping his nose to the inside of our arc. From up on top, it looked very pretty!

Join the Hay Burner's Club and donate $15 towards Sandy's upkeep and I'll send you a 5x7 photo (once the horse is here, of course.) Or buy advertising space in the form of a button.