Well…decided to get a post
going to amuse myself 
, and maybe get some conversation going.
At the moment I have one
horse. Mintano aka Melody is a 16.2hh Grey-Roan Throughbred mare. I purchased her in
September of 2003 from the Thoroughbred
Retirement Foundation. At that time I had been riding for about 8 years, and basically
rode anything that was considered equine. I loved riding the greenies so I wanted a
project…a young horse that with potential to go somewhere…I love competition, I needed a
jumper. So my trainer and I went out and searched for horses; it was hard because I had a
limited budget, but it was ok since greenies tend to be cheaper.
We finally found some
horses…but only ended up looking at two. The first mare Portia was wonderful…I loved her,
but she turned out to be eighteen years old…not what age I wanted at all. So we scratched
her from the list and later that week went to see some more horses down in South Jersey. They
were TRF horses, most had raced but some hadn’t. We got down there and found out there was
only one left that hadn’t been purchased.
So we went into the barn and looked at
her…she was gorgeous! She was a grey-roan with a black mane and tail. She also had that 'I
know I’m better than you’ kind of look to her (since I’ve gotten her it has only gotten
worse). So the woman that was fostering the mare for the TRF, Mary Ann got her tacked up and
brought her out. Turns out she was losing a shoe (should have known those feet were trouble).
Mary Ann took off both her front shoes and rode her anyway, and a really nice bonus, she was
fine even though she had no shoes on. She was a really cute mover, even though she was really
unfit.
I got on her and instantly loved her. She was very quiet and just a very nice ride.
We did some little jumps and I fell in love even more…she was sold.
A few days later she
was at my trainers barn. Well let’s just say that I love her to death but she isn’t exactly
the easiest horse…her feet were crap, and she was still a little skinny. Well it’s almost
been two years and she still isn’t at the weight we want her…trying to get weight on this
horse is really hard, though she’s on a new diet and seems to be gaining again. Since we got
her she had gained a good hundred pounds, but needed another 50. We’ve still been trying to
get that weight on, but she isn’t skinny, just slim. Her feet are just now getting
decent…the first year I had her it was almost impossible to keep shoes on her feet, they
were just like marshmallows. Now though (crosses-fingers!) her feet have gotten better and
look phenomenal compared to how they did – of course this is after tons of Farrier’s
Formula, half a dozen lost shoes, and bottles of Tough Stuff.
Riding wise she is quite
amusing. We’ll just say that everyone at my barn is scared to get on my horse…she is VERY
powerful and loves to randomly out of the blue freak out and go galloping and bucking down
the ring, though by now none of this fazes me, and she has gotten a lot better, we only do it
on the occasion now. She’s been to a few shows and has done awesome, even though she is no
Hunter, she has pinned in a few classes. In May we’re starting jumpers (yay!), which she
should be awesome at, she is one of the boldest horses I know, and as my friend Toni says;
‘as long as we have no refusals and knock-downs, Mel will be unbeatable.’ Which is probably
true, she is a freight-train…that and she never slows down, even her walk is
fast.
For some history on her…She was trained at Philadelphia park and raced eight
times…never broke her maiden. This will pretty much sum up her racing career; 'In her
final start, an $8,000 maiden claimer on Jan. 4, 2003 at Philadelphia Park, she lost by
26 ? lengths.’
Here’s a pic of
her;
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Mintano/melodyhead2.jpg[/img:2
d25f1f401]
You can at least still track Callie
I’ve tried Western on her and I’m considering barral