Finally have a good prospect to buy!

I think I've found a horse! I have been scrolling though the local Craigslist ads for a while now and anything that look great for the price got snatched up before I even noticed the ad! (I mean come on, I can't check the ads on the hour and drop everything to see a horse on 20 minutes notice! Craigslist competition is fierce when it comes to a good deal.) The few horses that I was seeing had either questionable conformation, or questionable training. I saw one small thoroughbred mare who was pretty cute, but she wouldn't even allow herself to be caught. Too big of a project for me right now!

So I emailed a local trainer that I've known since I was a kid and asked if she would consider selling any of her stock. Familiar situation to most breeder/trainer combos, she never has time to train the horses she owns or breeds because clients' horses in training always come first. So the two that I went out to look at were both started under saddle a while back, and put back out to pasture. This is great because it means that they'll know the basics I need them to know before moving the one I buy off to a boarding facility: trailer, tie, halter. That's more than I can count on with a lot of the unknown sale horses available. Plus they both lunge with side reins and saddle, and have at least been ground driven and sat on. From there we'll see. I figure we'll need to do a refresher course anyway, but loads better than having to start from teaching the horse to catch and lead!

So I'm heading out now to play around with a chestnut mare that I'm leaning towards. She's a cute 15 hand Quarter cross, and a lovely mover. The other is a taller and lankier gelding, and honestly he has such a sweet laid by personality and relaxed lofty movement that I think he'd be way easy to train. I feel like its smarter to go with the one with a little flash and ideal conformation if I'm thinking of this project horse a resale prospect. Today will tell a lot. We'll see how we get along personality wise.