Why Karma?

I never really talked about what exactly I was looking for in a horse when I was shopping. I just said SURPRISE GUYS I GOT A PONY!!!!!!!! Yes I am adult, why do you ask? Anyway, I decided to try and apply the lessons I learned from Stinker and not make the same mistakes.

Fun but not well put together

I will never regret getting Stinker, I love that horse dearly and he has taught me so much. But on the flip side he has some weak points. First up, I wanted a horse that was well put together. Stinker was never great, but the EPM took a toll on his body that he just couldn't recover from. Secondly, I wanted a less sensitive horse. If I were a better rider it wouldn't be such a deal breaker, but any little change in the rider's body resulted in a change from him. Sometimes it was great, a lot of the time it was activating giraffe mode.

I always forget how awful he looked when we started the EPM treatment

My list looked something like:
1) Sensible
2) Good conformation
3) Smaller (I just don't like massive horses)
4) Fun

I like the way she is put together

My goals were to find a horse that seemed like it could make a good all-round horse but also be decent at dressage. Think Karen's Hampton, but smaller because Porkchop is massive. My budget had me mostly looking at younger horses. I thought about a couple warmblood babies, but I kept coming back to most warmbloods are bred to be bigger than what I want. Sure there is a chance that they won't get that big, but I didn't find anything I wanted enough to risk it.

Stolen shamelessly from the internet

Karma appealed to me because Cardi baby + her dam has good dressage lines + I liked her personality from the video. They were chasing and rattling stuff at her so she kind of looked like a pogo pony at the canter, but I decided it was worth the risk to go see her. Basically I thought I wanted her, but didn't dare show her video to my trainer because I knew the canter would result in an immediate veto.

When Aimee and I arrived *ahem* at 7 am to look at her (I am an idiot and screwed up my scheduling and I had to be home by 10 am the next day and it was a 14 hour drive) poor Karma was a little out of sorts. It was supposed to be breakfast time not having strangers mess with her time.

These moves were not observed (I will never get tired of this picture)

Her breeder was a little mortified by her behavior, but really I didn't think much of it. Karma was a little head tossy and you could see that she didn't really want to play, but she did anyway. I was fiddling with her and discovered that she didn't lead from the right side. So to test her thought process I pushed a few buttons to see if she would say no or figure out what I wanted. It took her about 30 seconds to figure out what I wanted with no escalation. You could watch her process and go ok weird but sure.

How can you resist this little weirdo???

I totally fell in love with her that day. The timing of everything was less than ideal, but I knew she was what I wanted. I am sure we will have our ups and downs, but I am excited for the future and can't wait to see how she develops (and please please please grow Karma).

Finding The Happy

This year has been a rough one. The personal things weighed on top of the horse things. Everything seemed to come all at the same time. Stinker got his SI injected in hopes that it would make him more comfortable the same time my dad broke his hip. As my dad's health declined so did my hopes that the SI injection would actually allow Stinker to continue on with me.

Aimee's photo skills making Stinker look fabulous 

Eventually I came to the conclusion that Stinker was a million times happier packing my mom on the trails. I am very fortunate that I had that as an available option and I wasn't forced to make a choice of keeping him or not. He has a home with me for as long as he is kicking.

Stinker's happy place

That being said I really struggled with the shift to Cowboy. 90% of the time Cowboy is a good boy. Lazy but good. That other 10% he can throw a fit and be a pain in the ass to ride. Head tossing, sucked back, I DON'T WANNA, and occasionally an attempting at bucking or leaping. The one thing Stinker had going for him is he would try his little heart out for you and forward was never a problem. And despite his super sensitivity I dearly love the goofy horse and found him to be fun to ride.

He is a weird one, but always puts a smile on my face

Cowboy is not a super forward horse. He is much happier standing and eating. So I struggled with the transition. I desperately wanted to be able to steal Stinker back, but at the same time I knew that I needed to stick to my decision for his sake.

Aimee's photo skills making Cowboy not look like a feral trail horse

Slowly but surely Cowboy is adjusting to his new life. He is actually a snuggly horse. Poor Stinker tolerated it, but never really enjoyed it. Cowboy happily lets me hug his face and tolerates my riding if I shovel him full of treats. Bribery will get you every where. The tantrums have been less and the willingness is increasing. So slowly we are finding our happiness together.

Insert cookie

I am back to enjoying riding and having Karma has given me a bit of a spark I so desperately needed. I am excited to look to the future and having Cowboy is really giving me a chance to focus on my riding. It has been over five years since I was consistently riding a horse that I could trot or canter around and work on my position. And I am having fun learning again. So thank you Cowboy, Karma, and Stinker for putting the happy back in my life.

Settling In

I was a giant tease. I posted about Karma coming and then promptly disappeared. She settled in quite well. I left her alone for a bit to get used to me and so we could start building a relationship. She is quite entertaining. Her breeder taught her to smile so every day she comes over and smiles in hopes of getting a treat.

She also likes to tease the boys so I don't have any plans to combine them. I might will murder Stinker if he chews her tail over the fence. It is the most ridiculous thing. He alternates between flirting with her and trying to murder her for getting too close to Cowboy.

So far she has shown her intelligence. The first time I got her out, Cowboy screamed for her the entire time. She was nervous but well behaved until I turned her loose. Then she went a little wild. Hopefully I never see her moves under saddle.

I also tried out ponying her off of Cowboy. It went well except for the part where I discovered she doesn't march through brush. It was too much of a barrier and she refused to follow. I ended up dropping the rope and having to double back to grab her. Thankfully she didn't move.

She has also collected quite a harem of baby mustang stallions. Thankfully she ignores them, but they are all to willing to line up along the fence line. I am probably going to have to run some hot wire just so I don't have to worry about anything this winter.

I am enjoying getting to know her and I think she is adjusting to her life quite well. Even if she was quite put out when I started teaching her about the slow feeder box. The first thing she did was shove her foot into it and then scare herself when the grate sunk down with her weight. She is figuring it out and if it has survived life with Stinker I highly doubt she can be any rougher on it.

Karma

I apparently have had too much time on my hands, because I did a thing. I have casually been looking for a horse, because while Cowboy is doing well with dressage he is an 18 (almost 19) year old OTTB with some creaky joints. I knew I was going to be shopping young and I also knew I didn't want a massive warmblood baby. While I am tall, I don't love riding big horses and I have a strong affinity for smaller pocket rockets (ahem Stinker).

Meet Karma

I saw Karma on facebook because a friend had tagged someone else and I jokingly sent her to Megan. Then I kept staring at her picture and got brave enough to ask the price. Karma just turned two and is out of a warmblood mare with lines to Rotspon and Weltmeyer by Norths Forks Cardi, so I assumed she would be out of budget. I asked a few more questions which didn't get a response right away. While I was waiting I made a deal with Aimee. If the lady responded I would go see the horse and visit Aimee. The lady responded and we went and I bought.