I think the thread on smaller horses is very
interesting. My little Odd Todd has a double O size foot all the way around. But
his feet are so perfect, round and cupped. At his heaviest he weighed about 760
pounds. He will be 14 years old this May. One friend use to say that Todd was so
pretty and petite, he should have been a girl.
I am not THAT big, but I worried about being to
heavy on Todd for longer distances and wanted to do 50's. So I started riding
Loony Lance. Lance is going to be 8 in May. Mentally, he is still 2.....barely.
He stands about 15 hands, is very big boned and weighs about
1000 lbs on his lean days. He has pretty near perfect feet. He can do the
miles, and handle the recovery if........
His buddy sleeps with him every night, doesn't
leave him at the vet check and never gets out of sight on the trail. His buddy
could be any one of the 100+ horses out on the trail that day. He is not picky.
He does well if..... he doesn't jump out of his
fence, doesn't tear up the trailer and neither one of us dies. He just can't
seem to handle the mental part, bless his little tiny brain.
It is not unusual to hear comments like, "Oh my
God, is he a stallion, everybody look out!!!" The thing is, he is NOT a
stallion. I have also heard from the vets, "You didn't ride him hard enough,
look at him crowhopping!", when in fact, he did that the whole first 35 miles
WITH ME ON HIM!!!! He is not very predictable as some days we have a great ride,
while other days I say 100 Hail Mary's. He has about 10 or so rides (over the
course of 4 years so I don't think I pushed him) including all the training that
goes before the ride. He has been in the mountains and done a few 50's. It is
not new to him, he must just forget. We think he had a concussion at one time
when he caught his head between the boards in his stall. (Don't ask, who knows?)
His head was swollen and shaped like a football for a few days. He is just a
big, goofy, baby.
I have heard the gamut of training advice. The
truth is, he is thee most immature horse I have ever known. He is like the Toys
'r' Us kids, he doesn't want to grow up. I have camped and ridden my other 4
horses and they all do very well, calm, relaxed and ready for the task at hand,
with or without a buddy. Even my little Dinero (he's not so little
anymore) who will be 3 this May, can go and come by himself and has all the
confidence in the world that he will be just fine.
So, I am going back to my little Odd Todd, who is
not so odd in his older years. He may be small but he is smart and
strong. He carried a very tall, leggy friend of mine on a 50 mile ride with
out really training and did just fine. With a little fine tune-up I think we
will once again be able to really compete. Besides, the smaller horses are
closer to the ground, just in case....Riding should be fun anyway.
Lance might be ready by the time he is 20. Or after
a lobotomy.
