Here I might interject that Sienna had a grand total of 3 days of riding on her before I loaded her up and took her down, after several months off thanks to school. I might also add that two of those days were days that I worked until 8:30 PM and 8 PM, respectively, so the riding took place in the dark.
Sienna was a superstar for these people (a mom, a dad, and a nine- year old girl, all beginners) from the moment I unloaded her. She calmly looked around at the barn, and then we walked back to the trailer and tacked up. I jumped on her first, and she walked, trotted, and cantered immediately on cue, backed, pivoted, and whoaed exceptionally. Then the mom got on Sienna in the round pen, and in spite of the fact that she had a hard time getting her to canter, Sienna was patient and forgiving the entire ride. The little girl got on next, all smiles, and (once she had practiced kicking hard enough that Sienna could actually feel her little legs) had Sienna walking and trotting everywhere in no time. After the ride, the people hosed her off, the little girl braided her tail, using her own hair band to hold the braid in, and then walked off with her, letting her graze. Sienna was polite and respectful- she could not have shown herself off better. The people tried out another older, more bombproof horse, but they liked Sienna better, thought she was prettier, and she suited their future needs more than the other horse (ie, she is a potential English show horse, whereas he was not).
The mom told me that they really liked her, the dad inquired with the barn owner about which stall they would keep her in, and, although the mom told me they would think it over and get back to me the next day, everything seemed so sure that I ended up leaving Sienna at the barn instead of driving her all the way back. I mean, the dad told the barn owner it was a done deal.
The next day rolls around, and I hear nothing. Then the next- nothing. Finally the third day comes, and I get the news: the people don't think their budget can afford the monthly care and lessons they would want to take to own a horse.
I was understandably upset- I mean, what kind of person doesn't figure that out before a) putting a bunch of people out and b) telling their young daughter they are horse shopping for her? But it comes with the territory. Horse selling (and buying) can be a really frustrating deal, especially if you are in a hurry. Fortunately I can wait for the right owner to come along, but it would have been really nice if these people had bought her because they got along so well and I would have gotten to see her often where she was boarded.
This experience made me realize four things:
1) I have trained Sienna much better than I give myself (or her) credit for
2) In spite of being sad to leave her behind, I really am ready to sell her and move on
3) In the interim of waiting for interested parties to find her, I'd like to seriously start jumping her
4) Don't start looking at other horses and getting excited about the next one until the sale is a done deal!
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| Too cool for the faint of heart |
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