For those who follow social media horse pages, you often see statements about life being short and to just buy the horse, or you can’t have too many horses, or buy all the same color horses so your spouse doesn’t notice another one, or ditch the friend who says, ‘another horse’!
As I head into the fourth quarter of life and am getting closer to retirement I’ve been thinking about how I want to spend my time. So, what did I do? I bought another horse!
Sure, I want to travel more, and I’ve been fortunate to have horses in my life for most of my life, but there are still many horse related things I want to accomplish. Plus, playing with horses is the thing I love to do the most so why would I give it up as long as I’m able.
People tell you to keep busy in retirement and horses keep you really busy!
Since I do follow a lot of horse social media pages, I’m constantly seeing horses for sale. The sky and price range is the limit. So how to choose the next project horse? I’ve been an AQHA (American Quarter Horse) devotee since I outgrew my first pony. When I was a girl that Oren Mixer painting of the sorrel quarter horse had me hooked. In fact, most of my horses have also been sorrel. Plus, I loved cowboys and the quarter horse was the cowboy horse.
There was no doubt the next horse was going to be quarter horse. When my mare Dollie passed and I bought Poppy as her replacement, I’ve been enamored by Poppy’s look, temperament and breeding. When I found her for sale on the Dream Horse site I noticed that her breeding was not any of current “hot” bloodlines. Still even as a young horse she had a look, one that followers know – she is Skipper W. It’s an old bloodline, dating back to the 1930s and 40s, long before I was born, that has really held up due to enthusiasts’ line breeding stock from the breeder Hank Wiescamp.
I knew about the line, they were still pretty popular in my youth. I believe one of the first horses to win the Superhorse title at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress was a Skipper W. Poppy is a grey, so that’s a new color for me, but it is her look and mind that have me hooked. Next horse had to be another Skipper W.
I started following Skipper W horse pages and came across a few breeders in the Western US. One in California, the breeder of my mare, and in Colorado where Hank Wiescamp started the line and in Utah.
A breeder in Colorado, Taylor Creek Ranch, was posting a few foals this spring so I was following the page closely, and in early April the cutest Buckskin filly was born. I purchased her from an online photo when she was just two weeks old!
My next project arrives at the end of July. This girl is AQHA and can likely be registered APHA (American Paint Horse) and IBHA (International Buckskin Horse). Stay tuned for more about this filly, my plans for her and her training.
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