Gotta see a woman about a horse

Yesterday I met with Chet's owner and set up the lease for three months.  It was great to meet with her and see her work Chet.  I feel like I'm on the right track and now I know what to demand of him.

In three months I'll know if I want to buy him or move on to a different horse.  Currently my only waverings are how he'll do on trail, gymkhana, and do I want such a huge horse or do I want a smaller quarter horse.  Trail riding is the most important.  Gymkhana is just for fun, so he doesn't have to be very good at it, he just has to behave and try.  Eventually I want to try trail trials, but that's a ways off.

Now I have to put the rest of my horsey life in order.  What do I do about lessons at the other ranch?  I think I want to pay for 10 more, but go just every other week.  I'll keep riding Cookies since she's a little quarter horse.  I'll have that comparison with Chet.  I also have to figure out how much I can do to help G stay in shape.  I don't want him to go down hill now that I'm moving on to Chet.

I also have to look at trailers and trucks.  That isn't a big rush, but I'll want to be able to take my horse places.

My arm hurts, I have a good cut from a gate, my nose is burned, and I'm tired...and so happy!

So much has happened in my horsey life lately.  I went to horse camp  and rode some trails I never would have tried on my own.  It was a great experience and gave me new respect for Danny and for my own abilities.

When we got back I asked about buying Danny, but his price was too high.  The ranch has put time and money into him and he is a great horse.  I decided to stop riding him and try others that would be in my price range, $2 - 3,000 rather than pushing $5,000.

I rode Rebel, a cute palomino, and then Cookie, a smaller paint.  I enjoyed Cookie.  She's pretty young and hasn't had a lot of training yet.  I didn't think I would like a smaller horse, but she was fine.  I'm just going to keep trying different horses to see what I like and what is reasonable to expect in my price range.

At  G's ranch, I'm trying a new horse too. His name is Chet, and he is a big boy; taller and much wider than G.  He's sweet and I've been petting him and cooing at him since Saturday.  Yesterday was my first time on him.  He's only 8 and has lots of energy.  It was hard to hold him at a walk, but when I let him trot he was pretty attentive.  I was nervous at first, but when he tested me I must have passed because we did ok as time went on.  He doesn't neck rein and although I'm told he takes leg cues it was mostly direct reining that got through to him.  He has a nice lope, but it's a little hard to keep it to a reasonable pace.

I'm going to ride him as much as possible over the next couple weeks before committing to a lease.  After a few months who knows... But what about G?