Gus hasn't been featured in a while on the blog, but it's high time he got some of the recognition he so heartedly deserves..
From the snapshots I get of it - Gus' life certainly seems to be charmed, not that we expect anything less from the big man.
Gus in situ
From all accounts Gus seems to have life pretty well figured out. He's got his big green pasture, perfect for snoozing and escaping any expectation of "work"
Gus is closed. Come back later.
But there's a price to be paid for such a wonderful life. The love of a little girl comes with some risk - particularly if there are scissors involved and "all the other horses have short forelocks"
uh oh.
Not Pleased
But the toll must be paid!
All in all, it seems like a small (although slightly tragic) sacrifice for such a good gig.
Special thanks to Gus' Mom for keeping us all informed of Gus and his many adventures. Love that big horse!!!
In fact, most people seem to agree that horse shopping is hard. Frankly, on the list of things that I "think I love, but am totally sick of after 3 months" Shopping for a horse just barely nudges out shopping for a saddle to grab the top spot.
Both things I love. Both things I drool over incessantly and am quite proficient at daydreaming about.
But both things are completely and utterly frustrating to look for after all of the "easy" options don't work out.
In fairness, this round of horsey shopping hasn't been horrible (yet).
I'm only $300 in to my vet, and no hearts have been broken. But as I mentioned a while back, I have been struggling with how my to blog about the process, and I still don't know what the correct answer is - but I have definitely identified a wrong one.
In trying to keep the blog as a (small) outlet for excitement and progress, I have bamboozled myself. Because, well- you guys are smart and you guys have opinions and my self-imposed limitations on how much info to share makes it totally impossible to respond to them.
For a while I toyed with the idea of giving discretion and etiquette a big middle finger and just blogging everything, but then the wine worked its way out of my system and I came back to my senses.
So, I will probably be going a tad radio silent until we have an end result.
And not because my feelings are hurt that not everyone loves MY BRAD (I totally admit he has flaws). But more because I'm so frustrated that I can't provide more info and go into more of a dialogue. I can't show you the other videos, or commentary, or give you more of a history because I don't think it's 100% appropriate at this juncture. Particularly now that there is a Capital B. Capital N. Capital T. BNT involved. (much to my chagrin).
Anyway, so consider this my preemptive apology for (continued) boringess on the blog. it's my sincere hope that this trip to in three weeks (omg it's never going to get heeeeeerrrrre) will provide some decent content - whether its from a fabulous Brad to bring home, or some massive fails.
So, the weekend was a mad scramble of vets and visa cards and trying to explain to my bank that yes I was in Seattle (buying beer at a football game), but please approve the veterinary charge in Germany...
I could hear the absurdity of that statement even as I was saying it, and the raised eyebrow from The Boy was a subtle "if it sounds crazy to them, and it sounds crazy to you, maybe just maybe it is... crazy."
But bless him, instead he feigns interest and at every text or buzz on my phone he politely asked "have you heard anything back yet?"
Frankly, I'm a tad impressed things have worked as quickly as they have. In fact, I might have preferred a slightly slower response rate from everyone so I could eat up some of this wait time for the next 30 days...
But, instead we've gotten the green light to keep pursuing this guy.
There is still a big question mark - which is what explains his use (or lack thereof) of his hind end over jumps. I will confess I didn't notice it the first four hundred times I watched his videos - but when you look for it, you can tell that he really doesn't flex his hind end nearly as much as his front end over the fences. We took spinal xrays, (because they are so easy to get) in order to rule out things like kissing spine or fused vertebrae.. but there are plenty of other things that could cause it - Some alarming, and some not at all.
blurry brad
It's possible he's just green and his hind end isn't very strong, or perhaps its sore from his first few weeks working over fences... It's possible he's not impressed by the height and doesn't have to pick up his hind legs. It's also possible something hurts or will hurt and it's easier to just leave them hanging out behind.
Anyone else notice this? or have any experience with a horse that did or does this? I don't think he looks sore or stiff behind on the flat.. but I'm sure it's more subtle there...
I will say, that having a few questions to explore makes me grateful for the extra time before we go, so we can explore, ask questions, get more videos or even vet work (if necessary) before we arrive.
I can't emphasize how strange this process is. There are moments when I'm texting with my trainer, or vet, or whoever that I stand back and think about the chain of communication between me and some, lovely horse somewhere in Germany. (whaaaaaa???)
If there's one thing I've learned over the years with horses it's that one should trust the experts that you've surrounded yourself with. You're with them for a reason, and they (likely) know way more and have done everything more times that I can ever hope.
But the other thing I've learned over the year with horse, is that I have to always, (always, always) trust my gut.
Ideally, these things line up, but sometimes, either because of ignorance (on my part) or opinion - they don't.
I've had a few instances with this (because I've never shopped for a horse abroad) where what I think the right next step is... isn't necessarily part of the normal etiquette or protocol.
Since we decided to go to Germany, I've been vibrating at a relatively high stress level. I think it's more akin to "omgomgomgomg I'm so excited to go to a horse show," than it is to "omgomgomg I've got a huge test coming up and might vomit."
So it's a good, stress. but it's stress all the same and I've been trying to minimize it as much as possible.
The first bought of stress came from seeing videos of the most beautiful horse I've ever seen (maybe I had some beer goggles on, but still). The next wave of stress came from freaking out that someone else would buy him before we get to try him in a month. Then I got stressed over wanting to get some vetting done so that if something came up, I could forget about (beautiful, beautiful) Brad and move on. Then I got all stressed out over trying to coordinate vet services with a 9 hour time change and (significant) language barrier.
Essentially, I'm not sure it's normal protocol to initiate PPE procedures without having seen the horse in person/sat on it's back yet... but that's where I had to go with my gut. My gut said I needed to start getting information on this guy, and give myself as much time to get follow-up information if need be.
Frankly, now I'm glad we did since there are a few question marks that warrant some follow-up and maybe will affect our ultimate decision.
Finally, since I've officially spent some money evaluating this guy, I wanted to share a sneak peak. He's lovely. He's 4, he's been under saddle for a couple of months (significantly greener than we were initially looking for), and he just really caught my eye. I'm really hoping that after all the evaluations, he's still a strong candidate (subject to us loving him in person). So cross all your fingers and toes!!!
Waiting for some updates from my vet, but I will keep ya'll posted!
