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I'm very pleased and excited to introduce my new horse, who arrived safely today. Of course there was a little bit of drama along the way with a flat tire mid trip, but she waited patiently and came off the trailer with no fuss. She may or may not come with a flat tire curse as apparently this is not the first time it's happened. The rest of her makes up for it if she does though.

She is an 8 yr old 16hh Canadian Warmblood (Dutch WB and Appaloosa to be exact) who has done a bit of jumping, dressage, and low level eventing. So far she's proven herself to be very sensible, and I went to see her a couple of times and she is just lovely to ride and easy to get along with on the ground. She has had only one other owner who was hesitant to part with her but preferred jumping while Ms. Dot prefers flat work (and apparently cross country, but I'm pretty sure I'm not brave enough for that). Can't wait to join the goals thread after we spend some time getting to know each other better!

Without further delay meet Paloma:



Humoring me:

So pleased to meet her!
Wishing you many happy years together!

So happy to meet her. Best wishes for a fabulous future together

She is lovely! Congrats!

What an appealing face! Congratulations.

Wow she is cute! Good luck with her and definitely post updates.

What a lovely girl, congrats!! Reminds me so much of my mare... 15.3 QH/Appy x Trak, who started off the same colour as yours but has completely greyed out.

She's smiling!

Congratulations! I wonder if I saw her sales ad recently. If so, she sure caught my eye, too, and she has a really neat & unique colour. I can't wait to see more pictures!

I love a spotted horse... so much character and loyalty. Have a blast with her!

So cute, congratulations!

What a bright and happy eye she has! Paloma is a lovely name.

That's very interesting coloration. What are her Dutch lines?

She looks really sweet. Love her color and her name. Enjoy!!

I really like her- she's nice and solid! Congratulations!

Welcome, Paloma! She is really lovely. Look forward to your updates.

Congrats! She is super cute! Wishing you lots of happiness in your future

Cutie pie! Her face is so kind looking. Looking forward to updates.

Thanks everyone

Koolkat wrote:What a bright and happy eye she has! Paloma is a lovely name.

That's very interesting coloration. What are her Dutch lines?

I'm not terribly familiar with Dutch lines but she's by a stallion called Pacific Star STV (Gregor by Uniform). Apparently he was known to produce really easy going offspring. I did find something interesting to me (and probably a bit silly since it's so far back), there was a horse I used to absolutely adore but sadly he was never mine and I lost track of him. He was a Trakehner and way way way back it seems he and Paloma share a couple of common ancestors. I suspect she was bred with mostly color in mind, but she turned out well anyway.

She is going to be a tough saddle fit, which I suspected she would. She's rather overweight at the moment, but she has a very wide back that I'm sure will remain even with weight loss. Saddle shopping time!

Lovely lady! Congratulations

The smile says it all .

She looks very nice...enjoy.

Susan

FWIW we used to call my boy a picnic table with legs when he was younger....super wide back especially when he had that baby build (not that Dot is a baby, just that you said she is a little "fluffy" in figure at the moment)...Albion SL was a great fit for him. And our jumping saddle was a Duette, also a lovely fit for him. In case you were needing any starting point ideas.

She is beautiful!

Thanks much for the saddle tip fergusnc!

She was a bit of a monster last night, I think she's realizing she's not going back home now and is starting to have some worries about it. She's all business when it comes to work but in the barn she was crowding me, pawing, and acting like a very worried and obnoxious horse which I must admit I was a little surprised about since she was so sensible the first couple of days. So used to working with a horse that I know and trust so it's really my mistake not keeping my guard up to start with. In any case I'm giving her a pass for a little while for adjustment time as this is a huge change for her since she was at the same barn for the last 6 yrs, not a free pass, but a pass nonetheless. It was suggested that she was given something to calm her when I've seen her before but I really truly don't think that's the case, I think she just needs an adjustment period and clear boundaries.

She's cute...have patience , she'll settle in ! My mare was scared to death for the first week here.

Oh! I love her! congrats!

She's beautiful, and her eye has such a sweet expression! Congrats!

She was just having a bad day on Monday it seems. She returned to sanity and the polka dot pony I know last night I figured and hoped that it was just an adjustment thing, but being a worrier I was imagining that she was setting the standards and learning/thinking that it was okay to be obnoxious. I had a long day yesterday and had to go to the barn quite late, but I figured after Monday I better make the time and go spend some time with her so I just went for some grooming and walk exploring with her.

Glad she's settling in!

Imperini, i think there is a lot to your theory of her just needing time to adjust.

I now ride a friesian gelding who was at his previous barn for about the same time as your mare. He is 18, a calm, sweet and absolutely trustworthy boy, who doesn't put a foot wrong. But when the barn imploded and everyone had to move pall-mall, despite the new barn being a wonderful and very peaceful place, he was a bit of a monster at first - and that is SO NOT HIM. It's been about a month and he is back to his perfectly kind, willing, sweet and calm self.

Ariel went from a school horse and her stall to a new stall and being just mine. It took about a month for her to settle into her new stall, and to the experience of not being a school horse. Give Miss Dot time to settle in. She will.

Anxiety causes horses to have a bigger " safe space" around them. Making them push boundaries a little. Firm but kind directives and consistency helps.

She does seem to be settling more and more. She did exhibit some behaviors I would consider dangerous rather than just obnoxious/nuisance so I am definitely needing to be firm and consistent with her, which I suppose should be the case with any horse but is all the more important with an unfamiliar and anxious horse. I believe she is less anxious and more testing the waters at this point since as soon as I made it clear that certain behaviours were not acceptable it seemed to flip a switch and she behaved like a pro. I have now also ridden her a couple of times. She's still amazing to ride and really seems to enjoy working

Much as I love them, I would be the first to admit Appys can be thugs if they think they can get away with it. And angels once they know they can't.

Until they feel like testing the boundaries again to see if they really, really can't, maybe today will be different...

She is gorgeous... and I'm pretty sure that I have seen her before....

Imperini wrote:She does seem to be settling more and more. She did exhibit some behaviors I would consider dangerous rather than just obnoxious/nuisance so I am definitely needing to be firm and consistent with her, which I suppose should be the case with any horse but is all the more important with an unfamiliar and anxious horse. I believe she is less anxious and more testing the waters at this point since as soon as I made it clear that certain behaviours were not acceptable it seemed to flip a switch and she behaved like a pro. I have now also ridden her a couple of times. She's still amazing to ride and really seems to enjoy working

Ah, well, there is that too . The how much can i get away with ploy! oh that did not work, i suppose i better just be polite instead switch

She may have moved in, gone into heat, and had to adjust to a different living arrangement. Glad she is still good to ride, hopefully her behaviour on the ground continues to improve!!

She was good again last night so hopefully the switch stays flipped at least for a little while. She still needs some work surrounding door and gate manners around other people but she's being good for me. Saddle fitter is coming out on Thursday so hopefully we can have something comfy for both of us soon!