Subject: Re: [RC] Starting the middle aged horse in distance riding - Brenda Kossowan
My first endurance horse was a 10-year-old mare
that had been abused by her previous owner. "Suzi" was 14 hands high if I let
her feet grow, chestnut with four white sox and predominately CMK breeding with
multiple lines to Abu Farwa. She was tough as nails and just screaming attitude
- and I loved her almost instantly. She did extremely well in 25s, 50s and open
CTR and also produced three youngsters, two of which are now competing and third
that's coming up in the next couple of years.
I would say her biggest advantage was that she had
been used as a mountain horse and had also produced a couple of foals before I
bought her, so it did not take a lot of extra effort to get her conditioned. It
took longer to get her mind together, but she was always very catty and
trailwise. It's been just days short of 15 years since I first brought her home.
You can bet that my heart broke into a million pieces two years ago, when she
decided it was time to cross the rainbow bridge. I just feel so grateful
that she left me with three really nice copies.
