Re: RC: Re: questions with foals....

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/29/00 8:13:42 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
mmieske@netonecom.net writes:

<< Some
 people are very offended if you suggest their horse is any less than what
 they think it is!  If it's their "baby", I let them think what they will,
 but if it's something they want to sell and want us to spread the word
 about, I suggest we actually measure it.  Very eye opening!    >>

Boy, ain't THAT the truth!!  

We DO measure our horses, and it IS an eye-opener.  I, too, have always 
prided myself on my "eye" (and have to say that it is more accurate than the 
"eyes" on most of the folks who write ads) but I can still remember buying 
Paul's stallion, Aur Bold Tribute, who was advertised at 15 hh.  He is of 
moderate substance (several of our horses have HUGE bone) and had never been 
fit (8 years in a stall), so he was not particularly well muscled, either.  I 
remember thinking NO WAY is this horse 15 hh, but when we brought him home 
and measured him, he missed it by just a hair's breadth or so.  (Have to put 
that one in the "honest ads" category!)  The irony of this story is that I 
liked how this horse is bred, and can remember feeling disappointed that he 
didn't "look" like his breeding.  You know how horses can change gradually, 
and you don't really notice until one day it just hits you?  One day after 
Paul had been riding him for about a year, I walked out and did a double 
take, because here was this LOVELY horse that was what I had expected to see 
in the first place!  Amazing how detrimental a sedentary life can be, and 
also amazing how much an older horse can change with work (he was 15 when we 
bought him).  Now (3 years later) he is a robust stout thing--not the same 
creature who came here at all!

Heidi