Posted 11 months ago
So, as some of you know - I’ve been trying to find a nice horse to lease for awhile. I started out owning a horse named Finnegan when I first moved down here and it ended up disastrous when he had one issue after another. Since then, I’ve been leasing a pair of horses for trail riding one day a week. For several reasons (mostly because their owner is irresponsible and I don’t feel like I should be supporting her) I have been looking for an alternative. I have seen a couple horses so far - one last weekend that I almost decided to go with before realizing that I didn’t want to drive 45 minutes. Then…I found an ad.
I saw an ad on Craigslist (that’s the main way people sell horses down here in San Diego) for a 5 year old bombproof QH mare for sale. The ad wasn’t anything special - it basically said “QH mare, chestnut, 5 years old, done some beginner reining, been trail ridden all over Bonita, 15.2 hands, no soundness or health issues, barefoot…$2000”. I sent them an email asking if they’d be interested in leasing instead and the girl replied that she might be open to leasing but she’d rather sell her. I set up a time to come see her.
I went out there on Saturday to see her and it was love at first sight. She was gorgeous, calm, kind-eyed, and amazing. I knew before I rode her that I needed her, somehow. I rode her, and it was seriously the best ride of my life. She was incredibly push button, picked up her leads based on the shift of my weight, gave to the bit nicely, collected and lengthened as I asked her to, had a smooth jog that I could ride all day, and was seriously the MOST FUN I have ever had on horseback. I got off her and offered $50/more a month than I wanted to pay for a lease. She told me that she had a few more people that were coming to look at her to buy her.
Since I left there, I can’t stop thinking about her. I’m going insane. In my head I’m trying to justify ways to own her - even though I know that it’s not really feasible. The $2000 isn’t even the biggest deal, it’s that my boyfriend is freaked out that she’ll be like Finnegan was and have nothing but problems.
I’ve emailed the owner again and told her how much I love her. She said she had someone come out last night to potentially buy her and now she’s giving them a few days to make a decision. This horse *will* sell. Even in this economy, she’d be a great horse for a kid, for an adult, for pretty much anyone.
What do I do you guys? I’m going insane here. This waiting game is awful…and I feel like I’m going to lose her.
