More About Blue

I feel like I didn't do Blue enough justice in my previous description of him, so I'll go a little bit more in depth about my boy.

Blue is a 12 year old Appendix/Appaloosa gelding. He stands at about 15.1 hh. He's a chestnut with a big white blaze, a nice white sock on his left foreleg, and two teeny socks on both hind legs. He's got a freeze brand on his left haunch and little snowflake spots on his rump.

Blue's registered name is T Bar's Old Blue Eye, with the Appaloosa Horse Club (I think his dam was full Appy). We, however, compete in local shows under the show name Out of the Blue. Blue is a laid-back kind of guy, and isn't really easily upset. He's sweet and loves attention, and loves to jump...you can just kind of feel him lock on to a fence and go for it. Best of all, he doesn't do stupid stuff.

On the other hand, Blue is pretty lazy and dead-sided. I have to get pretty firm with the crop at the beginning of the lesson to establish expectations or else he'll just drag along the entire time. He also gets bored easily, and if I'm not particularly adamant about something he tends to blow the aids off.

All in all, Blue's the kind of horse who can be a real challenge without being unsafe. Just mind-numbingly frustrating.

I lease Blue from his owner, a friend and mentor of mine currently going to college. I've been riding Blue almost exclusively for 2 and a half years, and I think we've got a rapport going. He tries to take advantage of people sometimes but I know him too well, and I think he respects that.

I'm excited because Blue's just coming off of a lameness, and tomorrow will be my first time really riding him in 2 and a half weeks. It's not very often that Blue goes lame for no particular reason...we think he has a touch of arthritis but not much so with proper management we should be fine. I favor a long warm-up period anyway.

So hopefully tomorrow I'll have some riding insights to share! I hope my boy feels like his old self - I've missed him bunches and our first show of the season is coming up in just two weeks!