Hi all. As usual, I am here to indulge in your vast knowledge and expertese. 
Received some devastating news last night. My dad and his sister "rescued" a young stock Paint gelding named Cole a few years ago from a family who did the typical thing: bought a baby horsey for their young daughter who wanted nothing more than a cute baby who was black with four white 'feet'. Of course, the child lost interest, and we found ourselves with a not-quite-a-yearling (which was fine, we have raised babies).
Fast forward to present day. BIG problems with auntie as she is literally mental & a hypochondriac (on about 30+ pills three times a day and has attacked my mom and I), so we are moving. My dad has paid the rent on the farm (where auntie and uncle have lived; bank was going to forclose on their house and they had three horses who needed a home) and done most of the work (my mom, brother, and I help, too). Dad has paid for feed & hay as well, and auntie never even comes out of the house, even to walk the dogs, so you can bet she won't come out to help stack hay! Anyways, Dad has let them mooch off us for almost 4 years now, and we are tired of it. So we finally got our own farm (moving October 9!!!!!), and Dad has made the tough decision to not take on their horses. Mind you, auntie is pulling the guilt trip of a lifetime, saying how she will have to sell all the horses and put her dogs down because they cannot afford to feed them and whatnot (she says this as she walks around in her brand new $80 shoes and flashes her new jewelry). We have given them four years to get on their own two feet.
Somehow, she mananged to convince her 'friend' Stephanie (who is a FAB lady! She is very talented, you might know her Trakehner stud, Insterfurst?) to take on Cole, who just turned five this spring, to start under saddle (although auntie does not ride anymore). Once auntie found out (by accident) that we were moving in October, she started with the guilt trip and asked Dad if he wanted Cole because Stephanie said he was working beautifully and was very sane. Dad was considering it, but no final decision was made yet. I have handled Cole since we 'rescued' him, and I always thought there were some times when you could just look at him and something somewhere wasn't clicking right. But he never put a foot wrong, and we totally trust Stephanie & her opinion!
Found out last night that we are not taking Cole. Turns out that her hubby (who we also have an extensive history with, but he and Stephanie just met about a year ago) wanted to hop up on Cole to see how he was going since Stephanie was just raving about him. Don is a great rider, so I cannot imagine how the following happened:
Don got on, Cole was great. Not antsy, not even breaking a sweat. All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, Cole bucks a HUGE buck and throws Don at least 6 feet into the air. Stopped immediately and stood quite calmly (still not even hot) as Don got up. Don took him to the round pen to work with him there, Cole followed perfectly. Got into the round pen, Cole was quiet and calm as anything. Then, again, all of a sudden, he just started going nuts and completely destroyed the round pen. Took off running, and they chased him around the farm for at least 20 minutes. Finally, Stephanie caught Cole in the middle of a field eating grass, calm as could be, still not even hot, let alone sweating. He walked calm as could be back to the barn like an old pro.
Now, these events are rather scarey, but even more so by the fact that Stephanie -- who took on Insty as a young "dangerous" horse that tried to kill her -- is scared to death of Cole, and Don -- who has ridden for years, is a pro, and used to start horses in the old days by jumping on and riding out the bucks -- refuses to get on him again.
I know that Stephanie takes fab care of her horses and would have noticed the slight bit of tension in case the saddle was starting to pinch or whatnot as Cole's muscles were changing. But according to her, Cole has been an absolute dream to start under saddle -- very willing, compliant, and best of all very quiet at all times.
Does this just confirm what I always felt, that Cole just has a loose screw somewhere and would be too dangerous for anyone to ride again? If so, we need to know what to do with him, as Dad does NOT want him with us and Sue cannot handle him, and we do not feel it would be right to try and sell him knowing he might be a nutter. I have only met one other horse who was said to have a loose screw & blow up at times for not apparent reason, and he became just an expensive pasture ornament.
Thanks for reading, all, I'm sorry for the length.
Received some devastating news last night. My dad and his sister "rescued" a young stock Paint gelding named Cole a few years ago from a family who did the typical thing: bought a baby horsey for their young daughter who wanted nothing more than a cute baby who was black with four white 'feet'. Of course, the child lost interest, and we found ourselves with a not-quite-a-yearling (which was fine, we have raised babies).
Fast forward to present day. BIG problems with auntie as she is literally mental & a hypochondriac (on about 30+ pills three times a day and has attacked my mom and I), so we are moving. My dad has paid the rent on the farm (where auntie and uncle have lived; bank was going to forclose on their house and they had three horses who needed a home) and done most of the work (my mom, brother, and I help, too). Dad has paid for feed & hay as well, and auntie never even comes out of the house, even to walk the dogs, so you can bet she won't come out to help stack hay! Anyways, Dad has let them mooch off us for almost 4 years now, and we are tired of it. So we finally got our own farm (moving October 9!!!!!), and Dad has made the tough decision to not take on their horses. Mind you, auntie is pulling the guilt trip of a lifetime, saying how she will have to sell all the horses and put her dogs down because they cannot afford to feed them and whatnot (she says this as she walks around in her brand new $80 shoes and flashes her new jewelry). We have given them four years to get on their own two feet.
Somehow, she mananged to convince her 'friend' Stephanie (who is a FAB lady! She is very talented, you might know her Trakehner stud, Insterfurst?) to take on Cole, who just turned five this spring, to start under saddle (although auntie does not ride anymore). Once auntie found out (by accident) that we were moving in October, she started with the guilt trip and asked Dad if he wanted Cole because Stephanie said he was working beautifully and was very sane. Dad was considering it, but no final decision was made yet. I have handled Cole since we 'rescued' him, and I always thought there were some times when you could just look at him and something somewhere wasn't clicking right. But he never put a foot wrong, and we totally trust Stephanie & her opinion!
Found out last night that we are not taking Cole. Turns out that her hubby (who we also have an extensive history with, but he and Stephanie just met about a year ago) wanted to hop up on Cole to see how he was going since Stephanie was just raving about him. Don is a great rider, so I cannot imagine how the following happened:
Don got on, Cole was great. Not antsy, not even breaking a sweat. All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, Cole bucks a HUGE buck and throws Don at least 6 feet into the air. Stopped immediately and stood quite calmly (still not even hot) as Don got up. Don took him to the round pen to work with him there, Cole followed perfectly. Got into the round pen, Cole was quiet and calm as anything. Then, again, all of a sudden, he just started going nuts and completely destroyed the round pen. Took off running, and they chased him around the farm for at least 20 minutes. Finally, Stephanie caught Cole in the middle of a field eating grass, calm as could be, still not even hot, let alone sweating. He walked calm as could be back to the barn like an old pro.
Now, these events are rather scarey, but even more so by the fact that Stephanie -- who took on Insty as a young "dangerous" horse that tried to kill her -- is scared to death of Cole, and Don -- who has ridden for years, is a pro, and used to start horses in the old days by jumping on and riding out the bucks -- refuses to get on him again.
I know that Stephanie takes fab care of her horses and would have noticed the slight bit of tension in case the saddle was starting to pinch or whatnot as Cole's muscles were changing. But according to her, Cole has been an absolute dream to start under saddle -- very willing, compliant, and best of all very quiet at all times.
Does this just confirm what I always felt, that Cole just has a loose screw somewhere and would be too dangerous for anyone to ride again? If so, we need to know what to do with him, as Dad does NOT want him with us and Sue cannot handle him, and we do not feel it would be right to try and sell him knowing he might be a nutter. I have only met one other horse who was said to have a loose screw & blow up at times for not apparent reason, and he became just an expensive pasture ornament.
Thanks for reading, all, I'm sorry for the length.
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