Gray Ghost
#105.
Gray Warmblood Cross Gelding.
Appx. 15 - 17 yrs. Appx. 16.2 hands. Rides english and western.
This is a nice gelding who is thin at the moment. A little TLC
and time would work wonders with this boy. He deserves at least
that much!
Patti
of Meadowsweet Acre Herbs for Horses http://meadowherbs.com
has decided that The Gray Ghost (his new name!!) should come
live with her so she can give him all the TLC he needs! Yeah
Patti!!!
Update
11/28/99 - The ghost has been gaining weight steadily...he
was really thin when he got here, probably lot thinner than
even I realized., because now that he is gaining, you realize
how much he does need to fill in that big frame of a body !!
Well,
I did it. I rode the boy today. It took some padding to do it,
but my saddle fit him pretty good. I have ordered several pads
from Dover so hopefully they will be here on Monday.
This
horse knows a lot of stuff......my bet is he was once an upper
level dressage horse, all kidding aside. I just used a plain
old snaffle bit. He is extremely sensitive, very responsive
to leg aids so this tells me he has NOT been hot dogged around,
or used at a riding camp or rental barn. He has very good manners,
on the ground and in the saddle. He listens to me very carefully.
He is still a touch nervous but in a good way....he is just
waiting for me to ask him to do something and he wants to be
able to respond immediately. !! He bends very well in the corners,
tracks up nicely, backs, half passes and turns on the forehand.
I didn't ask him to do much more than that at the moment as
I didn't want to overwhelm him at all.
We
only trotted around the arena a little bit, like 10 mins.....I
didn't want to stress him too much. I felt he was very fearful
when I first went to mount up, he got nervous, but after I rode
him a bit, he totally relaxed and was ok.
Update:
1/1/2000 - We got some nice pictures of me riding the
Ghost yesterday. Hopefully my friend will get them processed
and then scanned and sent to me via email next week. Ghost
is doing wonderful. I can't say enough good things about the
boy. I have a friend Peter who lives in FL. He used to ride
at Temple Farms in ILL.......the big Lippizan dressage horse
place. Peter is was a Grand Prix level dressage rider. He thinks
Ghost knows even more than I think he knows. He thinks he is
a grand prix level horse.!! I don't have the expertise to ask
for anything above 2nd or 3rd level. Peter is going to try to
make a trip up here in the next 60 days. Peter will know exactly
what to ask for . It still amazes me HOW OR WHY this horse
ended up where he is.....?? Why why why ! Well, we finally cantered
yesterday. Ghost was finally strong enough to do it. He just
rolled right into the prettiest collected canter you could want
! So now my hope show hopes are back up and Ghost will
probably be competing come next summer if all goes well and
he enjoys it. If he hates showing, well, that's ok with me too.
I will just let him tell me........yes , he talks to me now
!! <grin> Patti
Update
6/24/00
- Ghost is doing very well. We refer
to him as the "The Walmart greeter"...he has to know
what is going on all
the time around the farm. If David is working a new horse in
the round pen,
off goes the Ghost to watch....any new horse comes in, he has
to be the first
to say hello.
Ghost
had a complete acupuncture treatment on Wed and he appears to
feel a
lot better. It appears that Ghost had been a some sort of bad
wreck last year
right before he ended up in the feedlot. His hip was out of
place, a neck vertebrae out of whack, severe lower back pain,
oh the list goes on and on,
not to mention all the muscle atrophy on his shoulders. But
the horse is a
doll, and we ride all the time and he was used in cross country
jumping....since
he doesn't bat an eye at any of our jumps.....sails over everything.
Kewl.
Update
7/4/01 - The chiropractor has been working on Ghost and
it has worked very well. Both the chiro and the vet think Ghost
is alot OLDER than we all think <grin> but, oh well, who
cares. He is a handy old man, takes care of the younger horses,
patrols the farm on a regularly hourly basis, and is generally
the supervisor around here <grin> I have finally convinced
the old bird that going out at night and staying in during the
day IS ALOT nicer. He is very set in his ways and doesn't take
change well, but he is now on the nightshift like the rest of
the gang.
Patti