Test Driving a New Horse

I tried out a new horse named Duke for the Troop today. We picked him up in Safford a couple weeks ago and have been subjecting him to the grueling Army pre-purchase physicals. He, in the words of our farrier, was the most poorly shod horse he'd ever seen. We put new shoes on him and tried to trim him up right but there was no way to completely correct his hooves in front. To even him up, the farrier put a corrective shoe on the right front. However, the new shoes and hoof trim made him a little lame so we gave him another week off. I took him to the round pen today and had him trot and gallop a little to see how he was doing. He was not showing any lameness but the odd shoe seemed to bother him a little. I then took him into a little riding arena and tried him at different gaits. He was not responding well to neck reining so I tried him with direct reining. I realized that he was not responding very well to that either and was obviously used to a heavier hand. I really had to exert some pressure on the reins to turn him. He was willing to transition to a trot and gallop but seemed unenthusiastic about it. However, since he was so calm about everything I decided to take him out onto the jogging track. He got a little more enthusiastic about galloping once we got out into the open. He is well broke and will make a good beginner horse if he passes his final physical. He lacks physical conditioning, though, and will need to be worked up slowly before we start using him in our training program. He is a surprisingly tall horse and has a narrow back. Duke is unbelievably friendly and gentle enough for a child to ride.