10/22/2026
Today I’m going to share one of the really useful things that I learned from that little paint mare that I shared the story on back in early September. Before we were all on social media, but when horse shopping on the internet was becoming a thing, I bought this super cool paint gelding site unseen. I did have him vetted and talked to the seller a few times, and this was also back in the day when I bought prospects. I always bought horses with the plan of needing to train them. This horses breeding was known to be kind of hot minded, but he had a good amount of prior training and jobs in his resume, and he was obviously an athlete. I had a hauler bring him from Texas to Colorado, as it was less expensive than me taking the time to go get him myself. He settled in well at my house, and I rode him a couple times at home. After about a week, I decided to haul him over to my friends roping practice to hang out. I usually always send my horses in the trailer as opposed to leading them in, though I want them to understand both methods. I had the gelding at the back of the trailer, just keeping his focus where I wanted it, and very lightly directing him where I wanted him to go. He wasn’t worried about getting in the trailer, but he was ignoring me and just kind of dinking around sniffing the grass and stuff. I let him do this for a few minutes, and I gave him a very light pop on the rear with the end of the lead rope to get his attention. Oh my gosh, he was severely offended/threatened and he spun around and came at me with teeth bared and both front feet. There is a time in my life that I would have thought that I needed to engage in this ‘fight’ and win, but I had seen that look in a horse’s eyes twice, many years before with that mare that had taught me so much. I just backed off, walked him on the trailer, and left that for another day, he was a perfect gentleman at roping practice. I can only speculate that at some point in this horses life, someone had gotten him backed into a corner where he thought he needed to fight. After I had him for awhile, and he trusted me, I could absolutely give him a little pop to get his attention, because he knew I was not a threat. I am certainly glad that mare had taught me some of how to read a horses mindset in their eyes, because that encounter could have ended badly otherwise.
I don’t have a picture handy of this horse, so just a baby Legz picture for attention.
