Of course we are crazy.  Anna saw a listing on a pony club related email about a free horse.  Of course she replied, we had a conversation with the owner, and 2 days later, we drove about 150 miles (each way) to check him out.

Here is what we knew from the owner:

9yo, 16.1hh, bay, gelding, barefoot, OTTB.  Off the track 3-4 years ago and obtained for the daughter.  Did some jumping, cross country, hunter riding, but was too high-strung for the daughter.  Put out to pasture about 1.5 years ago with a herd of 3 geriatric horses over 30.  The other horses have all since passed away and it was time for the horse to go.  His name is NOT-Waylon.  Supposed to be completely sound, with no track injuries.

The description seemed pretty accurate when we arrived, except he was closer to 15.3hh.  Also his hooves hadn’t been trimmed in at least a year, but probably the entire time he was in pasture (1.5 years).  Since he also hadn’t been saddled in 1.5 years, we decided to roll the dice and bring him home (since he was free, it’s not a terribly expensive gamble).

He is definitely high-strung, however, he seems to calm considerably when he is with other horses (or can at least see them).  I trimmed his hooves, and saddled him up, only to discover bilateral lameness.

Lameness in a horse can have many causes, so I started with some of the most obvious to see how bad it was.  In this case, NOT-Waylon had severe thrush infection in his hooves. So, I gave him a nice, new set of Easy Care Gloves on all 4 hooves, and bada-bing, bada-boom- a sound horse!  On Friday, we went for an hour and a half trail ride.  He did great (other than being a little out of shape).

Why did we get another TB?  Why not?  Actually, since King is almost 19, we don’t really want to over do it with him and jumping.  Anna and I would like to do more hunter paces in the future, so a younger, fast paced TB, would be good.  Besides, this actually gives us 2 bay TBs, 15.3-16hh, both with a white stripe down the face, and a single white sock on the back left leg.  Now, we just need one of our TBs to be brave enough to lead the way.

So, what’s his name?  Well, we have determined it is NOT-Waylon (which is what he was previously known by).  We all thought Thunder was a good name, but since even Devil picks on him, he isn’t really Thunder material.  So right now, Milo is what we think.

Do you have a name idea?  Leave a comment.