Introducing.... Kevin.

Friends, I would like you to meet Kevin.

His name isn't really Kevin.  His registered name is Assets Until Dark and his barn name was Knight and is now Austin, but B's taken to calling him Kevin and for some reason it's grown on me.  Maybe because I think of that giant bird in UP.

He's a 10 year old Quarter Horse, and was a stud until about three years ago. He bred mares.  That fact would have freaked me out, except that he is a perfect gentleman.  I rode him on Tuesday in the arena with a mare in full-blown heat.  He didn't even look at her.  Looks like he's a gelding through and through.

I haven't sticked him, but we think he's about 15.1 at the wither.... you may notice he's a bit... downhill.  That fact would normally bother me, but he doesn't feel heavy on the forehand at all.

He's a Western Pleasure dreamboat.  By far the best little loper I've ever had the pleasure to sit.  He's been shown in reining, horsemanship, and hunt seat equitation.

As with all new horse & rider combos, there's a learning period where there's some half-hearted boundary testing and there's some groping in the dark for buttons supposedly installed.

I love having something to work on.  With Lilly I spent my time just trying to get her to go up a gait, and honestly I didn't get too far until I grabbed a crop and put spurs on, which made me feel like a failure, but I'm over it.  With Kevin, I've been working on finding buttons, most of which are right on the surface, a few of which are not as glow-in-the-dark.

For instance: The Elusive Pivot.  I can only get him to pivot on the outside hind.  That's not right. Time to study and see if I can figure out how to correct that.  The irony that Junior sometimes forgot which foot to pivot on is not lost on me, nor is the very obvious possibility that it's just something I'm doing totally wrong. Most likely operator error.

Stay tuned for more about Kevin, and more about the rescue saddle I mentioned in my last post.

Cool little sock.

Hi, Handsome.