New horse

Beware the horse rider who writes regular blog entries and suddently falls silent. They have either fallen off their steed, or they have gone out and bought a new horse.

In my case, it is the latter.

The process has been lengthy, but I didn't want to write anything in case I jinx myself.

I got chatting to a friend that I was looking for a new horse. She got chatting to a horsey workmate, who said that she has a horse for sale that may suit. I then asked a 1000 questions over email, and decided the horse was worth seeing. With husband and daughter in tow, we drove across town to see said horse. I rode him, and liked him.

However, I needed a second opinion. So the following weekend, I dragged my coach across town. First the owner rode the horse, then I rode the horse, then my coach gave me a mini lesson, then finally my coach rode the horse. With the owners out of earshot, my coach declared "Well, he probably won't make the Olympics, but if you like him, you can buy him." This is a pretty big statement from my coach.

So I bought him.

And today, I set off across town in the wee hours of the morning (it was really dark) to pick him up. The trip went smoothly. When I got to the farm I put him in the Red Rum paddock. The other horses came over. He saw Princess, she saw him, it was love at first sight. I put Crownie in the paddock with him, but when he's not grazing he stands at the fence and rubs noses with Princess.

And what exactly did I buy?

He is a 15.1hh bay thoroughbred, 5 years old, purpose bred for eventing. His dam was a 2* eventer, his sire was a dressage horse. He has already done a couple of events at level 4, and he is training at level 2. And his birthday is on the same day as my daughter's (but he is a year older).

His name is "Gallium" (yes, the 31st element of the periodic table). "Gally" for short. (His previous owners had a chemistry background. So I guess "Gallium" is the chemistry equivalent of "Basic", "Fortran" or "Java".)