And so begins the search...

Due to the unfortunate death of our wonderful lesson horse, Noah- we are being forced to look for another animal to bring into our program. Noah was an OTTB that I personally trained from directly off of the track, but you wouldn't know it. He was used for anywhere from the smallest children to our more advanced riders who were beginning to show, both english and western. He performed w-t-c flawlessly with automatic lead changes, backing, etc- but we didn't require him to run barrels, work as a ranch horse (which most of our other lessons horse do), work cattle, etc.

Looking for a new lesson mount though, we're looking for a well broke horse (preferably a gelding, but doesn't have to be) with a good woah but that is willing to do as much as is asked of him. We would require the horse to be able to w-t-c, back up, hack out on trails in a group (on property), and sidepass quietly and be fairly mellow, as we have a farm that often has any type of animal from bloodhounds to cattle to peacocks to goats and the animal must be able to ride quietly while around commotion since we run a therapy farm and often have very loud mentally disabled children come to ride. The horse would not be required to be 'gentle' enough for therapy riders, however.

Things that we would LIKE to see but arent necessary are flying lead changes (something I'm capable of teaching the mount if it does not already know), ability to do low level local rodeos once or twice a year (we let some of our lesson kids show their mounts in the rodeo and/or parades. It would be nice to have an animal that is experienced with both english and western riding, but again- not necessary. Western is good enough.

That being said, I'm going to post horses as I find them on here and you guys are welcome to critique them, give me ideas of things to ask the owners if we contact them, or even give me suggestions for horses that you have found.

This is the first guy that caught my eye just because of his video, but his pasterns are alarming. He's not 'pretty' but sounds safe and sane so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here and post him anyways. We aren't interested in flashy, just sound enough to be able to work 2 lessons (with a break in between them) twice a week with the beginners, and one lesson twice a week with an advanced rider- which is what Noah did. The horse would be worked up to that, not put in immediately. Its also nice that he will pull things and does some ranch type work.

Video**kid Gentle Bay Ranch Gelding


This guy seems to be built better but no video. A big plus is that he's already worked cattle so we could use him as a ranch horse as well, if needed.
"mister" Gentle all Around Horse

I don't see the video that they're talking about but this guy has flying lead changes down supposively and has been started roping. He's cute but there are no conformation pics so I'm sure I'm missing something.
Family ~all Around~ Flashy Paint Gelding APHA *video**

This guy is taller than the others, which is great. Noah was 17.2hh and used for our larger adults who wanted to ride, so having one that is 16.2 would be very helpful. He's also been ridden english, but it sounds like that may have been what they were aiming him towards, and our lesson horse would mostly be western. He's a bit young though, to be a lesson horse. Ofcourse, he may truely be an 'old soul' like our arabian, Xcia- but its something to consider. He's only a coming 5 year old.

Amateur & Husband Friendly 16.3h. Gorgeous Gelding.

BOONE - YouTube

Here is the link to the video for the third one.

#3, Boone seems dead sided.. she kicks him mightily into the lope and then he is on the wrong lead.... and the silliness of crawling under him really turns me off.

I like the first one best... tho he is a bit over the bit.

I would not consider any horse w/o a video for what you want. They "say" the horse has been on cattle. OK.. lets see it.

Finding a good lesson horse is always quite a search.. even in a buyers market.

It is! I've only helped buy one of our other lesson horses and we tried at least 8 before finding him. Even then he had some minor problems that I had to correct (tended to lean while loping a straight line, slightly girthy) before we sent him out.

I liked the first guy a lot too. More so than the others, at least. I'm just really worried about those pasterns though...they're not only long but just strangely angled. Ofcourse, that doesnt neccessarily mean he WILL go lame, but it is worrying. The lower maitenence a horse is, the better.

I agree, after seeing the video of Boone (thanks for linking the video by the way) I'm really just not a fan either. He appears to have absolutely no rhythm which is important for the younger kids and looked like a real bugger at the canter. His transitions weren't smooth either.

I'll keep looking after work and post what I find.

I found a nice little place in Dallas that has some great horses, and I'm interested in a few of them. Nice thing about that is if we took the time to trek up there (about 5 hours) we could try multiple horses.

Storm Nite O Lena
This guy is 5, a little young but well trained from the looks of it. I'm not a fan of the riders in most of these but he seems very tolerant which is what I'm looking for.

I really like the looks of this guy. Quiet and uncomplicated, and he seems to know his stuff. Again, not a fan of one of the riders but he'd be dealing with riders that make mistakes all of the time. Looks to be better built than Pebbles, the first gelding- too.

DreamHorse.com Horse ID: 1830550 - Wingnut

Big BUMP. Still hoping to get some more insights guys!

I liked the look of Wingnut & what he could do, then I watched the video. Not liking the movement of his hind end, particularly right hind. And why are his papers pending at his age? Maybe some things to ask about.

Storm Nite really looked good-quite impressive for such a young horse. The sellers seem to have an excellent reputation.

I didn't even catch that rear hoof! This is why I love other people's opinions. There is so much that I don't catch.

I really like Storm Nite too. The only issue that I had was his age, since we need him to go into work within a month or so of buying him, since we are replacing a very well used lesson horse. Ofcourse the fact that he's 5 isn't really a reason to not consider him if he's as level headed as he looks in the video, but its something to consider. We started our arabian mare in lessons at that age, since she was the 'born broke' type, but she wasnt used for beginners until she was about 7. I can get away with using this guy for only our intermediate and advanced riders for a little while I suppose, until I figure out how good he is with lesson kids. And he seems like a good prospect to 'send on his way' if he doesnt work out since he has a good foundation on him and papers. He's cute too.

I don't have much to add conformation-wise, but I do like the look of the Storm one. Looks sturdy, solid, dependable, and uncomplicated. :)
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