Anyways, I have somewhat of a dilemma. I bought my mare when she was a foal. She was about 8 months old when she finally came to me. I've raised her since then and I completely adore her. I bought her to be a jumper. I'm perfectly content with jumping 3+ feet. I don't need a horse to jump like 5-6 feet. I have that bond/click with her which I've always lacked with my other horse. I love it! Here's the thing though. As she has grown up, she's 3 now, she's developed conformational faults. She's back at the knee and one of her back legs looks like it might have a minor case of a contracted tendon (her pastern has a weird angle to it which in turn has made her hoof look different in comparison to the other, normal looking one). I'm not sure what I can do with a horse that's back at the knee. My other horse, who is 30+ years old and I've had for 13 years, couldn't jump. His max was 3 feet because of bowed tendons and when I was actually confident enough to jump, he kept getting injured (not riding related injuries).
So I've had a horse that I couldn't do what I wanted with for 13 years. Can I really do it again with my young horse?
There's that little bit of hope in me that her conformation will change seeing as she is only 3, a draft cross, and still growing. After the farrier trims her (she is seeing a different farrier instead of the one she's used practically her whole life) her legs look straighter then as time progresses, she looks more back at the knee again.
What would you do in this situation? Sell a horse that you adore for a horse that can do what you want? Or keep her, hope for the best, and suck it up that I can't jump with her one day?
I just keep debating things and I really don't know what to do considering how much I adore her but also how much I want to have a horse that can actually jump.
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