The Price and the Frog

Prince was not my prince. Polu was. I viewed more as Prince (the horse) as the "frog" instead. In all honesty he was cute. But I had more compliments from mom's and kids than my adult, serious Dressage rider, peers. This had never happened to me. I always had one of the largest, "scariest" horses at any barn. If the parents or children were around, they were told to avoid my horse at all cost because it was "so well trained, it is not for children to be around and pontentially dangerous." Yes, it was true. My last horse, Renaldi was a huge 18+hh almost black Warmblood gelding. He was built like a stallion, with a large neck, big haunches, powerful stifle and one heck of a shoulder. I adored him. He was the quint esential gentle giant though. One of the reasons why I sold him was because he lacked that star-quality spark. He was laid back and kind and this trickled over into the show ring where he moved with a innocent, no-purpose-like, stride. He had no motor or work ethic. So although he was amazing to look at, his was not the Dressage horse he was literally made to be.

Kids avoided me as well, because I owned the horse and I offered no welcoming vibes that the kids were drawn towards. This could be why I have no children myself.. So, now I had Prince and the kids suddenly thought I was welcoming. What on earth gave them that idea, I don't know. Perhaps it was the cute little gelding that was in the end of the lead. His eyes sparkled with affection and his sweet expression lured all the little ones in. I started coming to the barn earlier in the morning to avoid this epidemic.

I rode Prince for the first time. He was so quiet and ready to be asked to do something ("anything!" he seemed to shout) that I was blown away. He was such a puppy dog. Renaldi was the "ok...I guess.." type of horse and Polu was the serious mount upon which he expected perfection out of his rider. But little Prince was different. I felt way too close to the ground though. It was an odd experience.

As I was putting Prince through his paces, I was shocked by his suspension. He thrusted me out of the saddle like I was not expecting. He marched on but only when asked. He was anti-confrontational. I sat on him and relaxed as this was the first time I could be the driver without convincing my steed!

Maryness was excited about Prince and thought he would be good for me. He was schooling fourth level movements, but was a solid third level competitor.

I was optimistic about our future.

So maybe Prince wasn't the frog...