Jerry, Welcome Home
Meet Jerry, Arapaho Jerry if we want to be official. She is one of the best horses I ever owned and now I am lucky enough to have her back again!
I started her as a three year old. Showed her to a few buckles in cow horse classes. Didn’t lover her quite as much as a ranch horse as I did as an arena horse. But she was all around sweet and wonderful.
At the time when I was training her I spent a lot of time looking at her profile. She has a beautiful, delicate, an dainty head. I was interested in her whorls, because I’ve always looked at whorls! This was twenty years ago, I didn’t have internet but had read Lind Tellington-Jones and any other articles I could find on whorls and head shape. But I could not figure out her profile.
It is slightly dished, mostly straight. Did that mean she was steady? Or did it mean she was sensitive?
Looking back it’s a little embarrassing. Why did I think it had to be an either or sort of thing? It seems so simple now. It doesn’t need to be one or the other. Her delicate profile means she is steady and dependable while also being sensitive. These aren’t black and white, yes or no things. A steady dependable horse can also be sensitive. She showed that wonderfully.
The same horse at home, in the arena, or wherever you took her, she was trustworthy and solid. She could also drop out from underneath you with just the right trigger. She hated anything crinkly under her nose and left me laying on the ground a few times when things suddenly appeared and touched her front legs. Those same skills were wonderful for cutting a cow, she could stay right with them.
Unfortunately, that tendency also made me decide she wasn’t going to be dependable enough for very small children. So when my babies came along I gave Jerry to a good friend who loved her and who would give her a wonderful home. They did wonderfully together.
Then my friend had babies of her own and wasn’t able to ride like she used to. She asked if I would like Jerry back. I did the math and realized Jerry must be 24 by now. I said of course! We would love to have her back!
And we are. She may have been too much horse for me when my children were babies, but she is perfect for my daughter who is older now but as small and delicate as Jerry is. The sensitivity is still there but so is the steady dependability. Together they are perfect.
All the traits we see in a horse’s features are on a sliding scale, a little of this mixed with a little of that. Some seemingly impossible traits fit nicely together to build that complicated mix that is a horse’s temperament.