Charm arrived at Stori Stables last Sunday. She's a 4 year old, Thoroughbred mare. Charm was supposed to be a racehorse but she made it clear to her trainer that she had absolutely no interest in running fast! So, she was given to Danelle's friend to find a new career.
Charm has tried out both Western and English riding. Just like people, horses excel at and enjoy different things. It seems like Charm might like English riding better so she's here at Stori Stables to explore that some more. Charm's owner only rides Western so Charm is also looking for a new forever home.
We were super impressed at how quickly Charm has settled in. She got off the trailer, looked around, basically did the horse equivalent of "whatever" and went to quietly munching hay in her new stall. She's clearly a sensible little girl!
One of the first things we did is to give her a proper, English style, haircut. Charm stood quietly while we chopped off her long, Western style mane.
This had to go!!!
Aahhhh . . . Much better . . .
We also did her tail. You can see in the second photo that it now has a blunt cut across the bottom, rather than just being straggly.
Charm has worked once in the arena and again, showed that she's very sensible and quiet. Ella spent quite a bit of time jumping around and waving her arms, trying to get her to spook to no avail. The far end of the arena proved a bit scary but all our other horses would agree with her.
The next task is to get Charm's bridle to fit her well (its still too big!) and find a bit that she goes in happily. Then, we can do more real work.
We're very excited to have Charm here and hope you will come meet her soon!