Riding Devro

Olivia   January 10, 2018   19 Comments on Riding Devro

Back in October, our barn friend adopted a Mustang from the same prison auction Eugene and Levi came from. He was listed as a 3 year old, but on getting him home and being seen by the vet, she said he was more like 2.5 years old.

Devro

At already over 15hh, he’s big for a 2.5 year old. He’s definitely got some draft horse in him because he is stocky in addition to being tall. He also has the most gorgeous long mane and forelock. I call him a mini Friesian.

Because he’s young, he’s not really doing much work wise. He gets to go on short trail rides and work a bit in the arena, but no jumping or intense trail work. His owner was away for a week and asked if I wanted to borrow Devro. Umm, hells yeah. He’s so cute, of course I want to borrow him.

For my first ride, we started in the arena before going out on the trail just in case he was a nut, but I don’t think this horse has nut in him. Instead, he has a rather sever case of lazy-ass.

How Devro wished the trail ride could go

I didn’t have a crop with me for this ride and I soon regretted that. I had to nudge him along with every single step. He was a good boy though: no real spooking, mostly listened to me (except for trying to turn around each time we went up hill), and stood nicely while my husband jumped Eugene bareback over logs and took Eugene on an additional loop around the park at speed to get some of his energy out.

The next time I rode him, I came prepared with a dressage whip. He has a super wide-back and Nilla’s saddle fits him, so I figured I might as well dress him up and play dressage pony.

Except he objected quite strongly to being a dressage pony. Mostly he objected to my asking him to go forward. He might be young and green and I may not be able to work him hard, but he can walk faster than 0 miles per hour and he can maintain a given pace without me kicking every single step. We had several discussions about that.

pretty sure he hates me

He did get a lot better. We also had to have some discussions about continuing to go forward after doing a thing. He definitely has the idea that as soon as he has accomplished a task, it’s time to stop. Go through some trot poles?  Stop immediately afterwards. Canter a lap? Stop. While he remains a lazy horse, he did get a lot better over the course of the ride.

It proceeded to rain a lot after that. I did get one short ride in later that week, but we just trotted around the small arena and played chase the turkeys. He really likes chasing them and will do it even if I drop the reins. I think he’ll be a good sorting horse when he grows up.

I hope to continue riding him a bit. I think he’s going to be a great horse as he grows up. He’s already had a great start.

19 thoughts on “Riding Devro”

  6. Stacie Seidman

    He’s SO CUTE! I prefer them on the lazy side, but agree, they still need to maintain themselves. He sounds pretty smart though, and I’m sure he’ll learn quickly. So fun you get to ride him!

  7. reluctant cowgirl

    I wish my dude had his hair! Otherwise they are built similarly. Do you know what HMA he’s from? My guy also thinks every accomplishment deserves some time doing the “standing still Olympics.” They could be bros.

  9. Mary

    I just discovered your blog; looking forward to reading more of it. I have a large, um, laid-back horse myself. Keeping moving, and even trotting, is one of our first goals.

Comments are closed.