Before you met, where was your horse? Who bred him/her? What do you know about his sire and his dam? What do you know about where (s)he came from? Tell me about the time before (s)he had a trainer.
Before I met Jetta, she was living at a Thoroughbred breeding farm. I met her as an unraced two-year old.
She was bred by Dr. Rodney Orr. I did some stalking and found this article about one of his broodmares, which also talks a little about his farm and breeding program.
Her sire is Private Gold, whose sire line is Seeking the Gold, Mr. Prospector, Raise a Native and Native Dancer. He's a pretty popular stallion here in the NW as far as I understand and have seen in many pedigrees of local TB's as he stands in Washington.
One random thing that I think is interesting is that I heard fairly often about what a bad personality/unpredictable nature that Seeking the Gold had. I am a huge advocate of breeding to stallions with good personalities because I think it is somewhat of a heritable trait, so it's funny that I own one of his offspring now. I think some of Jetta's attitude must come from her grandsire! Even though she can also be a total sweetheart most of the time.
Her dam is Step Away. I remember that she was a gorgeous mare when I met her. I actually had a reader reach out to me when I posted about Jetta's family tree that she had bought Step Away and that was so awesome to hear!
What to say about the time before she had a trainer... Well she was a brat, but then again she still is. She was unnamed, but the Barn Manager called her "Punky" which totally fit. I think it was in reference to a TV character that was before my time, but to me, Jetta was definitely a punk. She knew how to lead adequately and lunge, had worn a bareback pad before, but other than that, she had mostly been handled with a stud chain, she kicked, didn't allow her feet to be handled and didn't trailer.
When I got her, we worked for the first year on ground manners. I can't tell you how many times she took me "mud skiing" in the pasture before she learned to respect pressure without a stud chain. And teaching her not to kick and let her feet be done was a nightmare.
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| The day I met Jetta |
But it turned out well for the most part, I absolutely adore my stubborn monster child now.
ooh seeking the gold is handsome! glad Jetta's mostly sweet rather than unpredictable tho - i can definitely agree about breeding for personality too!!
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