They always break your heart

I had to say goodbye to another original horse a couple weeks ago. Jazz and Grady were my first two horses and they will always hold that special heart horse spot for me.

I sold Jazz a couple years ago to a really nice family that had a young girl wanting to do 4-H. Jazz had been leased for a couple years before that since I was in school and riding Jetta, not having time for Jazz especially since she needed a more laid back kind of life in her old age.

I started the blog after I started undergrad, so I haven't written a ton about Jazz, but she fueled my love of Appendix QH's after Grady sparked that love. She literally did everything. We did hunters, we evented, we ran barrels and poles, we did dressage, we did western and english pleasure, we did trail, we rode on the beach and trails. She ponied all my babies, she helped me pass my Level 2 in Parelli, we rode bareback and bridleless, I ground drove her (never actually got a cart though), I taught countless beginner lessons on her. She was the horse that got me into dressage in the first place.

She was never a cuddly horse, didn't particularly enjoy being groomed and when I first got her, I really didn't like her. My trainer was the one that convinced my parents to get her for me as my show horse since Grady didn't quite have it in him to be the competitive all-around horse that I wanted. But I was so lucky to have her.

All about those carrots

Grady, Jazz and Tux all together

Her owners messaged me a couple days before I left for my trip saying that they were planning on putting her down the coming week. She'd been lame for a while and it kept getting worse and worse. The vet and chiropractor had no answers and she was on a double dose of pain meds, but still hurting. They thought maybe she had bone cancer. Luckily I was able to drive up and say goodbye. It was hard, saying goodbye is never easy, even when she hadn't been "my" horse for years. I think the worst part was knowing she was in pain and that I couldn't fix it, even after all she'd done for me.

She was still not cuddly, though she ate her 5 pounds of carrots with gusto. We spent a little over an hour with her, just giving her carrots, scritches and kisses. She still looked pretty good, though supposedly she'd been steadily losing weight. I could have spent all day just sitting in the pasture with her, so it was hard to leave her to make the 2-hour drive back home. I kissed her and held her head in my arms, even though she has always disliked that, she at least tolerated it for me. I asked her to give Grady a nuzzle from me, they always were the two horses that seemed best suited together. One of the hardest things after putting Grady down was bringing Jazz home from a lessor and turning her out in the pasture and watching her whinny and trot around looking for Grady. He was the constant in both of our lives.

Horses always break your heart. Even after 13 years of Jazz being in my life, it's still not long enough. I'm really glad she's not in pain any more, but that doesn't make saying goodbye any easier.

Noms

"Treats, not kisses, go here"

Breed Spotlight: Appendix QH



A lovely example of my favorite type
of Appendix QH. Find the first three
horses pictured on Dreamhorse.com!



I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I love Quarter Horses, especially Appendix QH. I first fell in love with them because I begged my neighbors to let me ride their old horse, Ruby. I had absolutely no riding experience, but I loved her. She was an older horse and her spunky attitude just stayed with me.

My first horse, Grady is a QH. Jazz, my second horse is also a QH, though she is registered as an Appendix. Jazz and Grady both have the same amount of thoroughbred blood though. Anyways, what I love most about Quarter Horses is that they are so versatile, they'll try their hardest for you, and in my experience they're right in the middle of the temperament scale, usually not too hot but not too lazy. These are just generalizations as I'm sure there are QH's out there that are crazy hot or super lazy.



Love the body type - athletic, not too
chunky but not super slender



Jazz has done almost every discipline with me and has done it very well. Sure, you can't make it to the national or international level in every discipline, but we did very well for the level we were working at. I think the only thing we haven't done is saddleseat and vaulting. I did teach her to ground drive and pull a makeshift thingy cause I never got around to saving up for a cart, so we kind of did driving. But we also did reining, dressage, jumping, eventing, english and western pleasure, showmanship, sorting and penning, trail and even some gaming. She tried her hardest at everything we did, learned quickly & was able to transition between disciplines almost seamlessly.



They can jump!!



I kind of want another Appendix QH. Probably because I just want another Jazz! I was always disappointed that I delayed on breeding her and at 20 years old now, I'm not willing to take the chance on breeding her. I suppose I could do an embryo transfer, but at that expense I could buy a weanling that was exactly what I want!

A new horse moved to the barn and is a very cute Appendix QH. I just love the look of most of these horses. They're not ribby and slender like TB's, but they're not stocky and overmuscled like some QH. A nice in-between. They are really athletic and I think they excel in hunter/jumper and eventing. I would like to own another eventing Appendix QH someday possibly. They're just fun horses.



Invitation Only



It would be interesting to see what the differences there are between Appendix QH that have a TB sire and QH dam versus those that have a QH sire and TB dam. Personally if I was to breed Jetta for an Appendix baby, I love Invitation Only. He is a very successful sire and all his babies that I have seen are gorgeous. He passes on a lovely neck, balanced body type with a medium length, strong back. For a QH stallion he also has pretty nice conformation (for my tastes). I don't like the halter type that many horses are being bred for today - giant butts that are several inches taller than the withers with weak loins, huge muscled bodies on dainty feet and legs.



Love this guy. He's huge: 17.2 hh and does english pleasure
(obviously) and also jumps. Very cute jumper I might add
and look at his floaty movement. Good conformation too.
His name is Indian Artbeat.



There are also several QH stallions that are approved through the American Warmblood Society. While this may not sound like much to some (the AWS is a pretty broad group) I think they're actually some pretty nice horses. This guy pictured here is AWS approved.