Feral. Red. Horse

I iz most pretty

My Feral Red Horse, Bailey, has Feral Red Horse in her blood. Bailey, now 6, is an "OOPs!" baby, conceived when her Mama was 3 and born when she was 4. Mama herself was a bit of a Feral Red Horse, and had her training and early horse education put off because of the baby on the way.

Bailey herself was left basically untouched until she turned 4. I picked her out from a picture and a brief meeting while visiting Wake Robin Farm to attend a Lucinda Green clinic. She came running when called, and was interested and inquisitive with people, affectionate, and willing to yield her body to pressure.  A sales video showed her to be a lovely mover, athletic and playful.

The feral red horse, the week she came home

I was hooked! I brought Bailey home in late August of 2013 with 6 rides on her. She was "kind of" broke, and "kind of" steered, stopped and responded to leg cues. Two years later she has two years of showing under her belt and we're prepping for another confidence building year at Beginner Novice. Bailey has blossomed, and grown up, and has really become her own person. I still call her my Feral Red Horse because she continues to be quirky and wild and, well... feral, occasionally. 





The Rider
My name is Ashley. I hang out on the internet under a variety of usernames, but usually am known as TheFoxRider, in homage to my beloved first horse, an OTTB named Foxie. I'm a young professional, and spent my first real paychecks after college on the Feral Red Horse. Foxie, who is now going on 20, is mostly retired with a blown suspensory ligament in a hind leg and is generally enjoying being a curmudgeonly older lady. I have aspirations to do a T3D before I get too old, and find that riding is a much needed light in corporate life. I have been out of the blog sphere lately, and have missed it. I'm not sure how this whole job + blogging thing will work, but I'm going to give it a go.

The Horse:
Bailey, known in USEA Area IV as "WRF Come Along Pond" and around the barn as "BB" is a 16.1h Thoroughbred cross born in 2009. She is 3/4 TB, 1/4 Zangrischeide (Holsteiner x Hanovarian) and 100% sassy redhead. Bailey is very friendly and inquisitive, and is often referred to as being like a giant golden retriever. She loves treats, food and running around "like an idiot". She feels that praise is her human confirming her Bad Ass status and has a slightly bucky, head-shaky happy dance that she enjoys doing after any Bad Ass action, like jumping a jump (regardless of whether there is another one coming up that she's not paying attention to). She considers her mom to be a dispenser of treats, slave to her glorious looks and lately, the fun police. 

BB would also like to note that she is a badass.

** Note: As of 4/13/16, I've loaded an older blog into the back end of this one, which means you now get to see the story of Bailey unfold a little bit more. I wasn't a great blogger getting back into it with a new horse, but hey, History! We have it.