As most of you might know, my side kick and riding partner in crime Jake had to be retired earlier this year due to a respiratory illness. A sad day indeed for me as I have spent the last 12 years riding and hanging out with Jake exploring trails, riding parades and teaching my kid how to ride with this amazing horse. He has been a solid partner to say the least.
Since I still have some rides left in me, I set out a few months ago for a new horse, you can read all about that in the May 2016 post. Today I thought it would be a good day to move away from travel and introduce you to my new fella.
After some searching, okay, lots of searching and many dead ends, I found him. He is nothing like I have ever had. I have always had sorrel horses, not because I am partial to them it just seems to have worked out that way. Sure I have had a few bays and a wild Appy that I grew up riding, but mostly sorrels with a white blaze or star… and then comes this guy, he’s a grey, he’s big and he’s got a hella lotta mane. So that is the first issue because…
Nothing against grooms or riders that love to spend time grooming and making their horses pretty, once in a while, on parade day I do that too, but for the most part I am way too busy to make a big fuss over how my horse looks, I can hardly get my own hair done let alone my horses. I mean I get the main parts cleaned off, hooves cleaned out and away we go, I like to spend more time in the saddle that on the ground grooming…that’s just me. Good bad or otherwise.
So when I met my new horse, he was all gussied up, pretty as can be with long braids and a shiny clean coat. I realized right off the bat that he uses more product than I do! 
I had driven 2 hours to see him because I liked not only the videos I saw of him, but I also liked his owner. She was easy to talk to, had more horse experience than I ever will and was the real deal. Sometimes buying the horse is as much about the owner as it is the horse.
We took our first ride, I was a little wobbly cuz I am not the rider I use to be, lets be real here, but I managed to stay on and we made it. I liked him, he felt right.
Long story short, after convincing Boss Man he was the horse for me, we brought him home. We are both still learning about each other, sort of the dating phase. We ain’t married yet, not like me and Jake, those things take time. The more rides we have the more I like him.
As far as the grooming thing, I’m finding it sort of fun, I like his products and get a kick out of how nice he looks, he seems to like it too. It is also a good way to learn a little more about him from the ground up. Boss Man keeps saying “Good thing that’s your horse, he’s a ladies horse getting all gussied up, I could never put up with that”. Well… Good thing Boss Man has a bay! What ever!
It took me a few days to come up with a name he came with is Poco, from his bloodlines of the famous Poco Bueno. I didn’t want to change his name but I felt it needed something more, it needed my twist on things, and ya know how twisted that can be …lol. The first morning I walked out to the barn and looked at those braids it came to me…”Poco Willie”! Of course after my favorite singer/songwriter ever, Willie Nelson. The name just seemed to fit, the braids, he mellow and a cool dude. It’s a good fit.
This is the day I brought him home, very quiet, didn’t make a big fuss except coming out of the trailer…I will share that later…
My 1964 black Sears saddle fits! I love this saddle, I will have to tell you about it one day, its a cool story about how I got it. Anyway, that’s it for today, thanks for saddling up, riding along and meeting Poco. I hope to have many happy trails with Poco as I had with Jake, I know he will bring his own special times to me just as Jake did. As far as Jake, he is enjoying retirement hanging out at the barn. See you next time at Tales for the Trail.
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