I had a nice visit with Deeds today and met a great new SAFE volunteer!! Lucy is a somewhat recent transplant to the Kitsap area from Kentucky. She works as a small animal vet tech and is also in school getting her certification. Somehow she has decided that she has the time to put in volunteering for SAFE! Because of her riding experience and ability, we have set her up as with Mr Deeds and she plans to work with him twice a week while she is in school.
So we went to Deeds’ boarding barn this morning to introduce her to the horse and to the barn owner. We spent some time brushing Deeds, who seemed to like that quite a lot. He is in fine shape at the moment, just lacking muscle over his haunches and along his topline. He was a pretty good boy in the crossties, except for his incessant pawing, and Lucy got him all cleaned up and tacked up in her dressage saddle. She rode him in the little outdoor arena at his barn, and he was such a good boy for her. Like Schwung and Shekaberry have both said, he is the least Thoroughbred‑y Thoroughbred you will ever meet. He was bright and interested in his surroundings, but he stayed relaxed and did not misbehave for an instant. Nothing bothered him. Lucy rode him in the walk and the trot and then did a little bit of calm cantering. He was a bit off at the trot at first but he seemed to work out of it so general stiffness might be playing a part. Lucy reported that he was responsive to her aids and seems pretty well trained. And he looked smashing all tacked up on such a pretty day. I am kicking myself for not bringing a camera.
I hopped up on his for a couple of minutes and just walked him around the arena. He is a very nice horse, and pretty comfortable to sit on. A steady-eddie for sure. I hope that we can find him a nice home where he will get some light riding and he would probably do really well on the trails because he is so laid back and easy going.
Afterwards, we undressed him and let him have some free time in the arena. He rolled three times until he really really got the sand ground back into his coat, and then he spent the rest of the time poking around looking at things, wandering back from time to time so that we could pet him. He is really a nice horse, very friendly, sweet and terribly handsome.
Lucy plans to work with him to improve his suppleness which should make him very comfortable and happy. We will keep you posted on his progress. A big welcome to Lucy and a big thank you for helping with Deeds. He seems to really enjoy interacting with people so I am sure that he will be happy to have visitors on a more regular basis.
