Post by Leslie Parker on Jul 20, 2009 14:52:20 GMT -6
Show Name: Packaged Elegance
Barn Name: Galatea/Tea
Owner: Leslie Parker
Age: 4
Gender: Mare
Breed: Dutch Warmblood
Training: Very little... She’s ‘supposedly’ been trained as a two year old and been on many trail rides, plus has had sixty days of professional training put on her, but with the way she acts... there’s no way.
Color: Light bay with matching hind socks
Height: 17 hands
Build: Galatea is a nicely put together mare. She has a long, refined head, medium sized ears and a nice, clean throatlatch. Her neck is long and ties in nicely to her shoulders and matches her short back. Her shoulders are angled nicely and she has long legs with good pasterns. Tea has a bit more bone than what is usual for her breed specific, and she isn’t a very lean mare, more on the thicker side, though she’s very ‘floaty’ on ground and has the right build for jumping or going in any direction, really.
Personality: Tea is a very nervous/timid horse. In contrary to what her old owners said, she’s barely ever been worked with and was let run in a pasture with wild burro’s since she was born. The only time she’s ever came into human contact was for her first haltering experience (and it didn’t go well), and being caught and forced into a trailer after being bought... thus making her scared of and somewhat aggressive to humans when she feels pushed or crowded. She is slowly warming up more to her new owner, though.
The Warmblood is nervous of new people at first, but as she warms up to a person bits and pieces of her true personality shine through. Truthfully, she’s a very intelligent horse who loves to be scratched behind her ears and on her chest. She also seems to want to try her best for her owner at times, but nearly always balks at the end because it overwhelms her.
When she’s pushed, though, she seems to snap and becomes a terror. Bucking, rearing, and bolting are only the first on her list of the many things she does when she’s pushed past her comfort point. She’ll try her best to get her rider off by locking her neck and swerving into trees, fences, walls, whatever. She performs sliding stops that would put a reining horse to shame, trying to toss her rider over her neck.
Quite a few things scare or startle Galatea. She’d terrified of rabbits and huge crowds work her into a frenzied sweat. She can be fine for something one day, and the next day she’ll completely freak out over it. She absolutely hates dogs due to a bad experience with them as a foal and will trample or try to trample any canine that gets near her. Likewise, she freaks out over very loud noises such as little kids screaming and yelling and gunshots.
Galatea’s definitely a handful of horse, but working with her is worth it as she has the potential to do pretty much anything.
Other Info: Galatea dislikes being alone and hates thunderstorms. During a storm, if the top half of her stall door isn’t closed, she’ll be gone the next day because she literally climbs the stall during a storm, trying to get away from it. She’s a one-person horse even though she’s so timid and nervous... Once she warms up to her owner, she won’t do hardly a thing for anyone else. She also hates whips.
