Ice

When my husband and I moved to Florida from Massachusetts almost three years ago, I left my mare Allie behind to live with my mom.

I miss her terribly, but my mom loves her to pieces and I know she is well taken care of.

Two days ago, out of the blue, my husband Dan said "You should get a horse." I looked at him absolutely stunned. We can certainly afford a horse, but I was not expecting my husband to be willing to spend that much on something he really had no interest in. He told me he knew how much I missed Allie and that he knew getting a horse would make me happy. God I love that man.

That day we went and visited two barns. One was about 30 minutes from our house and decent, but not great. The other was a little over 5 miles from our house and I loved it. They have a huge lighted riding ring with barrels and jumps, and really knowledgeable owners. It was a huge plus that it only took us 5 minutes to get there!

Once we decided we were definitely going to board at the closer barn, we started our search for a horse. I searched literally hundreds and hundreds of listings and contacted quite a few people.

Many of them contacted me back, and we have several appointments over the next week.

Yesterday we met Ice.

He is 15hh and roughly 8 years old. I originally wanted something younger than 7, but I absolutely fell in love with him. He was so sweet and mellow, and a little lazy. I rode him bareback and he has the most comfortable trot I've ever ridden. I wanted to pay for him and take him home right then and there, but I know I should at least look at other horses before making a decision.

Today we met a Thoroughbred with awful legs. His pasterns we really long and he looked like he'd be lame after one hard ride. No thanks.