If you’ve been following along on my Instagram and Facebook, you will have noticed a new face that needs to be officially introduced here on my blog. Long story short — I bought a new horse!

I’m super excited to introduce “Gonzo” to this little slice of cyber horse heaven.

I have been “looking” for a more cow-bred horse for a while now. I began seriously looking earlier this year when Sweetie passed away. If you know anything about Matt and I, we love (sarcasm) to buy things at the top of the market. Houses, trucks, horses…. you name it. If you ask any horseman right now, you’ll know that horses aren’t selling for cheap. I knew what I wanted and unfortunately knew it wouldn’t be cheap, so I began my search hoping to find a deal. Long story short: I wanted to buy a new horse. Matt wanted to wait to see if the market corrected itself, so we compromised and went ahead and bought a horse. Throughout my search, these were the traits I was looking for:

• Cow-bred

• Conformationally-sound

• Good-minded

• Arena and outside broke

• Confidence builder-type

I really wanted something I could learn to work cows on who wasn’t flashy so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself. Man, God has a sense of humor since I ended up with a red roan.

My dream horse was that I could compete on at some local ranch sorting competitions and also aid Matt on the ranch when needed.

All along Matt said I should look for a turnback-style horse. A turnback horse is primarily used in the sport of cutting with the job description entailing keeping the cattle herd organized while the cutting horse works a single cow. Turnback horses also put spacial pressure on the selected cow being cut so it continues trying to rejoin its friends, giving the horse being judged a better shot at showing out.

Local horses were going for crazy amounts and selling before I could even try them. I wasn’t clicking with any horses tried.

One day I saw two pictures of a 4-year-old AQHA roan gelding in Texas used for turnback work on Facebook and immediately called.

To my surprise, he was still for sale and liked everything I heard. Slow on cows (he’s a NCHA earner, but he’s a turnback horse for a reason), quiet, used for #ranchduties etc. We went to California for Easter weekend and I chewed on it more and decided I wanted to see him in person so I made arrangements for that next weekend to spend 24 hours in Texas to see a horse.

Matt wasn’t sold, but I trusted my gut and went.

Gonzales/Gonzo was great. I got to ride in and out of the arena, work him in a pasture, gather cows and even try my hand at cutting. I had never felt so in control of a horse. The deal was essentially done that day and that next Friday evening Gonzo arrived in Tucson!

He’s definitely a lazier type, which is fine with me. He’d rather die than lope and is pretty content at bobbing along at a walk and jog. Maybe he wants to be a western pleasure prospect?

He still needs to mature a lot mentally, but his brain is GOOD. He’s totally exceeded my expectations. From trail rides, to a photoshoot with Kirstie Marie and hauling to the farm to work cattle he has been just a dreamy 4-year-old. He’s just solid and so far has been the same horse every day, if not better. Matt adores him. Now we just have to get him back on cattle consistently and sorting!

Now I am just waiting for my AQHA membership to go through and the papers to be transferred over. Since Jack is a registered Appaloosa (seriously), I’m now a proud member of two breed associations!

Speaking of my guy, Jack is still here and is loving the company (and the lack of only-horse pressure, ha.) They seem to get along and no one died at our photography session previously mentioned. Praise Jesus. It’s been a blast to have these two to take out on some trails we have right behind our house and get to spend some quality time with 3 of my favorite guys! I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I’ll leave you with this, nothing is guaranteed in life so I’ll give you some advice given to me — life is short, buy the horse.

Happy trails XO