Job Unfinished

I need to send two horses off to new homes. I know I do. I've known it for a while.

But- I'm not finished with them yet. Excuses abound but the plain fact is I've not worked with them as much as I have the others, for various reasons.

Legs, while not an affectionate horse, is a fine mare, and would be a good horse for an early intermediate rider, if they exercised her regularly. She's a big old woman but generally listens to what she's told and aside from her flat-out refusal to back out of a trailer, has good ground manners for as little as I've worked with her on it.

But she's not the horse she could be, with a little more work.

Red... oh good lord Red. I cringe at the thought of selling him. I'm going to take a loss on him, I know (on the price I bought him at, not counting my work or the dedicated, determined, and somehow ever-patient work of Sparky) but that's not really why I cringe. I cringe because he's such a little peckerwood. Someone is going to associate my name with that horse when I really had nothing to do with turning him into a cranky little bastard.

Maybe I should just run him through the ring and beg them not to mention my name.

I'm still hoping to find Legs a home without going through the sale barn. Both for pricing, and because she deserves a good home.

It's not her fault that our personalities just don't mesh.

Regardless, I need to find some decent weather (this week is supposed to be nice but I'm not sure what "free" time I'll have) and ride them both. Regularly. And until they sell. One way or another.

I need the money, and in Legs' case she deserves a home that will give her the attention and affection that is proper. I'm sure she's quite happy with the pasture-lazy life she's had with us, but I feel like I'm leaving a job unfinished, still.

Red, well, he's another job unfinished, but I'm not sure I have the patience, time, or skill to finish that job myself. He was pretty messed up when I bought him, and although Sparky did a fantastic job with him, he's still a little pain in the ass.

Time to stop looking at the temperature and whimpering about it being cold, and I don't really need to ride today, do I? Time to man up, bundle up, and get my skinny butt out there wearing out some saddle leather.

Oh god, this is gonna suck if Red manages to land me on my keister... frozen ground hurts!