| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
| Locked on 08/07/2007 7:37:51 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason: |
Posted on 01/02/2007 9:57:39 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
My mare is 16 even and she is a tall lanky girl.
I also wonder if Traveller was a full 16, or if he was just rounded up to the nearest hand! Exaggeration happened then as now (I'm sure as I noted up thread that Cincinnati was not 17 hands.)
I have read it and since you are the experts this is the horse I have come up with.
A 15 high hand, jet black stallion, with extreme speed and endurance.
I will adjust the size question but keep the rest.
The horse is picked for his speed and the fact that the character wants to start a horse farm after the war and thinks the stallion will add to his bloodline.
Comments, critiques, opinions...
Because stallions are cooler... It's in the arch and weight of the neck... in their face... stallions almost always have big wide cheeks. They have a presence and carriage about them that make you stop and notice them. Mares and many geldings just don't often have that.
My grey Arab from high school was a stallion, and older one as well, and one that had been shown and socialized so much he was easy to handle. They can good, and good around other horses, if they've been raised and and trained to be. Look at the Lippizans and how closely they live and work.
Oh yes... he will be a thorough bred.
I think 16 is fine... or you can just say he was tall... and his presence and proud neck made him seem even taller. :~)
There's a big difference in perceived size between a 16 hand horse with a low set Western neck, and one that has a long tall neck like an Arab or Saddlebred can have.
If you read the account of U.S. Grant's horses at Duchess's link, you'll find that one of Grant's staff found an ugly old horse loose on the battlefield that Grant recognized as something like. He "cleaned up" to be a very nice Thoroughbred.
If it's a stallion, you probably need to do a little historical research if he's gonna be a Yankee horse. IIRC, all U.S. Army stallions were kept at the remount depot and were not in field use.
Now if he's a Confederate horse, anything goes. They weren't very particular about regulations, and most people brought their own horses from home (as did my gg grandfather who was in an Alabama cavalry unit. His horse was a black gelding named Doctor.)
A lot of stallions do have that "look" . . . all my mare has is the "come hither look" which she would like to practice on a stallion. Volunteers please see Gracie in Paddock D . . . .
I like that. That I can use. Thank you!
You have freepmail!
I went ahead and rode, for only about 1 hour. I don't want to push, in case that is the problem and go too long. But he was a smooth as silk today. We did nothing but walk, but we did stop and did some backing, and some side passing, and neck flexion. He was so good, seemed to have plenty of go, seemed to want to trot some, but I refrained:)
He has had bute for 2 days, and will have it 2 more, then next week we'll ride some more and see what happens, then the farrier will be here the next if he goes south again. Maybe that will be the answer. If not, to the vet we will go.
Becky
LOL.
Becky
I have a stallion, and he is exemplary. BUT, I will never have another, because exemplary or not, you have to always remember they are studs.
Personally, I don't see much difference as far as managability between mares and geldings. I've seen many geldings be as fussy as fussy mares, and I've seen mares as calm and quiet all the time as a nice quiet gelding. I'm sure the individuality of the horse has something to do with it, but mostly I think the fussy geldings and mares are that way due to what they are allowed to get by with. Just like kids:)
Becky
Hmmm... well, good then! I think if it's something that can be made better with a couple days of anti-inflammatories, then good. That may hold him and allow you to keep conditioning him. Till the new farrier comes.
I do think there's something that needs fixed, probably in his 'new' shoeing approach. Yes, we can feel achy the next day getting back to work after a break, but we're both older than he is.
My trainer uses my mare for beginner lessons when I'm not at the barn . . . and I can tell when I get back on her that somebody's been letting her slack off.
Doesn't take but 2-3 minutes to remind her that we're "back in the saddle again."
I have always gotten along better with mares, don't know why, even the mares that don't like anybody else. There is only one mare I can recall that we got crossways right off the bat -- she never liked me and I darn sure didn't like her, she was a witch. There was one gelding I used to ride that I was very simpatico with, he was a moody old cuss but he was very nice to me. He was gelded very late, at 6 years, don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.
It's turned out to be a nice sunny day here. We have to go strip the stalls and such, but after that, I'm going to work Bay a bit, get him moving. The plan is to really start conditioning him up in March to start riding April 1 when the trails open, but no sense wasting nice days in February.
LOL - I've decided everyone lies about how tall their horse is so I'm sure they did in the Civil War era also. Must be some macho thing don't you think?
http://www.qmfound.com/front_royal.htm
As is well known. Virginia is the home of the half bred hunter in America. More or less scientific breeding had been going on for a number of years without stimulation by the government, and the hunter type of half bred horse raised in Virginia has always demanded a high price on the market. Due to the fact that the Office of The Quartermaster General directly has had charge of the purchasing of stallions, the Front Royal Remount Depot has been a clearinghouse for stallions used in the furtherance of the breeding scheme. The majority of the best stallions purchased by the Remount Service in the last ten years have been purchased from the eastern tracks and sent to the Front Royal Remount Depot for conditioning and shipment in carload lots to other Depots and to the western zones, where large breeding operations are carried on. As a consequence, there has been an average of about one hundred stallions per year conditioned and cleared through this Depot. This phase of remount and breeding work has placed a task upon this Depot slightly different from the other Depots, and has developed a personnel very skilled in the conditioning and handling of stallions. The stallions placed in Virginia during this period has averaged about thirty The care and handling of stallions by horsemen in Virginia is an old story and little difficulty has been experienced in placing stallions in the hands of competent agents where they would get a full book of mares. In fact, the general trouble has not been in attempting to place stallions where they would get a full book of good mares but to select agents who would not overbreed their stallions. At the present time, it is believed that at least fifty additional stallions could be placed in Virginia with a full book of mares.
My gg grandfather the cavalryman was considered a very tall man at just around 6 feet tall.
My Scottish g grandfather (the branch of the family that missed the War by a year or two) was supposed to have been 6'8" in his sock feet. His nickname was "Big Boy". That height in those days was really almost circus material. My mother barely remembers him - he drove a buggy with two huge black horses and used to give her rides.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.