Jayden has been keeping her horses at a property with a tenant who has other horses, a barn with stalls and runs, a couple large pastures, and an outdoor arena. It has been a perfect set up for her and her horses. She helps them clean stalls or feed on occasion and they let her keep her horse free of charge. The tenants son and daughter lived nearby and had horse there too. It was nice that Jayden had people out there to talk to and ride with. They recently got married and moved. Such a bummer! They had a pregnant mare for sale at a very low price. Jayden inquired about her and they gave her an even better price, under a grand. Jayden knew that was a steal and couldn't pass her up.. She thought it would be a start to her own herd that could grow over the years. The mare was due to foal close to Jayden's wedding date. She ended up arriving around the first of April. On April 19, she brought mare and baby back from the temporary foaling center. She took the mare back twice to have her re-bred, which neither time was successful. Not long after the new foal came along, Jayden went to look at a 2 year old palomino stud. An 80 year old lady that has raised horses for years had several horses on her ranch. She was too old to use the internet for her marketing and sales and still had so many horses to take care of and sell. Jayden couldn't resist the opportunity and brought home, not one, but 4 new horse!! All of this seemed way too much to me! For many reasons, It seemed like more than she would be able to handle. The 2 year old was huge, she also brought home 3 unbroke never haltered yearlings. In addition she has her young filly that has only had 30 days of riding and is very green, her gelding Joker, and Ace. There is also a small burro that has made friends with Joker and joined her herd. Late April she took the palomino to get gelded and from the vet went straight to the trainer. He had him saddled in one day. She worked with the yearlings trying to get them halter broke. The little buckskin was always so calm and would walk right up to Jayden like a pet dog. One she worked and worked with and finally got a halter on. There was another that she could never get very close to. In May when Jake and I went out to TX, I got to meet all the babies. She really has her hands full. Her farrier came out and worked on the little buckskin who stood perfect. The fact that Jayden is now pregnant, the best advice I could give her was sell. She needed to get down in numbers to have 3 horses to take care of instead of her current 9 horses!! No matter how much she wants to do it all, feed them, care for them, train them, and let them grow and resell in the future, a baby will change your life like you can never imagine. If Noah was a big horse guy, it may be different. I also was concerned for her safety with all the unbroke horses. Little by little she realized she took on a little more than she could handle. She started listing horses. She sold one yearling, traded one yearling for a palomino mare that eventually she sold too. Then in June we came up with the idea of sending Joker and the little buckskin, Bucky to Iowa for us to take care of for a season. In September she sold the black mare and took Breezy, her filly to a long term trainer. That's a lot of horses and a whole lot of extra work.
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