Tyke

I miss the first horse I ever bought myself. I was 18, super punk rock, and bored with my life. He was two and a half, allegedly broke, and perfect for me.

I spent a whopping $1,000 on him in 2005 (that was a lot of money for an 18 year old working at Starbucks) and ended up re-selling him for more than that to a girl who wanted to be a veterinarian someday. I bought him as a green broke 2 year old from these two girls who were "pleasure trainers" in San Diego, but as I found out, he was very not broke. My friend Gaby ended up showing up at their barn right around the same time as me looking to buy Tyke, so I hurriedly purchased him before Gaby could. She ended up settling for Tyke's half brother JD who was a PSYCHO BS Paint gelding. I wonder what ever happened to JD...

Anyway, Tyke was born a month premature, and was totally stunted (he was 14.0 maybe) and unbalanced, so I threw him in a stall with a run for 6 months, fed him grow colt, and broke him myself in the spring. He gained probably 300lbs, and a whole hand in height, and though his ears were embarrassingly small, he grew into his body.

This is the picture of him that was listed when I went to look at him:

Here I am on him right after I bought him, and right before I put him out to pasture for 6 months. You can clearly see how small he was then (I was 5'9 when I was 18 and did not have incredibly long (or lean for that matter) legs:

God, was he ever fun to ride. He was slow, and after a couple of weeks I got him to give to the bit and bending his body through turns. I wanted him as a reining prospect, but he traveled with a naturally low headset and wasn't anywhere near as fast as I wanted him to be. I've never gotten on another baby that was bred for pleasure like he was, and I totally regret selling him.

When I finally sold him, he was still green, but was moving very nicely for walk/ jog, and was almost finished at the lope. I wonder where he is now and if he's okay. I know he went into training with Sean Martin in Anza, CA and I saw that he was up for sale for $500 a couple of years ago, but have no idea where he may be now. I'd love to get in touch with the person that owns him just to see how he is.

This is what he looked like the month I sold him:

Pretty boy. He was still a little downhill, but not as dramatically so as when I bought him. If you know this horse, I'd love to hear how he is. :)