Description:
Rex’s Pride & Joy is an 8-year-old registered Missouri Fox Trotter. I bought her because of her excellent conformation and color Genetics. She carries a double diluted cream gene, meaning that bred to a sorrel stud, she will always throw a palomino foal, or bred to a bay with a homozygous Agouti gene, she will only throw buckskin foal. When I bought her, I had a sorrel stallion, but now I have a palomino stallion, and that would be too much of a cream genetic in that cross, so I have decided to sell her.
Her father was a World Grand Champion Model stallion, and that is where she inherited her wonderful conformation. She is very stocky, built for a gaited horse, and has large hooves, thick muscles, and straight legs. It is because of her build that we gave her the barn name, “Buffy.” So in the videos and from now on, she will be referred to as Buffy.
Buffy has only had one foal, a filly I named Fiona. The filly is a palomino, as the science said she would be. Fiona is gentle-natured and gaited as well as her mother. Buffy was the best first-time mother I have ever had. The night she had Fiona, I had done an evening check and didn’t notice any sign of labor, so I did not check on her that night again, but she had a foal in the morning! The foal was completely cleaned off, Standing and running around playing, and had obviously been nursing as its digestive system was active and appeared full. Buffy also was extremely gentle with people around her foal. Buffy showed no wear and tear and even ran and played that same day. She is an extremely attentive mother and took great amazing care of her foal. So I would highly recommend her as a broodmare.
When I bought her, the man I got her from said he had 60 days of professional riding on her. After I bred her, I decided to ride her a while. Not knowing if the riding actually took place, I took my time and trained her as if she had never been ridden. She never bucked or acted up in any way. It was apparent that she had been ridden the 60 days as stated. She even had a little bit of neck reign control. I rode her several times a week for the first 3 months of her pregnancy, and she became pretty reliable on trail rides. Then I rode her less frequently until she had the foal.
She had Fiona in October of 2020. I exposed her to a stud once on her foal heat, but in Missouri, in late October or November, many mares go out of season for the winter, and she did not breed back. On March 4th, I weaned her baby and noticed she was in heat, so I knew she was open and decided to sell her as I no longer have a stud that would be desirable to breed her with. I have ridden her many time per week since, with a specific intention of making her as safe and finished as a trail horse as possible in that time. I can ride her anywhere without incident. I do not have to be on guard or expect bad reactions. She is pretty trustworthy but not completely finished.
I ride with my kids a lot, and I will send them ahead and stay behind with buffy standing still. She gets agitated and nervous being left behind, but I can get her to wait and walk off. An insecure rider may get nervous in this situation. Buffy also will look and shy away from some things on a trail but never refuses obstacles if I talk to her calmly. She is very gentle on the ground and calms 90% of the time on rides. When she does get nervous, she does not buck or bolt but has slowly reared a time or two. From the time I am writing this to the time the sale will end, she will have another 30 days of riding on her and will probably be closer to a finished product, but I want to be open and honest with everyone interested. I hope disclosing this does not make people think she is an outlaw because she is not; in fact, I think she has the potential to make a family safe horse in the near future. I even let my 13-year-old ride her on regular trail rides. Anyone interested can come and go on a trail ride, and I guarantee she will behave fine. To get her to do anything wrong, I have to orchestrate a situation that would make a horse nervous on purpose. I do this every time I ride her in order to have opportunities to get her past that. For example, in the video, I have never ridden her across a tarp-like that before, so I set that up so people could see what she is like in real life. I could have practiced 3 times first, and she would have looked like a finished horse. If you could handle that, the way I did, by letting her look and guiding her across, then you can handle Buffy.
Buffy’s gait is outstanding! She is very smooth, and I enjoy riding her a lot. She is fancy going as well, which is an added bonus in a trail horse. She is in shape now and ready, as is, for trail riding by any person who has ridden horses before. She is far enough along that I do not have to warm her up or do the groundwork before I get on her. She can stand in a stall for days on full grain, and I can get on and ride her off without her acting up. She can flatfoot walk, Run walk, and foxtrot, but you have to know what you are doing to get the foxtrot. The Run walk is more natural; pay extra attention to the front end reach in the gravel road video and the pics with the foal. Full disclosure she did pace when I started her, but as you can see in the videos, I have her gaits set, and there is no pace left. She does a combination of neck reigned and plowed reigning. Depending on the situation, she will completely neck reign, like on trails in the woods. Her beautiful neck and headset are natural, as well as her high tail carriage. She is not gingered in the videos; she is that pretty all the time.
We have bed and breakfast available on my parent’s farm that is connected to ours, so if you are from out of state, you are welcome to come ride before you buy and have a mini-vacation. I can also provide other mounts in case you bring a friend. https://www.facebook.com/ValleySpringsRanchMO/
