My one year report to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program:
Magical Minister at Big Bluff on the Buffalo River, 1/6/2012
I adopted Magical Minister in late January 2011. He was at the New Vocations Lexington Facility. Lisa Molloy was very helpful with all parts of the adoption, shipping, questions and advice. Due to the distance, I adopted him sight unseen. I inquired about several horses. Lisa reccomended Magical Minister. I took her advice. She was right! Magical Minister is the horse I needed. Magic has a lot of confidence and no spook. I live on a remote farm in the Arkansas Ozarks. On our rides we have jumped deer, elk and a bobcat. Magic is cool. He just keeps on walking. All except once when I found out he can really move fast. We were in a pasture with cows and passed a big pile of logs. A little calf was in a nook up in the logs scratching himself. We just happened to walk past his only escape route. The calf bolted and the only direction he could go was directly towards us. Magic moved out of the way, quickly. By the time I hit the ground, Magic and the calf were out of the way. Magic waited and did not run off. He is a good horse.
Magic has adapted to life on the farm. He runs in the pasture with two geldings. At first he was timid in the group but has grown comfortable with the “herd” and is now much more assertive. I put him in a stall at night. Daily he gets 6 pounds of whole oats with 8 ounces of Purina Nature Essentials and an ounce of corn oil and 12 hours of good pasture. This winter he is eating 15 pounds of hay daily. He had a puncture and a sole bruise during the first few months. I was somewhat concerned Magic would not be able to adapt to life in the rocky Ozarks but he has been sound and kept his shoes on for the past 4 shoeings, about 8 months. Magic takes care of himself and is not prone to injury.
Magic and I are interested in Dressage. We have a lot to learn. We get to ride about every other day in good weather. We work on exercises in the arena and trail ride on the farm. He did show improved attitude and energy after we went on our first trail ride on the Buffalo National River with lots of other horses. We get to do that about once or twice a month. We went to a “team cattle sorting” practice at the local roundup club. Magic did good and showed interest in the sport. And nobody made fun of my helmet and English saddle! All of our rides and incidents are logged on the blog http://www.horseweblog.com/.
I got a good horse and Magic got a good home. Magic and I send a big THANK YOU to New Vocations. New Vocations is an excellent organization and everybody there does a wonderful job.
P.S. Magic asked me to tell Lisa that he says Hi and that everything is good here in the Ozarks.
