Spot On The Side
This charming horse is a real talker. She greets visitors with a scream and promptly notifies the ranch ownership if anything is amiss.
Statistics - A Description of Spot
Spot On The Side goes by the barn name "Spot". She is a mare who was born in 1994. And she
is 15-1 hands (or 61 inches) tall at the withers. She was sold to the ranch as a Paint. Since no
registration papers were provided, she is technically a Pinto.
Spots main body color is chestnut, but it looks lighter because it is intermingled with white hairs.
Her mane and tail are flaxen (much lighter than her body color). She has a blaze, long and wide and
the full length of her face. She has a white spot on the left side of her belly; thus her name. She
has a small patch of sparse white hairs on her right side at the girth. And she has four white socks,
but they are only tiny patches of white hair right next to her hooves and very difficult to see.
The Beginning - How We Obtained Spot
In the summer of 1997, we found Spot on an egg farm located in Arkansas. She came at a run when a
large soda bottle was bumped on the tailgate of a pickup truck. Of course, she then took the neck
of the bottle in her mouth, tipped the bottle upside down, and finished off the soda. She was very
immature looking for a three year old.
Spot came home and her training started. She had awful manners. She would walk right over the top
of you. When bridled, she carried her head very high and threw it around. Under saddle, she bucked
and spinned just like a rodeo horse. She fought all instruction and all progress was slow.
We had been using a simple curbed bit when riding her, and one day we decided to try riding her in
a halter. Poof, once we removed all pressure from her mouth, she was a totally different horse. She
was relaxed and responsive to rider seat and leg pressures. So now we ride her, like most of our
horses, in a hackamore.
Horse Tails - Funny Things & Stories About Spot
Spot won our heart on her first long trail ride, the Okie-Arkie ride from Tahlequah OK to Ft Smith
AR, 100 miles in 5 days. There was a trail crossing at the Illinois River, it was a huge drop into
deep water followed by a swim to the shallow shore. Many horses were balking and refusing to go (jump)
into the water, so they were being forcibly pushed or pulled in.
When her turn came, Spot approached the cliff edge, looked down, looked across the river at the
other horses, and, without hesitation, leaped. It was so fast, the rider barely had time to hang
on. She easily made it and we knew she was a horse to keep.
Spot loves water and she could easily be a diving horse (as in the Disney movie Wild Hearts
Can’t Be Broken
). When she walks through water, sometimes she will splash on purpose with her
front leg. And if her rider isn’t paying attention, she will lay down in the water.
Spot does have a highly sensitive nose. The blaze covering most of her nose and mouth is vulnerable
to sunburn. And out on the trail, she does a lot of head bobbing every time a bug or cobweb touches
her nose.
The Present - What We Think About Spot
Spot enjoys the trail and she prefers to move out, she walks very fast and quickly gets impatient
if asked to stand around. She will get very frustrated behind very slow horses and she has out walked
many a gaited horse out on the trail.
Spot is steady on all terrain and very dependable when riding alone, especially in the high country.
She can carry a rider, tent, bed bag, and all the supplies necessary for a one man/horse overnight
trip. She will hobble and stay close to camp.
A few years ago, Spot was care leased to a friend who does a lot of riding alone. That friend taught
her to work with dogs and herd sheep. She also did some cattle sorting and developed a rather
impressive sliding stop. She continues to easily adapt to new challenges.
Spot is happy to be back at the ranch and once again participating in trail rides.
