Horses have become a real - everyday part of the family. First there was Arizona, then Blue and Banjo. Now, just 5 months from the debut of Arizona - Max joined us on 18 February 2002.
First pictures were taken on 24 February. Sue forgot to take the camera with her when she went to see him so it took a few days until the rest of us got to see this wonderful guy.
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BREED: 3/4 Quarterhorse, 1/4 Thoroughbred
FOALED: (spring 1988)
JOINED THE FAMILY: 18 February 2002
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Actually, the description above is accurate ONLY when someone (human) is around. When he's out in the field, on his own, this gentle powerhouse becomes more like a colt than a 14-year old. He runs like the wind, throwing himself all over the place. He loves to show off, prances like a show horse! And, when there are girls (horses) around - well...
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Max's pages are based on photo galleries. He's our "everything" horse - we've found through the years that there's positively nothing he can't do, at least, nothing that we've found out about. There aren't a whole lot of pictures of him, we're usually too busy having fun with him to bother with a camera. That's one reason you'll notice a rather large gap in dates in his photo galleries - it isn't that he's ignored, we're too busy having fun with him.
If ever there was a horse who should have been a therapist, it's Max. He's our rock - patriarch of the (equine) family, "father" to Cherokee, "mate" to Arizona - and now Sweetpea, teacher and source of discipline for everybody. When we had to move the guys/gal from their old home to Dovel Hollow, it was Max who provided the stability for the others. We were worried most about Cherokee - he'd only been in a trailer a couple times when he was very young and we didn't think it was going to be very easy with him. We lead Max in, Cherokee simply followed him up the ramp and stood next to him. Easiest horse-loading in history.
Most of all, Max is OUR teacher too.
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For my part, I'd only ridden a horse for a very short time in 1969, in San Angelo Texas. Max is so understanding, he's always patiently worked through all my mistakes and taught me to ride again. It's a joy I can hardly express in words.
I'll always remember the first time we came in contact with cows while riding him. He hates cows, but he knows how to move them out of the way. From his mannerisms, we've always assumed he has a background in team penning.
And then there was the barrels - this guy knows barrels. We set a few up on afternoon, several years ago, just to see if we could teach him to go around them. Yeah, sure - we're going to teach Max something. Dale started him off, and it was a case of "hang on TIGHT"!! Max took off like he'd been fired out of a cannon, turned all 3 barrels so tight that Dale bumped his knee on all 3 of them, and came flying back to the starting point.
There was nothing to teach him with barrels.
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Late in 2008, our boy brought us into a whole new world - "driving".
Holly, due to her injuries with another horse, is barely able to balance herself while riding. Sue and I are getting old enough that we have trouble mounting horses at all anymore (knee problems), and we had the idea that we might see if we could teach the guys to drive. Of course, as always, Max is the horse we learn with. Dale borrowed an old (very old) work harness from his family and we hooked it up - using a fair amount of rope to fill in the places where the leather was too old/weak/broken to use.
"Gallery 3" and probably beyond, tells that story. And of course, Max knows all about it.
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| MAX'S GALLERIES |
| Gallery #1 February 24 2002 |
Gallery #2 March 9 2002 |
Gallery #3 January 2009 |
| Gallery #4 {blank for now} |
Gallery #5 {blank for now} |
Gallery #6 {blank for now} |