Peluche is a bay 16.2 fully papered Selle Francais mare. She's a lot of horse, huge strides (compared to the sport pony I've been riding anyway), and a scopey, careful jump.She's 16 so she's the done it all type. At home she's trained up 1m30 but she's competed successfully up to 115. Last year she was only taken out twice but she won both her classes! She's got a heart of gold, really calm, chill both in and out of saddle, she's really responsive to the leg and speedy but isn't strong at all. When I went to ride her she hadn't been ridden in two weeks or jumped in three and she was a complete angel. Our first fence together wasn't great as I wasn't prepared for her big jump and she was dancing around a bit, so I ended up losing a stirrup. Usually that's the part where they bolt off with me, and a mare with her power could have definitely done it. I kept my legs off of her as much as I could and just turned her head in a circle and she came right back to walk. 100% a confidence giver! I'm even tempted to do some cross country with her which always scares me. She's turned out all year long with a pony and she's not dominant at all which is great as she will have the company of our newly acquired New Forest gelding. I am still slightly underweight and definitely am not strong enough for many of the sport mares you see today, but she's just perfect for me, a very easy, generous ride.

Penny is coming home Wednesday late morning/noon. My sister's horse looks like its coming the day before so it should work out really nicely! Can't wait to have her home. Will get some pics up asap!

At the moment they're on a big pasture in the morning and then moved to a smaller one in the afternoon with less grass (I'm paranoid lol). For the first couple of nights they're going to be in a big shared box with a hay net.

They both had a grooming session this afternoon, tomorrow if the weather is nice I'll probably take a book out there!

Some more pics :) Not sure why they insist on being sideways, sorry.

http://i68.tinypic.com/ygd95.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/f4p8q0.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/a3xat.jpg

As for names...I'm not sure what I want to call her. Penny was my first choice but now she's here it doesn't seem to be sticking. I never personally liked the name Bella for a horse but today I've been wanting to call her that lol. For now she's still Peluche. Any name ideas?

For names, you could use Lucy, since it's *sort of* in Peluche? I dunno, just a suggestion :)

Its been a week since she arrived and she's settled in so well! Last night she was following me around for treats which is new. As soon as I get a bridle I can start riding her! So sometime next week. Can't wait!