Dante

Here is a picture of my sister's horse, Dante.  Why do I keep picking such hard horse pictures?  

Dante is a funny horse.  With Cole, you get what you see.  If I turn him out to play, he is very energetic--runs and runs--with lots of bucking and calling out like a stallion.  (He was a stallion when I bought him at the age of 4, which is late for a horse.  I had him gelded before he was shipped to me.)  When you ride him, he is all energy and loves to go fast.  If he is excited, he throws in big, scary bucks.  When I let him really run, he is like a race horse.

Dante, on the other hand, doesn't have the speed that Cole has, by a long shot, but he will gallop and do the most amazing and creative bucks, leaps, twists--like you wouldn't believe.  He is so fun to watch.  He is a horse that enjoys playing.

Yet, when you ride him, he becomes slow and careful.  If he does buck on a canter transition, my sister says it is straight, simple and not very high.  When she lets Dante really run--well, if we are in the lead, Cole can trot faster than Dante will gallop.   Granted, Cole can also trot extremely fast--which is near as exciting as his gallop.

Ellen was just complaining this morning that he wouldn't use his energy when she rode him in the arena this morning...