Last Saturday we went to a horse auction with one of Calvin's friends and his family. Calvin's been interested in buying a horse for a while now and finally made the decision that he was going to start looking. We took the trailor with us, but weren't absolutely sure that we were going to come home with anything. The auction was about an hour and a half away, so we left around 12:30 p.m. and ate lunch in the car. Once we got to the auction, we found Anthony and then went to look at the horses. Calvin immediately found a paint that he loved, while the girls and I were just content to look around. The girls were so good about petting horses through their pens, which is pretty amazing considering they just recently got over their fear of our cat. Besides selling horses, this auction also had new and used tack. We didn't look much at tack, because we didn't know if we were actually going to be bringing a horse home with us. Calvin bid on a saddle for him, but it went for too much. After four hours of looking around, they finally started the horse auction. Calvin bid on the paint he liked, but it went for too much. The girls and I sat in the bleachers but after an hour and a half they were getting antsy, so we went and found Calvin in the back. As we got back there, I realized that he was bidding on a horse and actually got it. We went back to where the horse was penned up, and Calvin talked with the owners. The horse we got is a six year old mare and is a registered quarter horse. Her name is Roho (which means red in Spanish, although they didn't spell it the Spanish way). She is broke to ride, although Calvin will probably be the only one riding her. On Sunday, we turned her out into the pasture and she just ran around, which made Calvin and I nervous - we didn't want her running through the fence. She finally calmed down and has been doing good ever since. Calvin had the lady who is going to give him riding lessons come out on Monday just to show us some basic care and maintenance for her. I also got to lead Roho Monday and Tuesday. I definitely need more practice, but it wasn't too bad considering I've never led an animal before in my life. The girls love her and want to pet her. Calvin still wants to find another horse for them. Preferably something older and used to kids. His whole goal in getting a horse is to get them used to horses, so that if they want to show them in 4-H when they get older, they can and will already be on the way to doing that. Plus, he just wants to find something that we can all do together as a family. It's also an added bonus that she looks so pretty out in the pasture.
