How I got Banico.

My aunt Julie and I were looking at horses on Dream Horse while we were up at my grandparents. My first mare was getting older and wasn't the best show horse for me. My trainer had mentioned to my mom that if I wanted to continue showing I would eventually need a new horse. I had been interested in Andalusians and had thought about breeding my mare to a stallion my aunt knew but Lacey was older so it wasn't advised. So we were looking at young Andalusians and Andalusian crosses that I could bring up with my trainers help. We saw a little thumbnail picture of a Paint cross and almost immediately fall in love with him.

We called my mom in to look and she said she knew this was the horse. We contacted the seller and soon were on a flight out to Wisconsin in late February. The breeders were a very small facility and just had two yearling colts, Banico and a purebred Andalusian colt. Banico was the

better of the two.They said he was always the easiest to train and I worked with him on the ground some. He had come in from the pasture the day before with a hurting tooth so the vet came out to look at it. They thought it was a cracked root so he went into surgery after we left to get it repaired and get gelded. It wasn't a cracked root so they had to remove it so he had a gap. He has always been very sensitive about his mouth which I think is because of this injury. We also did some trailer training with him but he banged his hurt tooth on the floor and was reluctant to continue with it but still got in easer that the other colt. I was also able to ride his mom and another of their Andalusian mares. The mom was hot but very fun to ride. We were there two days and had a great time getting to know the family and Banico.

A month later he was on his way to California. He took a week to get here but arrived safely very early in the morning. This is the only picture my mom got of us on the first day:

I spent the entire day with him and washed his legs (they were very green from the trailer ride) and just got to know him. He lived with two other yearlings in one of the pastures for awhile. Here are some picts that my uncle took two weeks after he arrived. This was about a week before his 1st birthday.

He still had his fuzzy Wisconsin winter coat that he has never had anywhere close to since. I guess he just doesn't think it is that cold in So Cal then it was in Wisconsin. He was wearing a arab sized halter he fit into as a yearling. He now is 16.2 hands and you could tell then that he was going to be big. My trainer and I did a lot of ground work with him and I had a lot of fun learning how to train a baby. He learned how to lunge and I ponied him off of Lacey quite a bit even though he was about the same size as her. I was very glad to have a great trainer to help me with him.

Shipping

Banico was suppose to be picked up this coming week some time to be shipped to KY but my shipper had major truck break down and is way behind schedule. He said he could possibly find someone else to ship him but it will still not be until the beginning of September. This is still only a week behind schedule but I would really like him here sooner. Life happens. There wont be much current horse stories because he isn't here with me but I am going to give some history of how I got him and my first horse and some of the other horses in my life.

I started this blog to record the move of me and my horse from Southern California to Kentucky for nursing school. I have been riding horses for about 10 years but loved them for a long time before that. I took lessons from a great trainer for about a year before my aunt gave me my first horse Lacey. Lacey was a Morgan mare who taught me a lot about horses and riding. We did lots of shows and trail rides and had fun. I then in 2004 got my current horse Banico. He is an Andalusian Paint cross and is the horse of my dreams. I have learned so much from him and we have done a lot together. This blog is about him and our adventures together. I will talk more about our history together and some of the other horses in my life.