7 Perks of Being a Horse Shopping Wingman

A friend of mine is on the market for a horse. You might know her–Amy from @HuntSeatPaperCo. She’s a little OTTB-obsessed and has a thing for tall bays. I get her. I heard she was going to look at a few horses on Sunday and so I kind of invited myself on her adventure, and she was game for company. I knew that horse shopping is stressful, but I learned being a horse shopping wingman is delightful. Here are the 7 perks of being a horse shopping wingman. Or should I say wingwoman.

If you are unfamiliar with the term wingman, Wikipedia it. It’s a little too complicated to get into here.

Amy from @huntseatpaperco lovin’ on all the CARMA ponies.

1. Petting all the horses.

A dog lover’s dream come true is sitting on the ground with puppies scrambling all around, tails wagging, skunk breath wafting and little tongues giving kisses. The horse girl version of this picture is standing at a fence with multiple pretty horses striding over to you to nuzzling you and breathing heavy greetings on your face and hands. Amy and I got to experience just that.

2. Meeting other horse people.

In the course of horse shopping you have to head out into the unknown and introduce yourself to other horse folks with horses for sale. One of the sellers actually knew my OTTB Knight and had seen him race during his career! Small world!

She said he was a bit cantankerous like his famous sire Tiznow. When I told her what a pleasant, sweet horse he is she said, “Just shows you what gelding a horse and some years will do.” It was fun making that connection.

3. A chance to see “what’s out there” in the event I could get a second horse.

This is not happening, but it’s like the horse girl version of window shopping. I already have enough shoes in my closet, but a second horse. . .

4. Getting to know your friend better by spending hours in the car driving.

So I knew Amy was up on all things graphic design, paper products, OTTB and punk rock. I had no idea she was well versed also on the history of the San Gabriel Valley, Arcadia specifically. I mentioned to her that I thought it was wild a house right next door to my school is being sold for $3.7 million and she was able to trace the rise of property values in the area. She also has a pretty spot on sense of direction. Amy said once she’s been to place she usually is pretty good at knowing how to get around. Two words for that: mad skillz.

5. Lunch topic: horse debriefing. 

We pulled up to a diner in Victorville and feasted on chicken burgers and fries while talking the pros and cons of each horse. What is a better topic for discussion? We both have human significant others, so we’re no longer at the life stage where you giggle and gush and compare and contrast eligible bachelors. Giggle and gush we did–about the various horses we had just met.

“That first one was really sweet. A little skinny, but sweet.”

“I really liked the second one’s personality. And you could tell he was athletic.”

“He will be great once he has his own person to love and care for him.”

The donkey charmed me and I had to pet those gorgeous ears.

6. Visiting with cute non-horse members of the animal world.

I wanted to connect with some sheep I saw hanging out at Barn Number One. They were not having it. But the donkey at Barn Number Two was super friendly. And my heart leaped when out from the second house a red Doberman trotted. I leaned down to fawn all over him, sharing, “My first dog was a red Doberman and she was the best dog.” I won him over and throughout our horse meet and greet he would keep checking in with me, pressing his pointy Dobie snout into my thigh and then leaning into me. He knew I loved him and I am pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

7. A front row seat to the magic of falling in love with a horse.

It’s too early to say what will happen and if any of these horses were “The One,” but I thought it was very sweet that the first horse Amy and I saw came back over to her several hours later when we went into his pasture after returning from our trip to the second barn. This lanky brown boy seriously bailed on his flake of hay (pun intended) and walked a few yards over to Amy as if to say, “I’m glad you’re back. I really like you too.”

I can’t speak for Amy, but my heart melted. And I heard she has a second date lined up with Bachelor–I mean Gelding Number One for later this week. I hope she gives him the rose.

Your Turn (leave a comment, you know you want to): Would you rather be in the role of horse shopper or horse shopping wingman? Have you ever been a horse shopping wingman?

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