What new horse??

Since I'll be a little low on new Sid updates for a while I figure I can show some embarrassing baby pictures! He was not an attractive young horse to say the least, but I just really, really liked something about him. Below are some pics from the trip to the breeder's, where I looked at about a zillion horses. He is 2:

Not the best picture, but still, growthy much? Here he is only 15.2/.3 giving me 

little indication of the absolute giant he would become.

He was very reserved, but I got the feeling that once he found "his" person he would end up giving 110% in the show ring. 

Baby Sid

Cute face, nice trot, good personality, great feet....but I really did not want a 2 year old, so I dragged my feet for several months. Finally I decided to at least vet him, figuring with my luck he wouldn't pass anyway; I'd vetted 5 babies (younger than 5) before him, and none of them vetted even remotely clean! I was shocked, I thought I was supposed to be avoiding lameness issues by going with a young horse. Anyway, after a clean vet I figured it was meant to be and I snatched him up.

I left him out to pasture at the breeders until the end of February in his third year as he was very awkward and southern California is seriously lacking in turnout for young horses. But when he came home he looked like this:

PJs, parka, beanie hat, bedhead and muck boots. Sexy.

The skinny, awkward, u-necked horse that showed up in the middle of the night was already my baby, but I knew that not everyone would look at him with the same eyes I was. Especially when he was supposed to be replacing the handsomest horse ever, my darling Maximus:

That neck!!! On a OTTB no less (showing at Del Mar 

where he was literally the only TB entered)

So yes...for the first year Sid was more or less hidden while he learned to tie, lead, mind his manners and eventually w/t/c under saddle. For several months the (half joking) answer to the question "How's the new horse?" from friends and acquaintances was...."What new horse???". By the time Sid had his "coming out" when he moved to a real training stable he was shinier, fitter, slightly more well behaved...and every bit as awkward!