Man, I just gotta share this one with you!

You may not know this guy, Moose. He’s my little gray stallion. He was born in May 2016. His mama is a smallish gray mare, so when he came out, inky black with a full luxuriant tail, he looked enormous by comparison.

So we named him Moose.

Over the past four years he’s developed into an iron gray medium sized horse with a lot of personality.

I got his mom from a lady who had bred her to her own stallion, a son of an imported black horse named Rumbero, the rumba dancer. The offspring, who was called Jet, turned out to be a genius, and was kind and easy-going to boot.

So I bred the mare to Rumbero himself, to produce Moose. 

Moose started under saddle as a three year old. He was full of himself, but also a quick and willing learner.

In no time I was riding him outside the arena, and he had a “handle“ like a much older horse. His stop was like a reiner, even from the very beginning.

His turnaround, likewise, was balanced and light. Now he’s going to be a five year old, so yesterday I rode him into a pen of heifers, with myself in the saddle, and thought I’d see how he’d react.

From the very first moment he showed curiosity about the heifers, and he followed them out of their pen into the small square pen where we work.

As we moved the group of young cattle around, one black heifer who was a little bit larger than the rest caught my eye. She must’ve caught his too, because, as I concentrated on her, he began to watch her movement. He didn’t ignore the other six, in fact he almost went for them, lowering his head as if to bite their tails. But, as the bigger black one began to sort away from the others he began to match her movement.

If she stopped he stopped.

When she turned to go the other direction, I backed him up a couple steps, then he launched off to catch up to her.

Finally he made four really good quick turns on her, so I pinched his withers and backed him away from the cow. As I rubbed his neck I thought, “Good, we quit while you were enjoying it!”

Moose showed willingness to work a cow, right from the first. I was thrilled.

Moose, whose registered name is Musico, the musician, is a Lusitano. His ancestors were bullfighting horses in Portugal, mostly of the prized Veiga family bloodlines. They are known for their incredible cow sense.

Boy! Am I looking forward to the next few years with Moose!