Alta

Alta, January 2015

The Viking and I have had a love for draft horses for a long time.  The Viking actually learned to ride on a large Belgian mare named Ruth.  Since switching to draft horses, we didn't really think much about getting a Belgian.  We figured we'd stick with Friesian crosses and Percherons, like Virga is.

When Apache became unable to be rideable, the only rideable horse we had at the time was Arcus, who is my horse.  We decided to get another draft horse so we can ride the trails together again without having to have one horse trying to keep up with the other.  I'd been searching and had a good lead on a Georgian Grande in California.

One afternoon I was looking for draft horse tack on Craigslist.  I typed in draft horse breed names to widen my search, and Alta came up.  The description of her was exactly what we were looking for, everything from her size to her age and training level.  I decided to contact the owner with The Viking's permission, and a few days later I went to pick up our new horse.

Alta and Arcus the day Alta arrived.

Alta is 12 years old (2014) and 16.3 hands.  We don't know much about her history.  It's possible she was a PMU mare as it's clear she's had foals in the past.  She is extremely well trained to ride, and took to the bitless bridle with no problem.  She's probably been trained to drive as well, which we will test out.

Alta and The Viking, January 2015.

Alta immediately took to The Viking.  She accepted his love and compassion for her needs as a shy but gentle horse.  She loves getting attention from him and he is able to ride her out alone on the trails in a true partnership.  Alta is a valued member of our herd with her gentle nature and clear bonding to Virga.  She will be used to pony Virga until she's old enough to start riding on her own.  She is also "in charge" of the food--she decides who gets to eat with her and which slow feeder she gets to eat from.  Sometimes the term "large and in charge" is appropriate!

Alta and Virga grooming each other, February 2015

A word about Alta's name...

As talked about on Virga's page, we have switched from Southwestern-type names to cloud names.  Alta's name was Karma, but we already know a horse named Karma.  After searching through cloud names on Wikipedia, we came up with Alta.

"Alta" actually means "tall" in Spanish (feminine form).  In Latin, it means "middle."  As used in describing clouds, clouds with the prefix "alto" exist in the middle part of our atmosphere.  We thought this would be a wonderful name for her as she will be the middle-sized horse of our herd--Arcus is 15.2, Apache is 15.3, and Virga will be over 17 hands.

Altocumulus lenticularis duplicatus, or saucer cloud
photograph by Brady Smith from Wikipedia

Alta enjoying timothy hay, January 2015