​PRICE: $2500
​DOB: 
AGE: 11
GENDER: mare
COLOR: Chestnut
PRESENT REGISTRIES: Half Rocky Mountain Horse, half POA
TRAINING LEVEL: Fully trained, life-long riding horse
EXPERIENCE: Extensive trail experience
GAIT: Not gaited. 
TEMPERAMENT: Loving and willing and loves to go.
​PERSONALITY: Curious and interested in people.
HIS STORY: We sold Nova's mother before Nova was born to a friend of ours, thus allowing us to know Nova most of her life. She was raised by our friend and then sold at 4 years of age to a 12-year-old girl who needed a primary riding horse. They did omoxies together, competed at the local equestrian park and rode the trails. Two years after her girl went away to college, the girl's parents decided it was time to sell her horse. We jumped at the chance to buy her but have found that, due to some issues with how she interacts with other horses, she does not fit well into our existing herd. We don't have the energy right now to work her through those issues, and need to find her a home with someone who does.

Her Issues - What makes this horse a "Project Horse?"

1. Other Horses - We think that she was kept mostly without other horses and never learned to be comfortable with normal herd dynamics. She chooses one mare-friend in the herd and bonds hard to them. She will go anywhere and do anything with that horse - when that horse is the only one on the ride, you can put anyone on her and trust her. But if you bring another horse (or at least another mare) alone, she becomes jealous of the other horse getting too close to her best buddy and she becomes aggressive about defending her claim. She has been known to kick or bite out at other horses who get too close to her or her buddy. This can cause dangerous situations on the trail. 
   
   We primarily put beginner and young riders on Nova and think that she could more easily be cured of these issues if she had a strong leader that she could rely on and knew well. However, we don't have the energy to work her through this and have decided to try to find her a home that can.
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2. Tying to hitching posts - When we bought Nova we were told that when she was learning to tie, she pulled back and a hitching post came out of the ground and flew at her. This left and impression and we were told she couldn't be tied to a hitching post (though she does fine on cross ties or tied in the barn). We began the process of teaching her to ground tie and have had some success with that, though we have not finished that training. However, I did notice lately that I have tied her to our hitching posts a number of times without remembering not to and she did just fine. So there is a chance she can be gotten past this issue and just needed to be more comfortable in her surroundings before tackling it.
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