Meet the newest member of the Frog family

[Frog]

My wife's version of the Harley Davidson or Porsche many old guys get as they want to finally splurge on their dreams.
Had to share because her joy is simply palpable!

[balloonguy]

Beautiful. Enjoy!

[Dottonedan]

wow.  Very nice. Beautiful animal.

[Frog]

Like I said, it's hard to not get a "contact high" from her joy. He is, indeed a beautiful horse, and also an unusual breed here in the states.
He is a Mangalarga Marchador, a gaited horse from Brazil. I have to think that talking about this breed to people otherwise in the know is a bit of a guilty pleasure, much like our Rhodesian Ridgeback was ten or fifteen years ago.

[Sbrem]

A beautiful creature for sure...

Steve

[larryk]

Good for her Frog. And I can tell by your post that you are also happy with this purchase... Just gotta love it when Momma is happy.

[T Shirt Farmer]

Frog you better get to printing a mountain of shirts, the horse is the cheap part, vet, shoeing, feed gets crazy expensive but well worth the smile on your wife's face. My family had a Peruvian Paso a gated horse as well when I was a kid.

[Frog]

Frog you better get to printing a mountain of shirts, the horse is the cheap part, vet, shoeing, feed gets crazy expensive but well worth the smile on your wife's face. My family had a Peruvian Paso a gated horse as well when I was a kid.

Yes, in fact, the older lady who runs the barn we use also had Peruvian Pasos when she still rode. One look at Empiro, and she said that she wished that she still did as they would have looked great together in the arena.
As for the expense, yup, but we were already half way there with Donna "sponsoring" a horse at another local barn, merely not having to pay for the maintenance. Add the cost of weekly lessons from an expert, all the other things you mentioned and yeah, this is what saving most of your life for retirement is all about, you can't take it with you.
(but why am I still working?)
Oh, but about the shoes, she just had then removed. One less expense.

btw, for those wondering about "gaited", it's just a selectively bred hereditary trait that naturally gives a smooth comfortable medium-speed motion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaited_horse_breeds

[numbercruncher]

What a beauty !

[Prince Art]

With close relatives who are long-time "horse people", I know there's a lot of love & joy that comes with these creatures. And a happy wife is always a great thing. Congratulations!

[larryk]

You might have had the shoes removed but that horse will still need them hooves trimmed on a regular basis. The last farrier we had charged us 35 per horse, probably 35 per hoof out there.

[Frog]

You might have had the shoes removed but that horse will still need them hooves trimmed on a regular basis. The last farrier we had charged us 35 per horse, probably 35 per hoof out there.

Wife has already made a fortuitous connection with  a fellow boarder who does that! In fact, she was amazed at the near-instant bonding with all of the folks who use the facility.
Sounds a lot like this place 

[larryk]

Horse people do tend to be more like country folk and are always willing to step up and help where needed. Just like this board here for sure... except for the occaisional horses a$$. ..... but that is what keeps it interesting.