Meet our Horses: Brumby

Name: Brumby

Birth Year: 2003 (10 years old)

Color: Dapple Buckskin

Breed: Appendix Quarter Horse

Height: 14 hands, 2 inches

Brumby is the little buckskin mare that graces our trail rides and lessons with her sweet demeanor. Always honest and pleasantly sassy, Brumby is one of those horses that is simple and sweet, but at the same time, interesting and fun.

Brumby was bred by and born to a local horse family. Her sire is a registered Quarter Horse stallion, and her dam is a Thoroughbred mare. In theory, Brumby can be registered with the American Quarter Horse Association as an Appendix Quarter Horse; however she has been separated from any of the paperwork needed to be registered.

She had been passed around a bit, always returning for various reasons to her original owner who just didn't have the space or need for her. When she came to us in 2012, she had been to a number of homes in the past couple of years and really didn't have a good concept of a "home base.”

We renamed her to Brumby when she arrived after the wild horses in the Outback (basically, the Australian version of the mustang). This name was fitting for a horse with no home that was wary of new people and horses. The concept of a “home base” is incredibly important for horses, both in their interactions with horses as well as humans. Brumby hadn’t lived in a single herd at a single home consistently enough and for long enough to really understand herd dynamics and relationship negotiations. As a result, at first she was incredibly defensive and unsociable with the other horses, who immediately dropped her to the bottom of the social strata of our large herd. Similar to a new kid in a high school, her unease with the other horses and distrust of all the horses that now outranked her made it a rough transition. 

As the year progressed, she slowly found her niche, particularly with our large baby percheron gelding, Gringo. Gringo is one of our upper-middle ranked  horses in the herd. He’s a young goof with little experience, but his big size sometimes turns him into a bully unknowingly. He’s a nice guy, but let’s be honest: he’s pretty intimidating! The match between Brumby and him was surprising, but we couldn’t have asked for a better and more socially persuasive bodyguard for the little mare. He was big and tough enough not to be offended by her when she is lashing out from lack of confidence, and also able to keep the other horses at bay.

Gringo and Brumby have a very close friendship, however they definitely aren’t “dating.” There’s no clingy obsessiveness between the two of them. However, their friendship is stronger than a romance would be anyhow. While they come and go within different groups in the herd, they always find peace with one another and are often found sharing the same bale of hay, or entering the barn together when they come inside.

Unfortunately, because Brumby went from competing for her hay to having her hay supervised by Gringo, she became incredibly plump last fall. Her hay belly was so chubby, that even the vets thought that perhaps she might be pregnant. We were all but prepared for a new baby. After an ultrasound, it was concluded that she was in fact not pregnant and that a lot of the behaviors we saw as being “hormonal” were actually just our projections and not reality.

At this point, Brumby is a key asset in our barn. This little tank of a horse is the right mix of obedience, intelligence, and “go with the flow,” but with just enough opinions and spunk to keep riders of all levels interested. She likes to bring up the rear of the trail rides with Gringo, taking her time and watching all of the silliness ahead of her but keeping a distance. She’s becoming a favorite in lessons as well for both adult and youth students. Every day she seems to learn more about herself, her riders, and moreover her potential.