Voodoo is home

We went to pick up Voodoo at the trainer today. He has been there since mid-April. When we dropped him off, he was scared and crazy looking in that his winter hair was only starting to come out. While I have talked to Bobby, his trainer, a few times, I have not seen him since. What a change he has made since then--he is so fit, and shiny and happy. It did my heart good.
Voodoo's mama is Foxy, and this is the first foal of hers that we have had long enough to get trained. She is super cowy, and broke to death, so I was excited to see what she put into her baby. I am in contact with the owner of her oldest foal--Foxy is actually a grandma which freaks me out--and he is a handy bugger. He has never been put to the cows though, so I did not know what to expect of this one when he got the chance.
I am absolutely thrilled with how well Voodoo is doing. He is perfectly happy, willing in every way, and according to Bobby, he has all the potential in the world. He said he was the best I had ever brought him.
The thing that jumped out at me the strongest was how content Voodoo is. He clearly likes Bobby, he wanted to be with him, and you could tell it. That is a huge endorsement in my book. That Bobby has him riding so quietly is so satisfying, when it is obvious how happy Voodoo is to do it.
He has tracked some cows on him, and he is very interested. That is a good start, and all I want out of him at this stage.
He has mostly been ridden out in the world, as opposed to the indoor or the round pen, which is what I like to see. So far, there has not been anything that he would not do. He has not bucked, or freaked out in any way.
Good, that is how I like it.
The only weak spot he has is that he lacks some self-confidence, but once he learns something and accomplishes it, he sticks with it. That seems to be a common situation with the Slybabies---easy going, but a little timid at first. More experience seems to cure it pretty quickly, at least it has with all of the other ones so far.
Things look easy for Voodoo too--he is pretty athletic, so maneuvers look easy for him. That makes everything prettier.
He is such a cute boy, I am thrilled with his progress. I hope to take him for a spin the first nite we do not have rain after work. I better enjoy him while I can, as he is for sale. I will take $2500 for him...so spread the word to anyone looking for a horse to go on with.
When we got home, we stripped him off and got a new profile shot of him. Looking at it here, he reminds me so much of Sly.
Hopefully, I have earned some good will with Bobby, as I left him Hammer to work on next. I honestly do not know what to expect out of this one. All of his siblings have the same defensiveness about them, but this is the first one that sired by Sly that has made it to the trainer on my watch. I really think that this particular trainer is the right one to work with him though, in that he seems to really understand how to get through to each particular horse. He does not force the horse to do things his way, but instead learns what the horse needs to succeed. I am almost always wrong in my predictions about which horses will be easy to start and which ones will be difficult, so I am not going to say much more about Hammer until I see how things are going over there. I don't want to jinx it, but I am crossing my fingers that he does well, as I really like him.