BEHS 308 – Onyx

Onyx came into Bluebonnet as a youngster who hadn’t been trained. She was adopted by a family whose grandkids rode her. They didn’t teach her a ton – just got on and rode. She spent June-October 2022 with a non-pro to prepare for the Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge. She did not compete but got quite a bit of riding time and is doing well. She leads, loads, stands tied. She stands for the farrier and is learning to stand for fly spray.

Her Challenge partner has ridden her at a walk, trot, and canter in the round pen, arena, and open fields. She’s taught her to navigate obstacles, has taken her on trail rides, and ridden in various arenas. She’s also ridden Onyx carrying a flag and thinks Onyx has potential for drill team riding with some more practice!

Onyx loves to go, so she’s not for a timid rider. But her current rider thinks she would be fine with an intermediate rider or above. Although she’s been ridden by kids in the past, child riders should be working with a trainer and supervised for now, but she has potential to be a nice kids’ horse with additional training.

Her current foster home has been on her twice but says Onyx wants to go go go. She needs a confident rider. On the ground, though, she is great to handle. She leads well, stands well for grooming and tacking up. She moves around when being fly sprayed or bathed, but her foster home says she’s pretty polite: she just needs more exposure.