I wonder how many blog posts I’ve started off with “what had happened was…”?

Here’s the thing. I was not looking to add another horse to the mix at the moment. I was focused on finding the best next person for Rubes, then my plan was to spend a few months saving up to buy an OTTB that had already been restarted at least enough to where I could see it jump and get an idea for what it was like to ride. I swear I had good intentions.

And then I got tagged in a post about an soon to be available OTTB because he looked a whole lot like Presto.

Still though, I felt like I was safe. Like… obviously YES he was cute and all that but ya know… not on the agenda.

And then the horse arrived to the reseller’s farm the next day and she posted more pics of him, as well as video.

It was one of the best-moving OTTB’s I’ve seen in a while. There was also more information: he was a tall, long, rangey boy with a good temperament and his name was Bingo. So let me get this straight… not only does he look like Presto in the face, have the same type and almost the same height as Presto, but he’s also got a name that means something pretty similar?

Presto: a phrase announcing the successful completion of a trick.

Bingo: used to express satisfaction or surprise at a sudden positive event or outcome.

I mean COME ON. Not subtle AT ALL, universe.

I did what any insane person would do and started asking the seller questions. All of her answers pointed to this horse being really my type. I was feeling more and more in danger by the minute. So then I was like “I know exactly how to cure this hankering” and I sent his video to my vet. Not only does she have an eagle eye for any tiny thing, she’s also an eventer married to a racehorse trainer who is heavily involved in both industries. I can count on one finger the number of OTTB’s I’ve sent her that she’s actually liked. Surely she could nip this situation in the bud for me.

And then, wouldn’t you know it, that absolute TRAITOR said she liked him. Particularly his gaits and how balanced he looked at both the trot and canter.

Well shit.

So I was like “Aha! I know who else is hard to please! I’ll send him to Trainer, she won’t like him!”

Well folks, we have another traitor in our midst because she LOVED him. Like really loved him. Said buy that one. She liked his type, his gaits, and especially his pedigree.

Honestly this is the point at which I was like “well, none of this is even my fault anymore”.

In one last attempt to give the universe a chance to stop me from doing something stupid, I decided to schedule a PPE. Nothing extensive, mostly just a heart and lungs sound good, has four legs that are currently functioning properly, no alarming lumps or bumps, etc type of thing. The vet asked if I wanted any xrays and I said that as long as his heart, lungs, legs, jogs, etc were good, I was ok with that, but if any of those things were remotely questionable such that we felt more diagnostics were warranted, I was not interested in going further. I gave the situation clear black and white guidelines, and surrendered any hopes I had to the horse gods. If it was meant to be it would be, and if it wasn’t meant to be, it wouldn’t be. Simple as that. I was very neutral.

So naturally his PPE went great. Heart and lungs were normal both at rest and after exercise, he jogged well on hard and soft and on a circle, etc. The vet said he seemed to have a good temperament and was an agreeable, willing type, just needed some weight.

Welp. Shit.

Anyway, that’s how I found myself in possession of one (1) Bingo.

The way the coordination of everything went down still has me feeling mega sus. I can’t decide if it was the universe giving me it’s blessing or if it’s trying to lull me into a false sense of security so it can screw me extra bad later. But this is how it went down:

I sent the money for Bingo at like 6am on a Friday. I then asked the seller if she had haulers she recommends, since she does a lot of resales. She sent me a list of names and numbers, noting that a guy named Dan would be the first pick and he does fairly regular trips to Ocala. It was still so early that I didn’t want to start calling any of them yet, so I did the usual song and dance of going to all the major shipper’s websites to submit for a quote, then put a post up in Haul My Horse.

Less than 5mins later I get a PM response to my Haul My Horse post. Who was it from? Dan. THE Dan that had been recommended. When was his next Ohio to Ocala route? The following Monday. How much did he quote me? $1.25 a mile, which was less than I had hoped to find. Ummm… sold, sir. Say less, king. I told him where the horse was coming from and he was like oh perfect, I’ll just reach out to her and coordinate pickup. Please, by all means, rock on with your bad self. If y’all want to do all the planning for me, I’m totally okay with that.

I texted the vet that did the PPE to give her the date and hauler name for the health cert, and within 30mins I had both the health cert and my bill for everything. Which was INSANELY cheap… like 1/3 of what any of that would have cost me here in Ocala. So before 9am I had a horse purchased, a hauler set up, and all his paperwork done. Nothing with horses is ever that easy.

Bingo got on a trailer Monday afternoon and arrived here in Ocala on Tuesday night.

Naturally he arrived on the coldest night we’ve had in forever. It was 29 degrees. Gross. He marched out of the trailer like a champ though, calm as a cucumber, and happily went into his double wide stall for the night. Not a single neigh, no concerns, just a few curious laps around his stall to check everything out before chugging a bucket of water (good boy) and then nomming down on his alfalfa. It was probably the least dramatic arrival of a horse that we’ve ever had here. I tossed a blanket on him to tuck him in for the night and then went to bed.

The plan for the next morning was to turn him out, but the frost was so heavy I decided to wait until the sun was all the way up and melted it a bit. Because of course he was going to run around (right?) and I didn’t want him to slip. A lot of the time we’ll give a slight bit of tranq to the OTTB’s for their first turnout, just to make sure they don’t do anything too silly, but I decided to get him out and graze him for a minute to see what kind of vibe I got from him.

His vibe? Chill AF. So I just… chucked him out. And ya know what he did? Absolutely nothing. He ambled around at a walk, checking out his new space, went and got some water, and then started grazing. Even when the giant sandhill cranes, which always tend to startle horses that haven’t seen them before, started bellowing and flapping around next to his turnout, he just just went “oh, cool dinosaurs” and kept snacking.

He might look like Presto, but their vibes couldn’t really be more opposite. Presto oozes chaos and fuckery from his every pore, and Bingo is really into naps and snacks and chillin’. So far he’s been an utter delight and hasn’t put a foot wrong.

He got a day in the smaller turnout up top, and since he was so quiet I moved him over to the bigger turnout on Thursday. Which is where I finally saw a glimpse of his movement with my own eyes. He trotted about half of the perimeter, cantered a few strides, bucked once, and that was it. Wow, Bingy. Calm down. He IS a very good mover though, like wowza I think this horse is gonna be a stunner once he’s filled out and getting some sporthorse muscling.

The past week has been all about getting to know Bingo. He keeps his personality pretty under wraps and seems a little dull at first, but some of his playfulness and silliness is starting to come to the surface with encouragement. He even had fun playing with Presto’s ball.

I def think his tummy is bothering him, so ulcer treatment is underway, and he’s clicky-clacking like a mofo so I’m waiting to see when my farrier can fit him into his schedule.

In the meantime, I hopped on him for a quick assessment on Saturday, just to kinda get an idea of what hes like and what he knows. He basically feels like a much less supple version of Presto at the moment, but def has more forward to him under saddle than he does on the ground (a good thing for me, I don’t like kicking). That ride gave me a good idea of where to start with the groundwork, so we’ll be focusing on some of those things for a little while as we get his tummy feeling better and his shoes sorted.

Overall though, Bingo has been a real delight so far. I quite like him, and I think he’s got a lot of quality. Hopefully he thinks being an event horse is more interesting than racing!