Arrival--January 12, 2016

Why are we constantly buying horses in January?  The last three. Spirit, then Ellie, now Zamba.
We have been looking on and off the last year for another horse.  Ever since we sold Kachina. We wanted a smooth gaited horse with a sweet willing personality and mellow disposition. Not taller than 15.1 or shorter than 14.3.  Color or breed doesn't matter.  We had centered our search on the following breeds: Fox Trotter, Walking Horse or any of the Mountain Horse Breeds. We looked at horses in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.  At first I limited my search to surrounding states. I also looked seriously in Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico  Didn't want to ship cross country without seeing the horse in person, but was willing to do it for the right horse. I saw this horse first posted on facebook on December 13.  Within 10 days, we had the pre-purchase done and were arranging for shipment!  What happened? We know basically nothing about her background. I was told she was owned by an older couple who didn't ride anymore and she was just sitting in a pasture not being used.  Never could find those owners to find out anymore.  So....she is somewhat of a "mystery."
I felt drawn to her beautiful gaits.  The saddle rack and canter looked so smooth and she even did a nice slow flat footed walk.  I tried to get a feel for her disposition through videos. Felt drawn more and more even though she had a white face and four white socks!  Would rather she didn't, but she is what she is.
She was picked up by transporter Ben Stout in Cynthiana, Kentucky on January 9th, spent the first night in Indianapolis, the 2nd night in sub-zero Iowa, the 3rd night in Big Springs, Nebraska.  Arrived in Ogden around 3 pm on January 12.

Glamour shot in Kentucky. She came with the name "Fancy Pants", but we didn't care for it. Our next door neighbor's horse is "Fancy", so we are still trying to come up with a name. We called her "Kentucky" and "Brave", (neither of those seemed to fit)  "Little Girl", "Pretty Girl" and eventually settled on "Zamba".  

Ridden in Kentucky, November, 2015

Minutes after arrival on January 12

Minutes after arrival on January 12

Minutes after arrival on January 12

She arrived slightly underweight from not eating much and the stress of the cross country trip.  A week later she seems to be gaining back the weight and eating fine.