Horse Saga

Anyone in the market for a horse?
My step daughter Rose has been horse-mad since she was 8 or 9, we started sending her to riding school when she was 10. DH had horses when he was a kid and has always wanted to buy her a horse, but I thought she would grow out of it, so I said suggested we wait until she was 13. So the week after the fire [July this year] he went out and bought a 15.3h ex-racehorse! Related to Octagonal no less!

We have learnt several things from this exercise:
1. People trying to sell a horse will blatantly lie about its training
2. Thousands of dollars spent on riding lessons do not an experienced rider make
3. A 50kg teenager is no match for a 15.3h ex-racehorse who thinks that said teenager wants him to run
4. Riding Schools use 20 year old half-lame ponies for a reason
5. No-one wants to buy a horse in the midst of an equine flu epidemic

Poor little Rosie, she thought she knew everything about horses, and specifically asked for a challenging young horse who could jump. Unfortunately Daddy took his little princess at her word and forgot she is just 13 years old and only comes here every 2nd weekend. We took him to the riding school for a couple of lessons, the instructors loved him and under their guidance he was awesome. But Rose has lost all confidence in him and won't even brush him. She says he tries to bite and kick her, but I have never seen this and she is rarely with him alone. So I think she is just making sure we do sell him.

I have had nothing to do with horses before, but I have fallen in love with this gorgeous creature. He has such a sweet nature, he whinnies and bolts across the paddock when he sees me coming, follows me around and rubs his head against me. He loves our 2 goats and if they are lying down in the grass in their paddock, he will lie down too as close to the fence as he can get. I have thought about keeping him and learning to ride myself but I don't think horse-riding and trying to get pregnant go together very well?! I will miss him when he goes....