grceek, that is Mr. FH horse 'Flinch'. We bought him when he was four and

he was a bit touchy to even get in the stall with, hence his name.

When we bought him his mane was long, thick, and ropey and it went between his ears and

clear down to the end of his nose. He truly looked like a bronc. :shock:

 We got him from our

neighbor who didn't think we would really want him but

 he let us try him for a couple of weeks. We rode up and got him

and led him home, and all the way home I tried to get Mr. FH to take him

back. (I didn't convince him.) Anyway, Mr. FH started working with him and riding him and

after about 10 days-2 weeks he came to the house and he

said, "I think I got myself a horse." Then he proceeded to tell me that after being 'flinchy' all this time, he

was leading him across the barn and the horse tried to take one of the

gloves out of his hip pocket. From then on, he was Mr. FH's horse.

 He matured to 16-1 hands (measured, not guessed) and he weighed

1435 almost all his life. He was an athletic bugger and smooth as glass to ride.

 He wasn't a wide horse, just long muscled and tall.  Anyone

that rode him said he was a 'cadillac ride.' He never got totally over being

spooky, but when he was on a hunt for a cow, that all went away. He was

so cowy and a wonderful horse for us. Mr. FH team roped on him and won

several buckles and he used him in the Rancher class at some of the

Cow Horse local shows. Except for roping, he rode him in a snaffle bit most of the time.

He was really broke and had a lot of bend in the middle. He always used

his back end, never slammed you on his front-end. Never.

Flinch never needed a tie-down in or out of the arena and he never, ever

got his nose in the air. I don't know why, he just had a wonderful head

set. The way he carried himself, and as athletic as he was,

he was a very attractive horse along with

being a good partner. In this picture he was 30 years old. We had two

really good horses at the same time, the other horse is on the other side

of Flinch. We had to have Flinch's buddy put down

 because his heart was failing and that was tough.

With Flinch, he was in the corral and we fed him that morning,

 left to go to Miles City and when we got home,

 he was laying dead in the corrral. That was actually easier

than making the call to have the vet come do it at some point.

 So you are right, gcreek, he was a good old

campaigner. He was always 'all horse' and tended to be spooky, but he

never, ever got hot. He was a thinker and the tighter spot you got in with

him, the better he was. We were so fortunate to have him for those

26 years.