Bank on This

Banker, purchased 18 June 2004, is a bay 1999 Appendix QH. He's 15.something, has an extremely thick mane, and is generally laid back, extremely sweet, and friendly. These pictures were taken 19 June by a friend with a digital camera; I got home from picked buying Banker at 0030, we picked him up at 0600 that morning, I went home and collapsed for about 8 hours, then went back to the barn to take him out for a graze and a bit of a wander. When we arrived at the farm, his stall wasn't quite ready so he went out into a paddock to stretch. He had been quiet in the trailer on the ride to his new home, and he was similarly quiet going out into the paddock: he was more interested in grazing than anything else! I put the final touch on the stall (food in his bucket), fetched Banker, and brought him inside. He saw his breakfast and was ecstatic. When lunchtime came around, he was initially confused but picked up the concept very quickly. When dinner came around, I believe he decided he'd died and gone to heaven; fortunately for him, I've been informed that if I don't want to keep him, at least two people at the barn will gladly take him off my hands. *chuckle*

	The best place to take pictures of a horse is outside; it has the best light, means the flash won't be such a contrast, and gives the horse something to do. Specifically, graze and ignore you. Flashing lights? Whatever, just don't ask him to stop grazing.
His blaze extends outward to just above both eyeballs and is roughly symmetrical, except where it streams drunkenly off over his left nostril.
	The halter that he's wearing is a reject that we found at the sale barn; someone had (inappropriately) removed both his halter and his line. It's possible that someone didn't like the halter their horse was wearing so decided to take his, but that's against sales barn rules. (General rule is that a horse comes with a halter and lead line.) Therefore, this halter is a piece of crap that someone discarded.
Banker isn't particularly vain, though, so he really didn't care that his halter's falling apart and the breakaway strap (the part behind his ears) is practically dessicated. He now has a new strap (one was saved from the trash), so this halter will do for turnout. He still needs a good halter, though.
	His mane is extremely thick; my comment was "He has Moose mane!" Moose is a rather large 3 year old gelding at the barn who, if you see just his left side, has a lovely mane. When you see his right side, however, you realize that he has two manes and an extremely thick forelock. It's part of his charm, though.
The gratuitous butt shot. That's my elbow you see in the top left corner. I don't intend to link this one to the full size image, no matter how funny it is.
	I'm not sure what she was doing, but Erika thinks he's cute. She displays amazingly good taste sometimes, don't you think? :)
I found the perspective on this one quite fascinating; it gives you an idea of the depth of a horse. Very three-dimensional creatures, they are!
	He has a very clean shoulder and no withers, which is vaguely disturbing. I'm used to Magi, who has very clearly defined withers and a vaguely egg-like shape. Banker's more of a barrel than either Magi or Stoney.
Banker's no stranger to dogs, as Nana found out. They were sniffing noses at one point, but no picture of that was caught. Banker's an extremely amiable fellow; under saddle, his version of "wild and crazy horse" is looking extremely concerned and kicking at his tail -- and that took a lot of convincing! As a general rule, he prefers to be very laid back.
	It was a rather windy day. Which would tend to make sense, since this is WindCrest.
He was extremely adamant about continuing to eat. He kept an ear on me, but wanted to make sure none of the Good Grass escaped him. Silly goob.
	Back in his stall, Banker was curious about everybody around him. I wasn't paying attention at the time, but based on the angle of his ears I think he was checking out Molly, the cute little light bay mare across the aisle. Did I mention that Banker ground ties?
Okay. One picture with the token two-legger, and only a thumbnail; Banker's too cute to cut this one out. I think he'd just been eating some hay, then decided that maybe there was a treat being offered.
	I'm not sure when this picture was taken, but it didn't bother Banker at all. I think he had been in the middle of checking out Telly, maybe, when he was distracted by the camera-wielding two-legger.