GALLERONE | 15 YEAR OLD KWPN x THROUGHBRED | LEXINGTON,KY

Gallerone, Gally, is a 15 year old KWPN x TB. This big dark bay is out of a Thoroughbred mare and the International Dressage Stallion, Gambol.

Joan ended up with Gallerone because he was a one of the horses the just didn’t get along well with everyone, and Joan was able to see through his bad habits and give him a chance. After their mutual agreement about life, he decided that he wanted to live with Joan forever and absolutely refuses to be sold to anyone. Joan describes him as having a solid ‘wood’ personality. He is happy being a guest horse, but has no interest in anyone else riding him on a regular basis.

I can vogue for his guest horse worthiness, and I absolutely fell in love with Gallerone. Joan was ever so gracious and invited me to come ride after my crazy week in Lexington. It is always nerve wracking when someone invites you to come ride, because you really wonder if the horse you are going to ride will either try to kill you, or if you will mess up whoever’s horse you are riding. I am so incredibly glad I said yes, because I had the best time riding Gallerone. Riding him was truly like riding a giant comfy couch..a comfy couch that is really high off of the ground! We took the horses to Masterson Station and rode around. By the time we finished up riding, I was ready to take Gallerone home with me because I had fallen in love with him so much…although I am not sure how Gallerone or Joan would have felt about that.

Have you ever ridden someone else’s horse and then thought, “Danget, do I really have to go ride my own horse after that?” or is that just me?

Joan and Gallerone do dressage. He even loves to be ridden in the snow bareback. Joan’s favorite thing about riding him is that he will always keep her safe.

Joan first met Gallerone when he was at a sale barn. Joan went to look at a horse for a friend and when she hopped on Gallerone they said to her, “By the way, he rears.” After the first few laps around the ring, and the two of them asking each other if one of them was going to hurt the other, they came to an agreement, “I’ll stay out of our way if you don’t hurt me.” Whiting minutes they were having a ball, and shortly after that Joan took him on as a resale project..she would later find out that Gallerone had other plans, and his plan did not include being re-sold. Each time someone would come to try him out, he would make it extremely clear that he did not want to be sold.

This elephant of a horse loves cookies.

He was the AEC Novice Champion in 2011.

Joan’s shares her favorite memory with Gallerone. “The first time I took Gallerone out for a hack at our local riding park. There are all sorts of cross country jumps at Masterson station. Gallerone would not approach any jumps at a canter. He would always slow to a trot, then carefully jump each obstacle. This was his way of saying “Hey, you don’t know what you are doing. We better go slow.” We quickly moved on to the most fun hacks and hunter paces with him jumping around without ever changing rhythm in a perfect canter or gallop, unless, of course, I am asking for something above our skill set. He has taught me so much about listening.”