“Red Hot Smokin Cat” aka Oakley

4 year old AQHA/FQHA gelding

We have owned this amazing boy since he was in utero. We own his dam and she is one of our best working/cow horses. When we bred Oakley, the intention was to keep him as a future breeding stallion. As a weanling, he ran across the pasture and stopped hard at the gate catching his left hind in a hole. He fractured P1 in 3 places and had some shatter pieces off the back of his sesamoid bone. We took him to Cornell University, where they removed a piece of the P1 bone. The rest of the fractures healed on their own and after PT he was cleared to go back to work. He has some permanent swelling around that fetlock as a result. But he never took a lame step. Unfortunately due to the stall rest, he developed OCDs in both hind hocks as a yearling. So we again took him to Cornell and had all the OCDs removed. Again, he completed PT and was cleared to ride. It was at this time we decided to geld him. We started him lightly and hauled him around to show in the 2 year old in-hand events. We put the first 30 days on him as a 3 year old, but then he started having some bucking/crow hopping issues under saddle. We sent him away to a large cutting horse program for 90 days, where he progressed to WTC under saddle with some rollbacks, backing, etc, but was still having the crow hopping issue. He is so easy going and well mannered that we knew it was physical. Sure enough an Xray showed he had kissing spine. We took him to Equine Hospital in Ohio where he had a successful ligament snip surgery and healed beautifully from it with no residual scarring or swelling. We have been keeping up with magnawave and chiropractic work on him since then. We rode him a few times after he was cleared to return to work and he was much happier with no bucking. He has sat all winter and spring just enjoying turn out. There are some minor concerns about his ability to hold up to hard stopping/turning in the long run, as we are a performance ranch horse barn. He has been 99% sound this past year. He did come in one week over the winter a little lame on the hind end, we believe he slid down a muddy hill in the pasture running around. The vet has given him great feedback, but he is considered very behind for what we do and we have limited space here for our show string.

He has been kept UTD feet, dentals and vet work since he was born. You will not find one broker than he is on the ground. He does literally everything - ties anywhere, cross ties, clips and has had full body clips, can be stalled or live outside, can be turned out with mares or geldings, bathes, trailers no problem, ponies off horses or gators, has been ponied on trail rides, lives with cattle, loves dogs, etc. He has never spooked at anything that we can think of. If he had a different upbringing and was further along, he would not be for sale. He is sweet as can be, will always greet you at the gate, loves attention, really is as easy going as it gets.

He was the 2024 OHSA World Show Young Horse Champion, Reserve Champion In-Hand, Champion Adult Halter and Reserve Champion 2&3 YO Halter. He also has multiple AQHA Halter winnings. At the Ranch Horse Challenge in Ohio he was top 5 in every In-Hand trail class earning over $250.

He has not been ridden since November. We will saddle him up a few times this spring and get some groundwork going on him again until he sells. It would be best for him to get sent to a trainer/colt starter that can get him going again as he is very green under saddle. Not beginner or amateur friendly at this time only due to that.

He is selling “as is”, meaning viewings to meet him are welcome but we cannot ride him for you as we currently do not have a colt starter.

$4,000 negotiable to the right home.