Levendi is an Oldenburg gelding who has been retired with us for a few years. It is definitely shame on me that it has taken me this long to put his full story together but better late than never.
Levendi’s mom first saw him on a video that she watched in a trailer at the HITS Ocala shows. She had another horse at the time but was looking for a new partner. Her former horse had some challenges under saddle, namely bucking over fences, that understandably shook her confidence and made her decide to look for a more suitable partner to show in the hunters. It was during that horse search that she saw the video of Levendi. At the time Levendi was living overseas near Amsterdam. He was very green and just coming five years old.
Levendi
Levendi and his mom
Although Levendi’s mom and his trainer both loved everything they saw as they watched Levendi’s video, his mom needed to sell the horse she had at the time in order to help fund the purchase of her next horse. The trainer who was representing Levendi to U.S. buyers agreed to accept the horse she had as a partial payment towards Levendi. Thus the deal was made and Levendi boarded a plane in Amsterdam to come to the United States.
hanging out with his mom at a horse show
showing off his form over a jump
It is not surprising that there was a lot to like about Levendi in his sales video. As you can see in the pictures he is a very attractive horse with a face that says “look at me.” He is a a nice mover and a lovely jumper, and on top of that he is beautifully bred. His registered name with the Oldenburg registry is LandLord, and he was sired by Landgraf. His mom decided she was willing to take the risk of buying him off a video without ever meeting him in person first.
Levendi and his mom having fun at a horse show
After Levendi, then still known as LandLord, arrived in the states and got through quarantine he was delivered to a horse show in Tampa. When her trainer headed home from the show with Levendi she called his mom and told her to come to the barn on a Sunday for a tune-up riding lesson since her former horse had already left a few weeks previously. When she arrived at the barn Levendi was standing in her former horse’s stall, and the stall was decorated with streamers. Everyone celebrated Levendi’s arrival with champagne, and that was his grand entrance into his mom’s life.
Levendi and his mom
One of the first orders of business was coming up with a more suitable name than LandLord. The name Levendi is a Greek name and he was named by her father. Levendi means a well mannered, well dressed gentleman who is also a party type guy. This is pretty much the perfect name for Levendi!
Levendi and Hemi enjoying a perfect day of retirement
he has the cutest face
Hanging out with the Big Boys
Levendi was young and green when his mom purchased him. They worked through some of the usual green and baby horse issues that come along and Levendi developed into a reliable partner for her. They had a few years of fun together riding, training and going to horse shows. As his mom said, life was good.
enjoying a good run through the pasture
some of the Big Boys having a particularly relaxing day (Levendi is on the far left)
Something had the attention of the Big Boys. Since Levendi is their fearless leader he is out in front being the most brave investigator of the disturbance.
After a few years of enjoying each other Levendi stumbled a couple of times, hard enough that his mom came off a couple of times. One ride they were jumping into a line, Levendi stumbled hard but managed to stay on his feet, and he continued on and jumped easily out of the line. When he had a similar incident with a friend of hers riding it was time to get serious about investigating the cause of the tripping before someone got hurt.
Levendi (second from left) with Chance, Leo and Moe
Levendi and Moe having a grooming session
Moe, Levendi, Thomas, Hemi and Grand enjoying a grazing session together
Her vet ended up referring Levendi to the University of Florida. The vets there found that he had some arthritis in his neck that caused him pain when he had to bring his neck in, or that pinched a nerve and caused him to not feel his feet. Given that several bad stumbles and falls had already occurred they told her it simply was not going to be safe to ride him.
Levendi’s cute face
napping hard, complete with drooping lower lip
After receiving that devastating news Levendi and his mom found themselves in need of a retirement home for Levendi. Since Levendi already had a barn mate, Elfin, retired with us his mom decided to send him to Paradigm Farms. Levendi made the journey from Florida to Tennessee and joined us for retirement.
Chance, Homer, Levendi and Leo
Levendi leading Thomas and Elfin on a run through the pasture
Levendi lives with the Big Boys and is a force to be reckoned with. He is the undisputed boss of the Big Boys. I’ve never seen him actually do anything to have to earn his boss title, but from day one with the Big Boys he was the man in charge. Despite all outward appearances of being a very benign ruler, whenever Levendi so much as flicks an ear in another horse’s direction they instantly jump to attention and get out of his way. Apparently he gives off a serious “don’t mess with me” kind of vibe. Or maybe in his best Clint Eastwood voice he says “go ahead, make my day” in such a way that indicates that he really means it. He is also a very popular horse with the Big Boys, probably because he does live up to his name. Remember his name means he is a well dressed, well mannered gentleman that also likes to party. We all know the Big Boys like to party from time to time so Levendi fits right in! I can say with confidence that Levendi has thoroughly enjoyed his last few years with us.
We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Levendi!
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