Life first. Truth always. Potential opens.
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DANSA
IALHA Registration: eligible,
signed breeder forms in hand
Sire: Areli Xaureo
2023 Andalusian gelding
14.2 hh
Price: $17,500 CAD
GST applicable to Canadian buyers
Location: Quesnel, BC
Dansa is a slight-built young Andalusian gelding in early ridden work. He is playful, friendly, and naturally very sensible.
He is basic walk, trot, canter under saddle.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DANSA
He is the kind of horse that is hard to find: genuinely small, steady, with a clear Iberian look, and developing a real foundation.
The thing I love most about him is how much he wants to connect. He's so interested in what we'll do together next!
Dansa is level-headed beyond his years, easy to train - a real pleasure to be around.
HORSE HISTORY
Dansa came to me in February 2026.
He had been given time to grow up, live as a horse, and develop his own sense of the world before being asked for formal work.
I like that. Horses who have had time and space bring something valuable into training: awareness, sensitivity, social intelligence, and a body and mind that have not been dulled.
With me, Dansa has been brought along slowly, starting with leadership groundwork to clarify how to be with people, in-hand work to improve his balance and understanding, and then ridden work.
He progressed very smoothly into a horse I look forward to riding.
last updated date: July 17, 2026
CURRENT WORK
I do not measure a young horse only by how long he has been ridden. I care more about the quality of the base underneath the riding.
Dansa started his ridden work in June 2026, but he is not just
“a horse with a few months of riding.”
Most of the foundation work happened before I got on him: attentive handling, groundwork, in-hand work.
Learning how to stay in the conversation with a person. That matters. A horse can be ridden for months and still not be very rideable if the base underneath is missing.
The work is about growing the willingness in the horse, his involvement in what we are doing - together.
Dansa is now walk, trot, canter under saddle. Starting the "introduction to trails" work.
SCHOOLING
ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT
Symmetry, strength, flexibility
- body and mind prepared for life.
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flexions
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mobilization in hand in walk and trot
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longeing
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walk, trot, canter on big and smaller circles
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changes of direction
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shoulder in and leg yield in walk
REAL-WORLD WORK
Foundation for real life
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hauling to events
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softening and connecting work on the ground
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deepening Dansa's confidence in clear leadership - by seeking purposeful challenges
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liberty - he's very connected and wants to be close to me
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intro to trails
WORKING EQUITATION
Precision, Trust, Obstacles
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basic introduction to obstacles
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schooling L2 dressage test
RIDE FEEL
At the mounting block, Dansa lines up as if he's been doing it for years. He understands what is expected and agrees to do it.
I'm 5'9" and he does not feel like a pony to me. He is narrow, agile, and wants to follow my seat and light aids.
He feels calm, he trusts that I will be fair in what I ask. He is not rushy and has an excellent stop. I train self-carriage from day one, no repeated commands to "keep going". He listens closely and tries hard.
In the lateral work, he follows my intention and finds it easy to balance himself. His trot is smooth and easy. I think he'll have the kind of canter that will make riders light up, once developed.
Because of the in-hand work on the flexions, he feels soft in his mouth, willing to yield when I ask.
He is still inexperienced, but the feel I want in a riding horse is already there.
GOOD ON TRAILS?
Most people ask this as if it is a question of mileage — something that just shows up over time spent on trails.
For me, it's this: Is it the same horse everywhere?
I thoroughly prepare for the trails. Once the horse is solid in the arena, I take the work just outside the gate, until the feel is the same: same work, different place. Calm standing, walking at my speed on a loose rein, no strong ideas about which way to go. Once they are able to soften and keep the mind with me, I take the work down the trail. I go farther as they're ready, return, regroup, and go out again. The goal isn't distance — it's quality, connection. It's that a circle anywhere rides the same speed all the way around. It's a horse as willing to turn toward home as away.
It's the same as the arena, as anywhere. Same high standard: understanding, trust and true confidence.
These sensible and generous horses like Dansa carry a real risk: because they are so calm, they tempt us to go too far, ask for too much too soon.
I often don't ride out with other horses early on, not until I trust that if the others took off for some reason, my horse would be able to stay with me. That's the standard I hold everywhere: on a group trail ride, in a crowded warm-up arena… anywhere. I want my horse's attention on me, not on the other horses.
In this way, the whole world becomes my arena,
instead of the arena becoming my whole world.
VIDEO
WALK TROT CANTER,
SECOND MONTH UNDER SADDLE
This young horse is just incredible. The herd left and went out of sight, and he just stayed with me and worked — even after the session, when I turned him out, he waited for me. He didn't just run off to find his herd. This is a very special horse.
This early in the training, I'm riding his feet, his balance, his body, his understanding of where he should go, what speed, what gait — and when he does that, he is left free. I'm working with his mind here. I want to be able to communicate to him what I want, and then he arranges his body in the way that works for him.
We're showing basic walk, trot, canter here, and I am very pleased with it. I'm excited about Dansa's canter. It already shows the potential to be very uphill and balanced.
JULY 16th TRAINING RIDE
BEST FIT
Dansa is best suited to someone who likes a sensitive, thinking young horse and has the skills to continue developing him. He is not physically demanding to ride - smooth, easily influenced and steady.
Even though he's young, his foundation is good. He needs a rider or program that values lightness, clarity, patience, and consistency. He is not a horse to be drilled, chased, or pushed through pressure until he stops thinking and becomes dull.
The risk with a willing, easy-going horse like Dansa is that he could be pushed beyond what he's ready for. His rider needs to be able to assess the right amount of challenge for him.
For the right person, his size, mind, and foundation make him very interesting. He has the qualities that could develop into a special small riding horse if the next stage is done well.
CURRENT CARE
Dansa is barefoot, lives outside in a mixed herd. He has been very calm about leaving the herd.
He is in regular work, respectful of his young age.
He is bright, happy and full of life.
current coggins papers
PPEs are welcome.
INQUIRIES AND NEXT STEPS
Initial inquiries through email please.
If the horse seems suitable, the next step will be a conversation with me, followed by a scheduled test ride.
Test rides are arranged for serious, suitable buyers only.
THE FOUNDATION
Life first. Truth always. Potential opens.
A horse learning to think, try, and offer something honestly.
You won't find a rounded neck or a defined head carriage in this work - it hasn't been earned yet, and I won't manufacture it early. I'd rather sacrifice a little visual pleasantness now than shortchange the real foundation that makes a horse genuinely great later.
Real progress also means purposeful challenges, not avoidance — a first trailer load, an exposure to something new, a session that doesn't go perfectly. These moments show you how a horse actually responds when things aren't easy, which tells you far more than looking at something mastered.
I believe what draws us to horses is real: the freedom, majesty, presence. The way they move when nothing is holding them back.
I'm not willing to train that out of a horse — this is my attempt to keep it, build on it if I can, so the horse stays what he already is:
an exuberant expression of Life.
This is what that looked like, month by month.
FIRST MONTH OF RIDDEN WORK
FIRST CANTER UNDER SADDLE
WALK, TROT
