A late introduction and first lesson report - this is Darcy

I missed the fact that Salty is having a baby!!! Details pls x
Oh :) She went to a local stud who stand a very sweet KWPN, my OH has known lots of his offspring and they all seem like easy well put together young horses. So seemed like a good option for a first go, he complements S nicely so fingers crossed we should have the start of a new long term project next year. I'm hoping that Darcy will bridge the gap (and more, hopefully!). Long anxious wait now.
 
Thank you everyone for your lovely comments, I'm still on cloud 9 with his behaviour yesterday. Hopefully we will have some more interesting reports to come in the future :p
 
What a lovely boy. He sounds so kind and willing. Looking forward to following his journey.

Beware the noseybonk horse though😉. My Rory is the world's nosiest pony and keeping his attention focused, especially at busy venues, is a serious challenge.
 
Beware the noseybonk horse though😉. My Rory is the world's nosiest pony and keeping his attention focused, especially at busy venues, is a serious challenge.
lol! I prefer nosey to the ones that are too afraid to look at the things they think are scary. Half the battle with Kira is getting her to focus on the things she's got herself in a tizz about so she can figure out it's nothing to worry about! I prefer the inquisitive ones :p at least they are more confident :D
 
Defini
lol! I prefer nosey to the ones that are too afraid to look at the things they think are scary. Half the battle with Kira is getting her to focus on the things she's got herself in a tizz about so she can figure out it's nothing to worry about! I prefer the inquisitive ones :p at least they are more confident :D

Definitely true. Smudge looks at things from a distance and then tries to bolt If she doesn't like what she sees whereas Rory always wants to go and look at stuff and then he just likes to stand and stare. Earlier this week he was desperate to go and look at something in the hedge at the top of the field and wouldn't settle to practise his test until he'd been over for a good nosey.

We tried a new venue last week though and he spent the whole test going "ooh, look at those horses in the warm up arena, look there is a lady in that car watching us, is that a door over there? Do you think there's something on the other side? , look those other horses are still there warming up etc"🙈🙈🙈
 
He looks like a super type, I expect you'll have a huge amount of fun on him.

I've really got a soft spot for ex-racers at the moment, I seem to have come across a few real sweeties. I'll definitely be looking at a few for my next one!
 
He looks like a super type, I expect you'll have a huge amount of fun on him.

I've really got a soft spot for ex-racers at the moment, I seem to have come across a few real sweeties. I'll definitely be looking at a few for my next one!

Thanks :D This is all down to OH really, I hadn't considered a TB at all and expected to be heading off to the cob sales or something for the next one!
he knew I wanted something else to ride and was gently pushing me along. Full credit to the trainer, they clearly want them to have good long term homes as I was offered a trial period etc to see how we got on without any pressure, and I was obviously vetted on arrival ;) to make sure I was a genuine home, not someone wanting to make a quick buck.
 
It's lovely to see trainers that are genuinely invested in the long term success of the new partnership. And good on your OH! Not sure mine would push me to have another, it's been enough of a struggle to get him to agree to the 2nd cat (turns out getting him drunk while watching the rugby did the trick for agreeing to the cat...)
 
It's lovely to see trainers that are genuinely invested in the long term success of the new partnership. And good on your OH! Not sure mine would push me to have another, it's been enough of a struggle to get him to agree to the 2nd cat (turns out getting him drunk while watching the rugby did the trick for agreeing to the cat...)
haha!
I think mine has learnt the phrase "happy wife, happy life" :p
 
I realise now what Salty took out of me, confidence-wise, and I need to remember that he won't react like her and be much braver, it will help him if I can do that.

To have an experienced rider say they've had their confidence knocked by a horse makes me feel better! Seriously having to put my brave pants on to bring mine back into work now.

He looks really sweet and what a superstar in the lesson. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Ps - love the shot of Kira meeting him!
 
To have an experienced rider say they've had their confidence knocked by a horse makes me feel better! Seriously having to put my brave pants on to bring mine back into work now.
Aww it's difficult isn't it. Salty had some bonkers and extreme reactions - some make sense now ;)
Riding her in company really put the wind up me because sometimes if spooked, at the beginning she would basically bolt over the top of the other horse, even if we were at opposite sides of an arena she would launch herself at/through them and it was quite iffy.
The first time I took her to a group clinic I would have chewed my arm off for a hipflask! :oops:

EVERYTHING spooks at one side of our home arena, there is a busy footpath behind the hedge and more horses beyond that. I am slowly learning that Darcy's spooks are not Salty's - they are minor and he accepts reassurance well. It's interesting how much effort that takes though, I've def got a default-limpet approach at the moment which isn't the right thing for him.
 
I had a similar experience with a horse who used to follow his spooks by rodeoing me off. It affected me for a long time as anytime I sat on anything that spooked, I was just waiting to be launched into orbit! Millie is a spooky idiot, but she doesn’t follow it up with anything. It took me a long time to let go of that anxiety though.
 
I had a similar experience with a horse who used to follow his spooks by rodeoing me off. It affected me for a long time as anytime I sat on anything that spooked, I was just waiting to be launched into orbit! Millie is a spooky idiot, but she doesn’t follow it up with anything. It took me a long time to let go of that anxiety though.

Bucking is the default of mine - particularly if you check her with the reins when she spooks. It's like she can't run so goes up. It's not even a hard check, more just an instinctive whoa. And she can buck big and with a sideways flip for good measure.

I've been having lessons on a welshie who can get a bit silly but, because all he does is spook with eyes popping out, it doesn't bother me. Helping my confidence thankfully.

The first time I took her to a group clinic I would have chewed my arm off for a hipflask! .
Thinking hip flask not a bad idea!!
 
He also cute! ❤️ I also missed what happened to Kira - hope it’s nothing serious? X
well the prognosis is good, but it's annoying for her to be off at the moment, we had so much in the way of championships and big shows that she had spent the year qualifying for :(
She's got a lesion in the medial branch of her SDFT on a foreleg, right down on the pastern. We think she must have got up from rolling awkwardly as she had a few little scrapes on her face at the same time that i noticed it. She's not lame at all and nothing else is affected, which is unusual apparently and adds weight to the idea that it's a weird twist that has caused it.
So she's in a little pen with the field girls, enjoying the autumn weather at the moment. Expecting her to be off until November, have to be extra careful because she's not sore on it at all so it would be too easy to press on and cause a bigger problem later on.
 
Oh how frustrating, you both had been going so well. Flipping horses! Glad to hear she’s not in pain and enjoying herself, fingers crossed she heals up quickly x
 
thanks :) it won't do her any harm to have a break, she has been very busy. Hopefully be back to competitions in the spring.
 
well the prognosis is good, but it's annoying for her to be off at the moment, we had so much in the way of championships and big shows that she had spent the year qualifying for :(
She's got a lesion in the medial branch of her SDFT on a foreleg, right down on the pastern. We think she must have got up from rolling awkwardly as she had a few little scrapes on her face at the same time that i noticed it. She's not lame at all and nothing else is affected, which is unusual apparently and adds weight to the idea that it's a weird twist that has caused it.
So she's in a little pen with the field girls, enjoying the autumn weather at the moment. Expecting her to be off until November, have to be extra careful because she's not sore on it at all so it would be too easy to press on and cause a bigger problem later on.


I had a mare with that in the late 80s MP. It was big, hot and she was lame. She had six months rest, no other treatments, and went on to show jump with no further issues. I hope Kira has a similar easy recovery.

What was the new boy's racing injury? I love the suspension in his trot, Muffin doesn't have as much as him.


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tendon. Fortunately I use the same vets as we're all very local so they were able to confirm dates and scans etc and they were very happy with his recovery. His new job is so different to the old one, hopefully we'll be OK.
 
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