blood_magik
Well-Known Member
Bit of a pointless post - just wanted to share some before and after pics of Beau now that I've had him for a year.
This is what I was faced with when I went to Ireland last summer to look for a new horse.
He was rather skinny and lacking muscle but my trainer and our agent could see his potential. I wanted to rule him out after the first time I tried him but I was persuaded to try him a second time the next morning only to fall off when he spooked.
He came home a week later.
It's not been an easy year. We were happily popping around a 1.10m course by September but then we found out that Beau has traces of DJD in both hocks and that his future as a show jumper was uncertain. We decided to take a chance after talking to a few different people about our options.
I had a silly fall in November and wrecked my knee. It's still not right nearly 8 months on but it's getting there slowly. We decided that Beau should go off to boot camp while I was out of action so he went off in January. Initially, the plan was that he would go for 6 weeks. We ended up moving our other two horses to the same yard in March.
Beau's been competing with a pro since the end of January to get some experience and it's been mostly good news. He's had a few wobbles after having a bit of a break between shows but he's still young and has always bounced back the next day. He's just gotten his fourth double clear at Newcomers and has qualified for Discovery second rounds and Blue Chip - he's such a good boy.
My confidence has taken a bit of a beating so we've gone right back to basics in lessons. We're getting there slowly though - our last lesson was very nearly foot perfect and ended on a high when we managed a full course without panicking or getting frustrated when things didn't go to plan.
This is Beau competing with Martin today.
He looks like a different horse although he still has a bit of filling out to do. I bought him a stud girth in January and when I went to use it in April, it was about 4 inches too short.
Anyways, sorry for waffling - I just wanted to share.
This is what I was faced with when I went to Ireland last summer to look for a new horse.
He was rather skinny and lacking muscle but my trainer and our agent could see his potential. I wanted to rule him out after the first time I tried him but I was persuaded to try him a second time the next morning only to fall off when he spooked.
He came home a week later.
It's not been an easy year. We were happily popping around a 1.10m course by September but then we found out that Beau has traces of DJD in both hocks and that his future as a show jumper was uncertain. We decided to take a chance after talking to a few different people about our options.
I had a silly fall in November and wrecked my knee. It's still not right nearly 8 months on but it's getting there slowly. We decided that Beau should go off to boot camp while I was out of action so he went off in January. Initially, the plan was that he would go for 6 weeks. We ended up moving our other two horses to the same yard in March.
Beau's been competing with a pro since the end of January to get some experience and it's been mostly good news. He's had a few wobbles after having a bit of a break between shows but he's still young and has always bounced back the next day. He's just gotten his fourth double clear at Newcomers and has qualified for Discovery second rounds and Blue Chip - he's such a good boy.
My confidence has taken a bit of a beating so we've gone right back to basics in lessons. We're getting there slowly though - our last lesson was very nearly foot perfect and ended on a high when we managed a full course without panicking or getting frustrated when things didn't go to plan.
This is Beau competing with Martin today.
He looks like a different horse although he still has a bit of filling out to do. I bought him a stud girth in January and when I went to use it in April, it was about 4 inches too short.
Anyways, sorry for waffling - I just wanted to share.
