Puppy
Well-Known Member
I was in two minds about whether or not to post this, as I'm not terribly confident about my riding 
but after GinaGeo's terrific report on her young horse, I felt rather encouraged.
A quick bit of background on both of us:
I had a bad head injury back at Christmas 2008 (double barreled in the face) which combined with my beloved mare being written off as a LOU case several months later, just when I was getting back in the saddle, meant I had been out of action for quite some time when I bought Charlie back in October 2011. It probably wasn't the wisest move to buy a 4 year old, but I fell in love with him. After having to retire my super star mare I couldn't believe any other horse could make me smile as much as she did, but my first canter on Charlie had me grinning ear to ear.
Charlie (aka the Dunbo pony) is a (now 6) 15.3, connie x TB - and yes, you may spot the family ressemblance, as he is related to Dafthoss's Yellow Pony He's can be stubborn, and he can be sharp, but generally he enjoys his work, learns fast, and he loves to jump!
Back in March I started regular jumping lessons with a good friend of mine, who is a superb instructor for building up my confidence, and just over 2 weeks ago we went over to Potton for mine and Charlie's first bit of XC schooling together. (my first xc since 2007!) No photos from then, as I feared I would be jinxing it, but I needn't have worried as Charlie (aka The Little Toad) jumped absolutely everything asked of him first time, with the exception of a slight hesitation at a drop, where he wanted a closer look. We finished up doing about 10 fences in a row and on a complete high; it was the best day I've had in ages, and the best ride I've had in years. With this making me a little more confident we went out on Saturday for some schooling at Waresley (Wow, what a venue?!)
Started out warming up, just cantering round some little fences to take a look around. His canter does still tend to make me grin a lot:
Then popped some little logs:
Ears on the job:
Then we did something a little bit bigger. I was really pleased with how bravely he jumped this one, albeit he rather leapt it, so I didn't really give with my hands enough My bad:
We then moved onto the tyres, which we were jumping downhill. He was quite green in his approach to these the first time, changed legs and wriggled from side to side a bit on the line in, having a good gawp, but jumped them all the same. Good Toad:
After popping the tyres a couple of times, we moved on to a little bank:
Love his ears in this one:
Well Charlie thought the bank was no trouble, so we moved on to the water.
Charlie used to be a bit of a fool about water, when we were hacking out, so we've done lots of work on it (easy to do with the winter we've just had) and it's paid off and we'd no problems & lots of fun playing at the water:
I love his keen little face here. I can't believe he used to strop about going through puddles:
TBC
but after GinaGeo's terrific report on her young horse, I felt rather encouraged. A quick bit of background on both of us:
I had a bad head injury back at Christmas 2008 (double barreled in the face) which combined with my beloved mare being written off as a LOU case several months later, just when I was getting back in the saddle, meant I had been out of action for quite some time when I bought Charlie back in October 2011. It probably wasn't the wisest move to buy a 4 year old, but I fell in love with him. After having to retire my super star mare I couldn't believe any other horse could make me smile as much as she did, but my first canter on Charlie had me grinning ear to ear.
Charlie (aka the Dunbo pony) is a (now 6) 15.3, connie x TB - and yes, you may spot the family ressemblance, as he is related to Dafthoss's Yellow Pony
He's can be stubborn, and he can be sharp, but generally he enjoys his work, learns fast, and he loves to jump! Back in March I started regular jumping lessons with a good friend of mine, who is a superb instructor for building up my confidence, and just over 2 weeks ago we went over to Potton for mine and Charlie's first bit of XC schooling together. (my first xc since 2007!) No photos from then, as I feared I would be jinxing it, but I needn't have worried as Charlie (aka The Little Toad) jumped absolutely everything asked of him first time, with the exception of a slight hesitation at a drop, where he wanted a closer look. We finished up doing about 10 fences in a row and on a complete high; it was the best day I've had in ages, and the best ride I've had in years. With this making me a little more confident we went out on Saturday for some schooling at Waresley (Wow, what a venue?!)
Started out warming up, just cantering round some little fences to take a look around. His canter does still tend to make me grin a lot:
Then popped some little logs:
Ears on the job:
Then we did something a little bit bigger. I was really pleased with how bravely he jumped this one, albeit he rather leapt it, so I didn't really give with my hands enough
My bad: 
We then moved onto the tyres, which we were jumping downhill. He was quite green in his approach to these the first time, changed legs and wriggled from side to side a bit on the line in, having a good gawp, but jumped them all the same. Good Toad:
After popping the tyres a couple of times, we moved on to a little bank:
Love his ears in this one:
Well Charlie thought the bank was no trouble, so we moved on to the water.
Charlie used to be a bit of a fool about water, when we were hacking out, so we've done lots of work on it (easy to do with the winter we've just had) and it's paid off and we'd no problems & lots of fun playing at the water:
I love his keen little face here. I can't believe he used to strop about going through puddles:
TBC
