Any 'under-dog' success stories??? (having a bit of a down day)

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Due to Grace being lame, I have had a lot of time on my hands to look through the results pages etc etc of the competitions we have attended and the ones we should have attended
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Looking through, there are a lot of very expensive looking horses...

At one of the last BD competitions I did, I was sat watching the rest of the class in the gallery when a woman came over and started talking to me. She said she had really liked my mare (a phrase which grates on me for some reason, like when they call their own horse 'it' - oh, 'it just wasn't going as well as it normally does!'). Then, a very flashy horse came into the Novice class and I just commented on how nice it was (passagey type trot, really impressive).

The lady turned to me and said it was her friend's horse, and she had paid £15,000 for him
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She then said, "There is no way my horse is ever going to be able to compete with that, I only paid £10,000 for it!"

At this point I started feeling quite uncomfortable, because I knew what the next question was... "How much did you pay for your mare?"

The reality is, my Dad bought Grace in March for my birthday (24... eek!) after I had loaned her for five months and worked bloody hard to get her to that stage. We only paid £2,500 for her, which I do think was a bit of a bargain considering her sire's lines, but that is what I paid for her!

I have just started to feel that Grace can never compete with these £10,000 and £15,000 horses, and have asked myself whether I am expecting too much of her by thinking she can? She has been placed at every Novice class she has been to (4th being the lowest) but then surely these more expensive horses are going to outshine her when it comes to the higher levels of dressage
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So, I was just wondering whether anyone knew of any 'under-dog' success stories? I think a lot of my nerves have stemmed from this conversation, and it has really been burrowing a little hole in my ambitions for Grace and I which I think contributes to my butterflies about the Areas next weekend and the BD competition at Croft Top on Saturday
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It has been something I have not stopped thinking about since if I am honest, but have not really known how to bring up this subject without sounding completely ridiculous, spoilt and ungrateful (which I am definitely not, I promise you that)
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Don't let it get you down!
I feel like that sometimes, but then something happens that makes you eventually know that it's all worthwhile.
My piebald 14.1 pony cost £2500 incl. tack & I've had him 2 & a half years (bought him when he was 5).
He was an unschooled pony who couldn't canter round a circle - that's how unbalanced he was.
With help from my mum teaching me, he's come on so much!
He's competing at BE intro/PN level & on sunday he got his highest placing - 2nd (intro)!!
From looking at his dressage you wouldn't know it was the same pony. The last 3 dressage tests he's done have been in the 20s
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It's all come on at once & just proves that there's no way you have to pay money like that for a nice horse - if you're prepared to do all the work yourself, you'll feel much more rewarded
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If Grace can get placed every time out at dressage, she's obviously already beating all these expensive horses, & I bet she'll continue to as you get further up
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Sorry, I went on a bit!
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Tills cost me £1,000. My friend who has a fair bit of money buys his ponies (polo) for a minimum of £15,000 each. After riding Tills he said that she gave him a better ride than any of his ever had
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He also tried a 4y.o TB I had at the time who I had as a buy one-get-one-half-price deal, which meant I bought her for about £650. He asked for a 360degree spin, expecting not much to happen, and she span so quickly he came off. He came off another two times before he finally conceeded that I had schooled her to perfection (as I'd been telling him!) and that perhaps my bargain-bin ponies were better than his expensive ones!
 
You can spend as much as you like on a horse but if you cant train it correctly it's flashy paces wont help you beyond novice/maybe elementary level!
If you can really ride and actually train a horse to go correctly then you can train any horse with a reasonable degree of natural balance all the way to the top.
Aim for the top, you may be suprised!
 
Well Bloss cost me £2,500.00 - she'd done nothing apart from be in a riding school until i had her.

And she won numerous classes and beat lots of flashy warmbloods as she is consistent and did a nice obdient test. And as you know we won the Petplan Novice Open at the Winters - and beat a lot of really good horses!

Like i told you before Grace is a fab horse, with lovely paces and im sure she will go far. In the end its down to how the horses are trained, not how expensive they are.

I know you know what i paid for Archie, however look at what ive been through with him - and he can still throw a total spanner in the works. For example last night we were schooling and he just took objection to EVERYTHING i wanted him to do and kept rearing - theres nothing wrong with him physically, he just didnt want to do it - in the end i just did loads and loads of work on circles and changes of bend to try and wear him out. As hes geting fitter hes getting much hotter to ride and is now even more of a handful than he was before!
 
STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!!

Doesn't matter how flashy the paces are if it doesn't do the job! Consistency and a calm attitiude will get a horse far in BD.

I know a little Welsh sec D who competes very well against the flashy WB and is doing Medium!

Who is to say the horses are wotth the stupid amounts of money people pay for them, anyway?

Finnus only cost me £1350 and he is very capable, as I am sure Grace is too.

Just enjoy training her and competing, don't worry about how flashy the other horses are
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my ellie cost us £3000 as a 5 yr old, she was sold by a dealer who said that she didnt jump fillers and was spooky. i was only 12 at the time, but she jumped fine for me, and i was by no means a show jumper extraordinaire! over the next 4 years, we went to the trailblazers finals twice, being reserve champions in 95cm one year, and 5th in the 105cm the next year. she also won 3 discovery classes, took me happily round newcomers and would, if in the hands of a braver rider, been well capable of jumping foxhunter. we were offered £12000 for her as a 7 year old, and my trainer has been trying ever since to get me to sell her to him!!! so market value isnt everything, iv seen many people with horses a lot more expensive than mine do far less well!
 
Dont let the prices of horses get you down! There are some seriously nice horses out there that people payed peanuts for and are now at the top of their field.
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There was an article in H&H a while ago that listed some equestrian greats that had been bought for as little as £50!

As long as you are getting enjoyment out of what you are doing with your horse it doesnt matter how much you payed for her
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I know this is a bit off topic but i was told by a friend with a fair bit of eventing knowledge that if i wanted to do well in the eventing world i needed to go out and buy a proven intermediate horse to JRN so that the selectors would notice me - we didnt have £25,0000+ so we had to look for a youngster instead - ok so we payed over £6,000 for Hattie but we've had to work from scratch and we are still only hoping she'll make intermediate one day - we just dont know.....(but im enjoying dreaming that she'll take me to Badders though!)
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(sorry that was really off topic wasnt it!)
 
My boy didnt cost much either and he is giving me fantastic fun. We were placed at the winter regionals and have just competed at the summer regionals. We have been placed in all bar one of our intros and he also does well in the show ring.
Just because a horse costs a lot doesnt mean its going to end up better than yours! The rider still has to be able to ride it to the best of its ability. You can easily gain marks in dressage for accuracy and rhythmn etc without having a big moving warmblood that cost £15000 !
Dont let these people get you down. Enjoy your horse for what she can give you! If you paid a fortune for her you would probably be too scared to hack her out and have fun in case something happened to her. After all, loads of these precious dressage horses cant even walk past a paper bag cos they are not allowed to live life as a horse.
 
I paid £2500 for Gin. When she first came to me for schooling she was just a hairy unbalanced pony. My instructor saw potential but I wasnt convinced at first. After a year we went to the local unaffiliated dressage and won our first ever test. I offered her owner all the money I had and after a while she accepted.
She hasnt been easy at all but I couldnt afford a big expensive horse so that wasnt an option. Last summer I bought a box and we started competing. This year we moved up to elementary and won our first test and we have been placed in every class since.

She has her weaknessess but it just means I have to work harder. I think its so much more rewarding when you win on a cheapie.
Just because people can afford to buy an expensive horse doesnt mean they can ride it or that its ridden correctly.

My instructor is another one whose had a difficult time. She used to compete on her CBx TB. He didnt have big expressive paces and in her first year of competing she spent the entire time going backwards and coming last. Once he got over being naughty he qualified for the regionals every year. Just before he retired he went to the winter championships and was doing all the high school movements.
 
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After all, loads of these precious dressage horses cant even walk past a paper bag cos they are not allowed to live life as a horse

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Archie tries to eat paper bags, plastic bags, feed bags - in fact anything he can get his little nashers into
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I bought Louis for very little money, he was scrawny, completely nuts and totally green. He had no papers or special breeding. With a lot of work and patience (and falling off in the early years!) he's proved to be the best horse I will ever own. We mainly SJ'ed in the early years and he is has an amazing jump. We turned to dressage a couple of years ago and he's now competing Elementary and completely holding is own against all the flashy warmbloods
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He's never out of being placed and should be moving up to Medium in the next few months and I hope for him to get up to Advanced Medium next year. He's 15 now but I have no doubt that if he had started his dressage career earlier he could have gone all the way.

Even though he was a little nut it in his younger years I wouldn't change him for the world and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. He makes me so proud competing against all those £10,000-£20,000 warmbloods and holding his own
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That is great about your second place, and well done especially as it was an Intro!!! I wouldn't jump over them without a horse, so couldn't even contemplate galloping at those fences
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Don't worry about it! All the ponies and horses I had/have were either problems or young as I couldn't afford to pay much for them, but with a lot of time, patience, hard work and schooling I have managed to bring them to the top of their potential and regularly compete and beat horses who I know were bought with ridiculous money. One example, my first pony was bought for £1000, a good all rounder pony club pony but very green. Together we learned and came on and I started showing and doing working hunter and I regularly beat a pony who later was sold for £30,000. I had a lot of offers for my pony as not only did he perform in WH but also hunted and did all PC championships and was a really safe and kind pony. I never sold him though, he's way too special and my sister now rides him. Anyway, it's not how much you pay for your horse that wins you competitions, it's the training and relationship you develop with your horse. My older horse was not bought for much (2,500 euro) as he was a bit of a problem horse and had trust issues but I put so much time into him and he now trusts me 100% and can perform to the best of his potential and we regularly beat horses who I know were bought for 10-15k. Most of the people who brag about how much they paid for their horse can't even ride them properly!
 
I haven't qualified for the regionals, it is the Areas I am at next weekend (well, I haven't completely decided whether I am going yet
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)... We only started competing BD in May so didn't have enough time really to get a regionals spot
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mine cost me £1700 and most of that was his tack and rugs. he got 81 BD points in a couple of years, went to the winter semi's 3 times, came 4th at the area festival finals aged 20 etc etc etc. he got to Medium before injury forced retirement. my friend has a little welshie doing Medium and holding his own against the big guys. it's not the cash, but the skill of the rider!
 
Although I do agree with this to a certain extent (Han is a TBxID and can do a fab Elementary test when she is not fat from pregnancy
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), I do think dressage judges like to see the flashy paces of a WB when competing even at the lower levels these days.
 
One of my horses cost.... £250 ( delivered!) as a 4yr old, off the track with an ugly scar. She is now 5, is coming to the end of her 1st year out competing- has done 5 double clears Intro - PN, ( 6 starts), has £70 BSJA and 18BD Points. We have had a few people make us decent offers- but with her wonderful attitude she is priceless to us. All the money in the world cant buy you riding ability or feel.
 
Time, patience and understanding trains a horse well and enables them to suceed. You can pay over the odds for the bloodlines and the paces but you can't buy the feeling of beating of those who think large sums of money = large success.
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Well Bloss cost me £2,500.00 - she'd done nothing apart from be in a riding school until i had her.

And she won numerous classes and beat lots of flashy warmbloods as she is consistent and did a nice obdient test. And as you know we won the Petplan Novice Open at the Winters - and beat a lot of really good horses!

Like i told you before Grace is a fab horse, with lovely paces and im sure she will go far. In the end its down to how the horses are trained, not how expensive they are.

I know you know what i paid for Archie, however look at what ive been through with him - and he can still throw a total spanner in the works. For example last night we were schooling and he just took objection to EVERYTHING i wanted him to do and kept rearing - theres nothing wrong with him physically, he just didnt want to do it - in the end i just did loads and loads of work on circles and changes of bend to try and wear him out. As hes geting fitter hes getting much hotter to ride and is now even more of a handful than he was before!

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Now you see, Bloss is one of the ones I was thinking of when I posted this actually
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I remembered you saying how much she had been bought for (I think it was an insurance question i was asking). But I also think Bloss is something a little special too
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Pg - Archie eats paper bags cos he has a life! Hes allowed out in the field and hacks out, he also jumps. I think its so important they are allowed to enjoy themselves.
 
Sad to read your post.
OUr two horses
Coloured we bred, so only cost us stud fee £500 plus time and keep[ we enjoyed doing it] I then sold the mare to a friend.
Bay, bought as a yearling because we just could not afford an older horse.He was inexpensive from Horsegroupie and may never be a world beater but he is only just 5 and has achieved consistantly high scores in prelim and novice[70%-80%]Qualified for the winter champs last year in comb training and riding club this year as well as dressage to music.
We have loads of downs this year but we have overcome them which has been lucky and we will all get luck some times.
Don't worry about flashy horses ,if people can afford it fine and the pressure is really on them to go to the top but we are happy doing well at our level.
Things will look up .
 
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I promise you - from a judges perspective - this really isn't true!

Paces are only 1 mark in the test.

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Thanks for that... the thing is, Grace does have nice paces and she can be quite big and flashy when she is working well. I honestly don't know what has come over me recently. I have never suffered with nerves when out competing, but for some reason the thought of competing on Saturday is making me get butterflies galore
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I think because the last few times we have been out there have been some seriously nice horses and because people kindly tell me how much their horses cost them when not even asked I have started feeling, oh I don't know, a bit inferior. You should have seen the woman's reaction when I told her Grace had been bought for £2,500!!! She literally sneered
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Hi,

To make you feel better, you're doing better than me!! I've put 5 years of hard work into my horse, he did well at unaff dressage so is now affiliated, but doesn't have the conformation or paces for the job. I know how you feel, i get down about it too and thought about trying to get something else, but I just don't have the time for another one, and the thought of selling him is unbearable (he'd been badly treated before i bought him).
My friend events and bought one of her horses for £100, he is 6 now and got to the BYEH final as a 4 and 5 yr old, he is a difficult ride but has the most amazing ability when he sets his mind to it. He now has real potential to go to the top.
I personally think that us underdogs achieve more in our own little way by getting a placing at affiliated level than these people that go out and pay a fortune and keep winning.
I'd say you are probably the better rider and if some of the riders tried to ride your horse they would struggle to get anything out of her.
I look at it like i'm learning the hard way which will hopefully help my riding skills for the future when maybe I do have something that is a little easier!

Just try and remember how far you have come...
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My Connemara didn't cost a fortune and is currently competing at Elem, I aim to get him to medium one day. Get out to those Area Festivals and give it your best shot. Just ignore those doubts and go and do it!
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The thing is most won't see you as the under-dog - I bet most people at comps imagine you paid much more for Grace than you actually did - that woman sounds like she did! Also remember Grace came to you green, and although some people do spend lots on equally inexperienced horses some are paying for the schooling they've had, you never know this woman's horse could have come "ready-made"! Did she ask you how much you paid? If so I bet you left a nasty taste in her mouth when you told her!!!
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Thank you lfield... a lot of what you have said makes complete sense to me
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I look at what others are achieving with their horses, and sometimes really feel ashamed of myself because I wish I could be achieving those things too. I absolutely adore Grace and I do think she is doing extremely well seeing as she has only been out competing since the beginning of April unaffiliated, then affiliated at the end of May...

However, I do not think I have been realistic with my expectations of both her and me... I think it is this realisation that has given me the nerves I am now experiencing at the though of competing on Saturday. It is strange, they have never really been there before.

I have decided to pull out of the Areas on 25th too... I just do not think we are ready for it, and more importantly, I know there will be some outstanding horses there which will make me a bit anxious about going in and competing against them.
 
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The thing is most won't see you as the under-dog - I bet most people at comps imagine you paid much more for Grace than you actually did - that woman sounds like she did! Also remember Grace came to you green, and although some people do spend lots on equally inexperienced horses some are paying for the schooling they've had, you never know this woman's horse could have come "ready-made"! Did she ask you how much you paid? If so I bet you left a nasty taste in her mouth when you told her!!!
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Sorry it is taking me so long to reply... I keep getting thrown out due to maintenance
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Yes, she did ask me... I felt very awkward in telling her that I had only paid £2,500 and she literally sneered at me and then did not speak again after that
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