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

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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.

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I look at what you're acheiving with Grace and feel utterly useless regarding the progress I'm making (or not) with my 5yo.
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Oh... you shouldn't pull out, who cares if you are ready or not, you earned your place there, so why not just use it as a fun day out as some experience for next year. I went to the areas and Osc was tense and silly but hey, we still did it and will have another go another day. I was warming up with someone that i know does well and felt intimidated but then she couldn't get her horse to do something that my horse can do with his eyes closed, which made me realise that maybe he's not so bad!
 
Dont pull out, go and use it as an experience. You've qualified and sent off your entry so you might aswell go. Im not expecting to do well but im going to give it a go.

Dont let stupid women who like to brag about their horses bring you down. They usually only brag because they cant ride.
 
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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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What a snotty tart. Take no notice.


Anyway, have you totally forgotten about Troy?! He's going to be flashier than Flash!!
 
BUT the silly woman had already said she liked her!!!
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She probably just felt embarrassed about what rubbish she'd been spouting! Surely its rude to ask a stranger (well anyone really!) outright how much they paid for their horse - if they offer then fine but otherwise no!
 
Oh no, I have not forgotten about Asbo Troy
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Now he is flashy... I know some Pro-Set babies are not showing much of that movement as they get older, but to be honest just watching him in the field I cannot see how he will lose it. He is an unbelievable show off... when ever someone new comes to see him (family and friends) he just starts prancing about, piaffing and passaging to his little hearts content then coming over and batting his eyelashes at anyone who will look
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I trotted him up in hand last night to see how he looked on a straight, and I was amazed at how much he came off the floor compared to last time. I felt as though he was 15hh not the 5 months old I know him as. Good god can that boy move
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In regards to the paces mark. I also believe that on the sheet there is one mark for paces, however i'm sure that most judges are blind to this. Nearly everytime I go out, all the way down the sheet we are marked down for his paces (in trot work) and then marked down again at the bottom. I'm the first person to say that they aren't the best, but what about the obediance, rhythm, and correctness of the movements??
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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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Bloss is special though becuase PG has worked hard to get her looking good and well schooled. I bet if she was still in a riding school she wouldn't look half as flashy as she does now. No offence PG
I'm sure it's your hard work which has made her what she is. I equally know of people who have spent mega bucks on horses and can't get a tune out of them at all.
 
Grace is gorgeous and a credit to you, the silly woman was probably just jealous! I'd love to be doing as well as you are with my 5yr old!

A friend of mine bought her horse as a youngster for about £1k I think, and he's now competing medium and doing very well!
 
I think it is much more fun to buy cheaply and produce your own rather than buy ready or extremely well bred that still may not do the job. Sarnita cost 4.5k and is probably worth a hell of a lot more. I could easily sell but why when I am having so much fun and achieving so many ambitions.

I nearly didn't buy Sarnita we were on a viewing trip and got to her she was weedy and weak. To be honest I time wasted as the next horse we wern't due to see for 2 hours otherwise I wouldn't of bothered seeing her ridden. Despite liking her I still had no intention of buying her but desperation and a friend liking her made me make an offer which was accepted. If she never does anything more she is a horse in lifetime and certainly did not cost the earth.
 
To add a few more my old 12h2 cost about £2k and I jumped 1m tracks on him and when he has come back to England he is still at 21 jumping HOYS qualifiers and although current rider little small for him last rider did incredibly well on him winning left right and centre. He was bred as a show pony but he didn't want to show
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Santa my 14h2 is a cobby type with no flashyiness at all to his paces and cost a very sensibel amount when we bought him as an allrounder. In addition to us jumpnig JA classes we did a lot of dressage and did some of the 'Festival for Future Stars' comps at Hickstead and Addington (days before they changed and moved to Sheepgate) they had some of the top ponies in England competing (only A squad riders excluded at time I think) and although we didn't win we held our own and came back with some rosettes beating a few names on route.

Dan well people laughed when I started on him that he would do dressage but with a lot of patience I competed to unaffiliated Medium and did a few affil elementaries on tickets and did well even though only half fit at the time, we also qualified for the Trailblazer finals at all three levels! Hoping when have him a it fitter that might actually get round to affiliating him as we very rarely didn't win unaffil Novice and were useally high 60s to 70s with the occasional mad/blind/stupid judge that put us into 80s!! He didn't cost much either
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I have seen cobs win at the nationals at prelim and novice and I know all the good judges will be looking past the flashy movement and seeing how correct it actually is and often its not correct at all because the rhythm will be irregular and the hrose will be marked accordingly. The good flashy horses (with a decent rider on board) will not stay long at prelim/novice as they will be forced to move up, the ones that stay at Novice do so as the judges see past the exterior false showiness.

So go out get to those regionals and show them how it should be done
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"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!"

Very well said!!!
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Like in many sports "the more money you have the more you can buy".. ie. racing cars, engines, etc... BUT if you do not have the skill to drive them then they are not going to perform! I have heard many stories of people spending fortunes on horses, but after a month or so the horses performance deteriorates... why?? Pilot error!!! They dont think so and go and get another... etc...etc... Then again there are some who do pay a substantial amount of money for a horse, but these people are different and want success and work their butts off for it... they probably will not tell you the price of their horse because it is priceless to them, and does not matter because they will never sell, like yours is to you priceless...whatever you paid for it....have your own personal goals and go for it!!
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god my first horse cost my grandparents £1500 he took me everywhere and this little welsh x hackney jumped the biggest of tracks (seniors) i travelled around the country and even though he wasnt schooled well and didnt look as pretty as most of the other horses he did his job and i was always placed !!

i say keep going sounds like your doing really well at the moment getting placed and everything - dont worry what everyone else is saying either x
 
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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.

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oh i wholly agree - altho everytime i catch him in from the field i say a small prayer as im walking up their
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But id never ever stable him 24/7 however valuable he might be in the future. I would however wrap him in cotton wool in the field
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At the end of the day the horses dont know how much we paid for them, whether they are expensive or not i think its all down to their training. There are expensive and not so expensive that make it to the higher levels in all disaplines.
 
You mustn't pull out! You've both earned your place and you owe it to Grace to take her and let her have a go. The experience will stand you in good stead for when you get Troy to that level.
Rosie's spotty horse cost next to nothing as an unbroken 3 year old but went to Gatcombe for the novice championships competing against some of the best (and probably most expensive) in the land. She ended up 52nd out of 80+ but what a fantastic experience! I very much doubt they'll ever do top level stuff (he just doesn't have the stamina to do 9 minute XCs) but Rosie loves him and who knows - on another horse and another day....
Sorry to be so long-winded but I really believe you should give it a whirl
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Here's a tale to cheer you up. A few months ago I went to Allenshill BD with Will. There was a young woman there riding a really nice small TB, 15.3 max. I was really taken with him, I like TB's.

There was also a girl on a huge black WB with a very well know prefix so you just know it was damn expensive and professionally produced. She was larging it up, really showing off and her parents were there gushing "oh he looks wonderful daaaarling", you know the type.

Well a little while later the girl on the TB was getting her scores and we got chatting. She'd won the novice open class, whooping the other girl's ass I might add, and we got chatting. She said this horse was her absolute baby she'd had for 2 years, bought him off the track from Ascott sales for £500.

I really admire people like that, she's obviously worked really hard to re school him and only wish I had her eye for a good horse, that's all that matters not what you've paid for them.
 
Lots.
here's one.
My sister tried a newly backed mare at a "back of the hills farm" because it was inexpensive. Liked her, agreed to buy despite having been rodeo broke...
Just happened to spot a head sticking out of an old railway carriage, looked in and saw a scrawny yearling. He'd been put in there at weaning, and had food thrown over the wall all winter - so his back legs were stuck underneath as he'd outgrown the space.
Some years down the line, he and my sister were on the cover of Horse and Hound winning the heavyweight working hunter class at the Royal International.
The mare also placed at RIHS, and retired to be a fantastic broodmare of some very valuable youngstock. The pair cost less than £3000 in 1997
 
i brought my first pony 8 years ago he was 12hh 5yo welsh a brought him 4 £450 (technically mum did coz i was only 8!) he had done nothing and he was a sorry state coz he had been badly treated
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however he is now wining at county level showing (until he got bored! lol), flying round 3' sj an xc courses and wining dressage tests! dont worry the is light at the end of the tunnel!
 
Surely you have nothing to prove - there is a lot more pressure on these riders with their £15K horses. It must be disheartening to spend a bomb on a competition horse and for it to maybe have an "off" day! You and Grace are doing well - what have you got to lose? Enjoy! PS Would have told that woman to mind her own business.. how rude.
 
I'd rather spend £2,500 on a horse and be proud of what we had achieved together, than spend £10,000 and worry that I won't achieve what I had paid to be able to.
 
We paid £2500 for Honey in 2000 as a 4 year old as we couldn't afford much more. She has been the best horse I have had. However we did claim LOU for her in 2002 but this year we have now affliated her dressage and I took her to the Area festivals at novice level last week. We were only 4 marks off the 4th spot and 1 mark off winning a rossette. I was annoyed at being so close to qualifying but at the same time I am pleased as in 2002 we thought we never ride her again. I also only ride her when I am home from uni so it makes it more of an achievement. We also were at the Traiblazer finals (SJ) last summer and got into both days jump offs.

I have known people whose parents who have bought them horses over 15k and it has been a disaster. The children were not as good as they thought they were and none of them got as far as they wanted too.

Becki: You should NOT pull out of Area Festivals, not all horses are flashy. Infact last week at Area Festival I was at there were barely any flashy horses, the majority were just your average horse ridden by the average rider. The horses that did look like nice scored poorly. The winner got 65% and the horse placed last only got 50%. You have every chance of doing well.
 
Don't have a down day...........the silly woman was probably embarrassed!!

If you have qualified, go and have a bash....you never know what might happen. I think it is easier to ride well when you have no expectations, just enjoy being there and use the experience.

As far as underdogs go, I bought a funny looking 3yo as my second horse out of ponies for £300. A few years ago!
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(I'd just been and done the nappy flashy nutter that went wrong.
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) He was out of a 14hh welsh cross mare by an escaped TB stallion on a one night stand. He grew to 16.3hh, and despite my inexperience went to B&C showjumping, then Intermediate eventing, and finally whipped in for the local hunt until he retired.
I'd love to have him now............
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