Do you believe that destiny bought you and your horse together?

[only_me]

yes and no - I dont like to think of it that way

merlin was looked at by the late sherelle duke who had his full brother, but before she could buy him she passed away

we were then told by her boyfriend about him and i instantly liked him (and his buck). But he has good breeding and another full brother of his is currently doing international jumping.


but i hate to think that destiny brought merlin to me

 

[PeanutButterDragon]

My Grandad bought my first pony home from the sales - he had only gone to meet some friends there and perhaps pick up some tack so went without the trailer. But when he saw Poppet - a little grey mare, 3 yo Welsh Sec C and in need of some TLC he thought of me straight away. When she was unloaded and dropped off that evening I was all of a dither and didn't know if the pony would be a gelding or mare, what colour or breed it would be as Grandad had kept me guessing. She'd already been unloaded when I got there and was in one of the fields happily making friends with my cousins pony between mouthfuls of grass. She looked up and whickered to me and I just burst into tears!!!

Lol. I was 12 at the time and I don't think I've ever been so happy!!!!!

 

[mickey]

Not sure I believe totally in destiny, although I have had a few strange events that seemed like fate, in my life.

WRT my horse, not sure it was destiny. I think that could be a bit over the top really. This could be something that people love to believe but might actually be something people say to make themselves feel good? People have said though that he is lucky to have found me! And also we have very similar personalities (not sure if that's a good thing).

 

[Daisychain]

I do believe in fate... i have had to many things happen not to! But i do think its possible to create your life through your actions you take, to a point. My most recent horse, and i have had many, bought and sold, bred and sold etc hopefully is the icing on the cake, i saw him , rode him and my instinct said 100% yes, i love him to bits!

 

[dozzie]

When I lost my youngster I went to see a mare that was the spitting image of the one I had lost. It could have been the same horse. I really thought it was fate. She was lovely but sadly failed the vet. I still wonder whether I should have risked it!

Then I went all over the place until I saw and ad for a horse locally. The ad said others for sale. So I rang up about the others as the one for sale was out of my price bracket.She said she had a chestnut mare for sale. I only did bays then! Anyway i went to look and saw this enormous chestnut mare in her box and just said "no she's too big!"

So tried the bay but just wasnt too happy about her feet so said I may as well look at the chestnut. When they brought her out of the box I realised there was a 4 inch step down! Hence she had looked so huge! I was not particularly impressed with her, she was ok, but thought I may as well see her working, at which point she came into her own. I think my jaw just dropped! She had only been broken 2 weeks previously so wasnt cantering or jumping and was not flamboyant but there was just something powerful about her. Mind you the rider was very good!

She also had a temperament to die for. Hence why I have continued with her despite the problems we have had with injuries.

So having hunted the country for a bay mare I ended up with a chestnut from just down the road! I still like bays but I am definitely sold on chestnuts too now!

She will never be a worldbeater, but I didnt want one of them!

 

[Ziggy_]

I hadn't ridden for 8 months when one day, totally on the spur of the moment, I took a job with a really nasty horse dealer. Stuck in a scruffy little stable was the latest arrival, a bag of bones chestnut mare, covered in scars and with a look in her eyes that said 'come near me and I'll kick you.'

I don't know why but I bought her three days later. A year on and she is truely the best horse I have ever sat on, we've had a lot of ups and downs but I know I'll ever find another one like her. I honestly don't know what I saw in her but something made me buy her. I don't know if I believe in destiny, same as I don't believe in god, or ghosts, but something brought us together.

 

[merlinsquest]

When I rang about Merlin, I was told that he was already sold

I left my number and said if anything went wrong would she contact me

A month later I got that call..... I had looked at others in the meantime and none of them had caught my eye ..... and infact I had not enjoyed riding any of them.

So off we toddled, on our 11th (steel) wedding anniversary, all the way from surrey to warwickshire!!!

As soon as I saw him I thought wow!!! He was so proud and alert, and soooooo black with stunningly white socks.

I rode him for ages, and hacked him out, and despite the fact that I couldnt stop him and he scared me a little, I fell for him

The rest of his sorry story is history

But he is lucky he is mine is all I can say..... even the vet says that many others would have had him in a tin

 

[H's mum]

Hhhmmm... not sure if it was fate or if it was god looking down on me laughing...

When I was looking for another horse I was looking for (another) bay gelding about 16hh who was ready to compete - how I ended up with a 16.2 chestnut mare I'll never know!

Mind you - I love her to bits now and I'd never part with her -

Kate x

 

[PennyJ]

Yes. First one was a 2 month old advert with no photo and for a grey (the one colour I didn't want) but something about the advert got to me, so I emailed as it was late asking if he was still for sale. Seller phoned, yes he was, and he still sounded suitable after I'd asked a few questions, so we went to see him the following day. I didn't even run my hand over him, but - my daughter got on with him really well and he was just so sweet and kind I asked about a week's trial which we got, so I went back with the trailer the day after to get him. He's still here 2 1/2 years on and will be for a long time I hope.

It turned out he was born on the forest at the top of our road, so we would have seen him running out as a foal, not that we ever knew who he was or that we would end up owning him one day.

 

[hellybelly6]

Oh yes.

I was considering an anglo-arab and was going to make a phone call to view him, then I saw Jake at the riding school I went to, I hadnt seen him before and I knew that he was the horse for me and he wasnt for sale at the time.

I rode him in the lessons and he looked at me as if to say, what are you looking at? and we bonded immediately. When he came up for sale, I knew I had to have him (and get him out of his situation). It was the year I was 30 and eventually persuaded OH that Jake would be an appropriate birthday present and nothing else would compare to having Jake.

So we went halves on him and I have had him ever since.

 

[MizElz]

Absolutely.

We started looking for a horse in the summer of 2000. My beloved horse Mickey dropped dead in his stable on May 21st, and although I swore for weeks after his death that I could never get another, my love of them was just too great. It was all still very raw, but we tentatively started looking. But we must have been so picky, because 22 horses later, we still had not found 'the one'. We went everywhere - the width and breadth of the country, and found only two that were possibilities. The first of these was then sold from under our nose, and then the owners of the second refused to sell him to us, as she felt he was too highly strung for a 12 year old girl. I gave up then, and resigned myself to a horseless future...until my SJ instructor rang up one afternoon to say he had found 'the one'.

"Hairy feet, long feathers and big ears," he said, "but I think she'll do you." Well, he was right on one account at least - the big ears, always a good sign for me - and there she was, standing in the stable just waiting for me. He told me that she had a reputation for being spooky, for never jumping fillers or planks, and that if I could get her round his little course first time then she was the one for me. She went perfectly; we just clicked 100%. It was only then that he told us he had found her on the doorstep - she had come through the yards of one of the most unscrupulous dealers in the county

But it wasnt enough to put us off, and here we are, eight years down the line!

 

[ickelshadow]

it was completely love at first site when i saw shadow all those years ago. i simply couldn't take my eyes off her

she seemed to follow me around after this as well. shadow was to b sold as her owner was outgrowing her and moving to scotland. i started riding at another riding school as i couldnt face being there without her. and she got sold there! maybe a year later, i started working/helping out a friend with her new livery yard, and eventually after 8.5 years of waiting i was able to buy her and moved her to my friends yard the minute i could!

 

[Natch]

Definately something unexplained brought me and Henry together years ago. Parents had a lump sum of money come up and decided it was paid for education OR a horse for me - it could pay for one or the other. I knew nothing about the decision - I wanted to go to the grammar school, until I looked around it and said no. They started looking for a horse (still hadn't told me) just before my GCSEs and YO took them to a good dealer and found him. I rode him for YO under the impression I was to try him for the riding school - and burst into emotional tears on my way back from our hack and told my mother (wondered why she insisted on coming to see me ride that day) that I would do anything to have him on loan from the RS... when they got me sat down in the tack room afterwards and explained he was mine if I wanted him I burst into even more tears, YO was so worried about my reaction that she made me a sweet tea with whiskey in!!!

Novice parents go to dealer while daughter is just about to do first & most important exams of her life and come back with the first horse they see - fate had to be smiling for that one to work! It did - he is my horse of a lifetime

 

[digitalangel]

Absoloutely. I first found H in feb this year but walked away from the sale due to his awful condition and the sellers massive price tag.

3 months later, i couldnt stop thinking about him, he was still for sale, and even though life threw *everything* at me to try to stop us being together, we did manage it, and ever since hes been everything i could have possibly wanted, and even more.