palo1
Well-Known Member
I have hit a bit of a spot with my young horse and not sure of the best way to move forward. She is a very sweet 5 yo. Nearly 16hh full Welsh D (Maesmynach lines but fairly traditional really). Here she is:-
Probably not the most flattering photo but she is well enough made and a good enough brain to make a lovely all round sort of horse for me. I love her!! The lack of direction is coming from limited time and funds on my part. Current instructor feels we can do a bit of everything and so far Alw has been absolutely willing to try her hoof at all sorts. She is easy for me to load, tack up etc etc so I am sure that I can take her out and about on my own. She is reasonably sharp but not daft. She is a lovely, happy hack - great in open country, happy in company and equally relaxed on her own. She can cope with all manner of things without having lost that charming random 'Welsh' reaction which keeps me thinking lol. She will happily pop logs, ditches, trot through water etc when we are out hacking. We haven't tried training over xc courses yet. In the school Alw is showing good potential for jumping; so far not much experience but tremendously honest, keen and makes a nice shape. We are just poddling about over very short courses at 60-70cm but only in training. I don't doubt that we can step up in height, complexity and even proficiency. I will probably never want to compete over about 80/90 xc but I love having a horse that can jump and used to love riding across country in a competitive setting! Also, so far Alw is charm personified but certainly not especially speedy. That may change and she is getting more efficient all the time. I don't especially like showjumping tbh and can't see wanting to head in that direction! Flatwork is a work in progress but she is doing a great job; good brain, enjoys learning, quite bendy, happy to play a little sideways so far!!
Clearly, at just 5 (in a few days) she is not established in any way but seems a versatile sort of horse at quite a low level. She is not 'forcing' me down any particular route as a result of her inclinations at this point. I don't want to underestimate her one bit but I have no desire to live and breathe for competition at the moment. In the winter I hope she can and will enjoy trail or drag hunting; certainly not long or hard days in the next year but eventually I would hope she could be out for as long as I want to be. We have brilliant hacking here at home and my family all ride so fun rides are not especially appealing for the summer (no-one here sees the point of paying to drive off and ride anywhere else though I do enjoy occasional fun rides with friends!).
So, whilst I am immensely proud of my girl and feel blessed to have such a sweet mare and lovely outriding to enjoy her, I would like to re-enter the competitive fray in some way. I am not quite sure why other than that I would like a bit of a challenge and I am aware of the march of time... My older horse has given a huge amount and is in fabulous form but I don't want to ask him to compete in dressage; he is a horribly unreliable jumper and is best suited to either endurance (his original job description), hunting (he adores that) or spinning around out hacking!! He has been 'out of the gate' on many, many occasions, never let me down and I wanted a young horse so that he could just enjoy life. He is only 15 but very, very dear to me.
Sorry to be so long-winded; just setting the scene! The thing is that I know how easily time can be lost or frittered away with horses and I feel that in the next year I should try to find out what we will be best suited to enjoying as a partnership. That would be pretty easy if I had loads of money and/or loads of time. Any competitive venue will be over an hour away from me at home and trips out are expensive. I am not used to spending lots of dosh on competing!!
How would you move forwards? In all honesty I enjoy flatwork and can see the appeal of dressage. Maybe we could aim for Novice?!! (Feels very brave putting that on paper). Much work to be done but great local instructors and venues reasonably easy to get to. Is 'Native Dressage' a thing? Bit intimidated by friends that head out weekly for BD comps but can work around that as long as we are having fun!
Arena eventing; know nothing about it but imagine it is great fun and possibly more accessible (in venue and cost terms) than traditional eventing? Please correct me if I am wrong.
I honestly think that BE is out of our budget tbh; I would want training in all 3 elements, may need additional tack, entry fees are high and venues seem miles and miles away
I remember how eventing was, back in the day and it really is long days, lots of money, potential crashing disappointment lol!! I still quite enjoyed it tbh but was mad, single and bold. I am no longer single or particularly bold though have become much more 'thinking' as a rider so that possibly mitigates losing a degree of madness!
Hunter trials would be great fun I think on this mare but are they even really a thing now? Showing is likely to be disastrous owing to my innate inability to stay up till dawn cleaning hunting tack with a toothbrush!! Done it once, won the class, never again...
What would you 'aim for' - possibly with a 'bit on the side' as it were so that money and 'competitive mojo' were satisfied without exhausting or bankrupting you if you were me? Personally speaking I am not talented in any particular way but happy to put the work in to enjoy rewards on my own terms. Even happy to fail horribly if we are safe and genuinely doing our best lol. I haven't been out competing for a few years now so the landscape feels rather 'foreign' but I kind of want to make the most of this new interest in 'formal' stuff...
Probably not the most flattering photo but she is well enough made and a good enough brain to make a lovely all round sort of horse for me. I love her!! The lack of direction is coming from limited time and funds on my part. Current instructor feels we can do a bit of everything and so far Alw has been absolutely willing to try her hoof at all sorts. She is easy for me to load, tack up etc etc so I am sure that I can take her out and about on my own. She is reasonably sharp but not daft. She is a lovely, happy hack - great in open country, happy in company and equally relaxed on her own. She can cope with all manner of things without having lost that charming random 'Welsh' reaction which keeps me thinking lol. She will happily pop logs, ditches, trot through water etc when we are out hacking. We haven't tried training over xc courses yet. In the school Alw is showing good potential for jumping; so far not much experience but tremendously honest, keen and makes a nice shape. We are just poddling about over very short courses at 60-70cm but only in training. I don't doubt that we can step up in height, complexity and even proficiency. I will probably never want to compete over about 80/90 xc but I love having a horse that can jump and used to love riding across country in a competitive setting! Also, so far Alw is charm personified but certainly not especially speedy. That may change and she is getting more efficient all the time. I don't especially like showjumping tbh and can't see wanting to head in that direction! Flatwork is a work in progress but she is doing a great job; good brain, enjoys learning, quite bendy, happy to play a little sideways so far!!
Clearly, at just 5 (in a few days) she is not established in any way but seems a versatile sort of horse at quite a low level. She is not 'forcing' me down any particular route as a result of her inclinations at this point. I don't want to underestimate her one bit but I have no desire to live and breathe for competition at the moment. In the winter I hope she can and will enjoy trail or drag hunting; certainly not long or hard days in the next year but eventually I would hope she could be out for as long as I want to be. We have brilliant hacking here at home and my family all ride so fun rides are not especially appealing for the summer (no-one here sees the point of paying to drive off and ride anywhere else though I do enjoy occasional fun rides with friends!).
So, whilst I am immensely proud of my girl and feel blessed to have such a sweet mare and lovely outriding to enjoy her, I would like to re-enter the competitive fray in some way. I am not quite sure why other than that I would like a bit of a challenge and I am aware of the march of time... My older horse has given a huge amount and is in fabulous form but I don't want to ask him to compete in dressage; he is a horribly unreliable jumper and is best suited to either endurance (his original job description), hunting (he adores that) or spinning around out hacking!! He has been 'out of the gate' on many, many occasions, never let me down and I wanted a young horse so that he could just enjoy life. He is only 15 but very, very dear to me.
Sorry to be so long-winded; just setting the scene! The thing is that I know how easily time can be lost or frittered away with horses and I feel that in the next year I should try to find out what we will be best suited to enjoying as a partnership. That would be pretty easy if I had loads of money and/or loads of time. Any competitive venue will be over an hour away from me at home and trips out are expensive. I am not used to spending lots of dosh on competing!!
How would you move forwards? In all honesty I enjoy flatwork and can see the appeal of dressage. Maybe we could aim for Novice?!! (Feels very brave putting that on paper). Much work to be done but great local instructors and venues reasonably easy to get to. Is 'Native Dressage' a thing? Bit intimidated by friends that head out weekly for BD comps but can work around that as long as we are having fun!
Arena eventing; know nothing about it but imagine it is great fun and possibly more accessible (in venue and cost terms) than traditional eventing? Please correct me if I am wrong.
I honestly think that BE is out of our budget tbh; I would want training in all 3 elements, may need additional tack, entry fees are high and venues seem miles and miles away
I remember how eventing was, back in the day and it really is long days, lots of money, potential crashing disappointment lol!! I still quite enjoyed it tbh but was mad, single and bold. I am no longer single or particularly bold though have become much more 'thinking' as a rider so that possibly mitigates losing a degree of madness! Hunter trials would be great fun I think on this mare but are they even really a thing now? Showing is likely to be disastrous owing to my innate inability to stay up till dawn cleaning hunting tack with a toothbrush!! Done it once, won the class, never again...
What would you 'aim for' - possibly with a 'bit on the side' as it were so that money and 'competitive mojo' were satisfied without exhausting or bankrupting you if you were me? Personally speaking I am not talented in any particular way but happy to put the work in to enjoy rewards on my own terms. Even happy to fail horribly if we are safe and genuinely doing our best lol. I haven't been out competing for a few years now so the landscape feels rather 'foreign' but I kind of want to make the most of this new interest in 'formal' stuff...
