First horsey love

what a lovely story Fionam12 - I'm glad Mildred found someone who loved her!

Although I had ponies I liked, my first pony love and obsession (it's the obsessional part which told me it was true love) was Beauty - a 13hh livery chestnut mare. She was in the stables I went to ride at. They didn't do lessons, only hacks out around the local parkland but oh my god did I love that pony! She was ace! Fast, fiesty and fun and could jump better than most of the bigger ponies! She had a rear in her though and if you got on a field when she was het up and didn't let her go, up she would go! I remember her doing it once and all I could see was leaves, as my head was amongst the branches of a tree!!

She probably reinforced other people's thoughts on chestnut mares but I loved her firey character (in fact, last time I was horsey shopping the first 5 I looked at were chestnut mares as I was so desperate for another! lol).

She had an amazing jump and had been a Prince Philip games pony at some point. She did have an horrendous stop in her though, literally locked onto a fence and then at the point of take off would stop dead, drop her shoulder and dump you unceremoniously at the other side of the fence!!!

She was lovely natured though - loved a fuss and I was totally smitten. When my parents relented and agreed I could have a pony aged 13, I nagged and nagged for Beauty. Even though she was now far too small. Being unhorsey, they did buy her and I had a further couple of years looking like a daddylonglegs sat on an ant before I gave up and relented to riding bigger ponies! lol

Think I am about 15 in this pic....it was probably one of the last pics I had before I stopped pony-squishing!!!
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and here is one of her looking very orange in the afternoon sun (P.s - that wasn't her usual field....we sometimes turned out in there whilst we were mucking out!)
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This is such a lovely thread with gorgeous photos - Mildred was beautiful - and now I have tears running down my face; good job I am home alone! My first real horsey love was a beach pony! Patten gave rides for many years on Minehead beach. Anyone else remember him? He was a beautiful palomino.
 
I love how people's first horsey loves always seem to be so quirky! Not what you imagine when you're tiny and you ask your parents over and over again for a pony for Christmas/birthdays/any occasion with presents - you watch Black Beauty and you imagine galloping off into the distance on this perfect stunner who never puts a foot wrong! Then you fall in love with an equine friend who looks/behaves nothing like Black Beauty but you love them more than you could ever love anything else! They're the ones who stand out and who really hold your heart!
 
OP - Mildred sounds a little like a horse at my first riding school. That's a lovely story you have there. Poor old Polly (Apollo) used to get similar treatment from the chief instructor, she even used to beat him up during group lessons to show us all how 'proficient' she was - even back then I think we all knew that was not the way to go. Polly was a real sweetheart and I think we all loved him. My Dad used to sneak him sweeties if he wasn't being used while I was having my lesson.

My first love was the typical little grey gelding so beloved of most riding schools. He was called Raffles and I loved him to bits. He could be a bit cheeky and was very fond of hack snacks, especially from well manicured front lawns :D And then there was my own first pony, had to wait until my 22nd birthday and then what a present I got!!!! The people I'd been sharing with decided they wanted to part with the pony and gave him to me - if it hadn't been for him (and them) I wouldn't have had all the fun that followed or the confidence to think I could go it alone.

And of course, Red Rum! Admired from afar, I did eventually get to meet the chap himself and after squishing through the crowd (something a little shy child like me didn't normally do) I got to pat him on the bum! Honestly I didn't wash my hand for a week I was so overcome! At the same 'do' they bought me a huge poster of him and one of his rosettes that were sold to raise money for charity and both things hung on my bedroom wall until the sad day that he was PTS. I still cry every year when they show clips of him in the run up to the National. Truly a horse in a million.
 
Clare85 said:
I love how people's first horsey loves always seem to be so quirky! Not what you imagine when you're tiny and you ask your parents over and over again for a pony for Christmas/birthdays/any occasion with presents - you watch Black Beauty and you imagine galloping off into the distance on this perfect stunner who never puts a foot wrong! Then you fall in love with an equine friend who looks/behaves nothing like Black Beauty but you love them more than you could ever love anything else! They're the ones who stand out and who really hold your heart!
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I'd never thought of that, but it's true. I was brought up with the idea of "perfect" fantasy horses: Black Beauty, Flicka, Champion the Wonderhorse... Yet I don't remember even noticing the real thing fell somewhat short of those ideals. :)
 
:smile3: Oh what a heartwarming story, just the name 'Mildred' makes me love her !

My first love was a truely beautiful bright bay New Forest - Rocky.
I must of been about 6/7 when a neighbour asked me to help back him as he was only a 3yo.
Then, after a summer of riding him she decided to sell. I was devastated, he was my world. Mum, although very horsey, said no way we could never afford him.
It turned out that my mum, aunt and nan all clubbed together to buy him as a surprise early Christmas present!
My mum would walk him up to my village primary school to pick me up and I'd ride home from school. Everything you would want in a pony he was and more, from jumping, gymkhana, x/c, hacking and when the 'grown-up' stuff got bad at home he was my refuge.
Rocky was my childhood and the best teacher ever.
I had him until he was pts and was with him at the end, I was 31 and he was mid 20's. That was 1999. Now I have Roberto, who despite being a Welsh looks so similar and has that same devilish glint in his eye!

Here's Rocky, my boy:

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My first horsey love was a beautiful grey mare named Molly, she was probably around 15hh. Her and 3 other mares lived in a field up the road and were all unbroken. They were all pretty scared of humans too. Me and my friends just fell in love with all, and claimed them to be 'our own'. We used to go up every Sunday with a bag of carrots, 4 headcollars and our brushes. One of my friends decided she was going to try and break one of the horses in and after being bucked off God knows how many times, I decided I didn't want to be involved in it all, so I went and said goodbye to Molly and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. As far as I know she is back at her dealers yard sat in a field again, but not a day goes by that I don't think about her or walk past her field that the cows now graze in.
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There were lots of riding school horses I liked, but I didn't really get *smitten* with a horse until I started helping out at a local livery yard. Yapyun was a big black ID type. I remember him as being about 18hh but, then again, I was tiny!

I was never sure who actually owned him (possibly the yard owner?) because I never saw him ridden, and was never allowed to ride him myself, but he was my absolute favourite to do. He was the long-suffering recipient of my attempts to move my theoretical knowledge into practical experience. He put up with me figuring out how to groom, how to plait, how to bandage (tails and legs). There wasn't an ounce of malice in him, and the worst he'd do after an hour of standing there while I unpicked and redid plaits was to knock me off my stepladder. (I mentioned he was huge and I was tiny, right? *g*)
 
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