Pictures Five years of Mary and Flower's first time ridden

[Cinnamontoast]

I do love a solid coloured cob, despite owning a Mary lookalike! How tall has Flower made? I cannot believe it’s been 5 years.

 

[Laurac13]

Both flower and mary look wonderful ? I remember you’re bog off post where has the time gone !
they are a credit to you
I look forward to hearing about Flowers adventures!

 

[JJS]

I do love a solid coloured cob, despite owning a Mary lookalike! How tall has Flower made? I cannot believe it’s been 5 years.

She’s somewhere around the 15hh mark. I reckon she’ll be a solid 15.2 by the time she’s done, as Mary gained a couple of inches from when I got her at the same age. She does seem to have grown a bit while she’s been away, so might even be closer to 15.1hh now!

 

[Mule]

You and Flower look lovely together

 

[Fluffypiglet]

She's grown into a really lovely horse. What a great freebie!

 

[Asha]

She’s looking fabulous. At 15.1 she’s the perfect height too ! Look forward to more updates

 

[splashgirl45]

perfect height for you and looks like she moves quite well, hope you enjoy your hacking and little sister enjoys her self...

 

[JJS]

We decided to strike while the iron was hot and get them straight out hacking. This was a particularly special milestone for me, as it's the moment I've most looked forward to since Flower was born: me and my sister taking my girls out together.

Both were foot perfect, and Flower was completely unphased by everything she saw. For a horse who's never hacked that route before and had a different rider to the one she's used to, perfection was far too big an ask, but she delivered it anyway.

In all honesty, I'm still reeling at how smoothly it's gone so far. Having a horse from the first day and having so much tied up in them without knowing how they'll turn out is nail-biting, and this feels like the biggest pat on the back. She was never going anywhere regardless, no matter how incompatible we might have been, but having a horse I enjoy at the end of it really is the most wonderful feeling.

Yes, we probably still have plenty of teenage tantrums ahead, but today I'm going to revel in the loveliness of having a beautiful, willing youngster who I love the bones of. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.

 

[bonny]

That’s a lovely picture of your two horses, you should be very proud of everything you’ve done

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

Fabulous picture. What an amazing BOGOF. ???

 

[JJS]

That’s a lovely picture of your two horses, you should be very proud of everything you’ve done

Fabulous picture. What an amazing BOGOF. ???

Thank you both! I’m still so grateful that I’ve had the advice and support of my fellow HHOers to fall back on throughout. It made it all seem so much less scary when I felt out of my depth and had no real idea what I was doing!

 

[splashgirl45]

lovely to see its all working out for you..

 

[JJS]

Just a brief update to say how lucky I am! Having a BOGOF out of your freshly broken four-year-old is potluck, to say the least, but I seem to have genuinely hit the jackpot with this little mare (I say little, but she's actually mid-growth spurt).

Flower hasn't put a foot wrong since she came home. Although we've stuck to baby hacks, we've encountered just about every obstacle you don't want to encounter when hacking a youngster! Flower hasn't batted an eyelid. She's had one teensy, tiny spook when a wind-blown tarpaulin tangled itself around her legs, and even then, she simply shrugged off her shock and carried on.

Despite her slight quirkiness as a foal to three-year-old - which I now suspect was normal baby behaviour that I overanalysed because she was my first youngster - I'd swear she's been here before. She's brave, bold, and just about the comfiest horse I've ever ridden. I could never afford to buy her, but nor could anything on earth convince me to sell her. I've loved riding her from the first second I sat in her saddle, and I fully appreciate how lucky this makes me.

Add to that how beautiful she is, and I genuinely have to wonder what I did to deserve her!

 

[Caol Ila]

She's so beautiful. A small part of me feels a bit sad about selling my BOGOF, but owning two unbroke young horses on livery would send me batsh*t. If Hermosa had been broken in herself (hell...if she'd been freakin' handled in any sense), I might have made a different decision.

 

[JJS]

She's so beautiful. A small part of me feels a bit sad about selling my BOGOF, but owning two unbroke young horses on livery would send me batsh*t. If Hermosa had been broken in herself (hell...if she'd been freakin' handled in any sense), I might have made a different decision.

I won't lie - having Flower slowed Mary's education down a lot. She was only just backed when I bought her, and I'd committed to a winter of taking it slow and doing baby hacks. By the time I felt she was ready to kick it up a gear, we found out she was expecting, and she ended up having over a year unridden. Then life kept getting in the way, so she wasn't really consistently back in work until COVID hit. But at least she was handled!

That being said, and on a more positive note, I've always felt being forced to take it slowly did Mary the world of good in the long run. The difference in her maturity and attitude to work was phenomenal, and I genuinely think it took Flower to bring her out of her shell. She was such a shy, reserved four-year-old, who'd been unhandled until she was brought in and broken. I honestly believe it took having an inquisitive, people-oriented foal to teach her she actually liked human affection and interaction. You might find having Caso eventually ends up doing the same for Hermosa, and even if it doesn't, at least you got a few glorious months of foal watching out of it

 

[splashgirl45]

flower is looking fabulous as always, yes you are lucky to have such a well behaved and beautiful BOGOFF, but both flower and mary are lucky to have an owner who has seeked and taken advice all the way through and you can take credit for their progress as even the best natured youngster can be spoilt by incorrect or rough handling, so a big well done...

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Mary and Flower and both just precious ??

 

[ycbm]

You couldn't have carefully chosen a stallion and deliberately bred a better mare than Flower, could you? And big credit to you for getting her to where you are, it's lovely to see.
.

 

[Asha]

i love the flower & Mary updates. Shes a credit to you, enjoy

 

[Caol Ila]

I won't lie - having Flower slowed Mary's education down a lot. She was only just backed when I bought her, and I'd committed to a winter of taking it slow and doing baby hacks. By the time I felt she was ready to kick it up a gear, we found out she was expecting, and she ended up having over a year unridden. Then life kept getting in the way, so she wasn't really consistently back in work until COVID hit. But at least she was handled!

That being said, and on a more positive note, I've always felt being forced to take it slowly did Mary the world of good in the long run. The difference in her maturity and attitude to work was phenomenal, and I genuinely think it took Flower to bring her out of her shell. She was such a shy, reserved four-year-old, who'd been unhandled until she was brought in and broken. I honestly believe it took having an inquisitive, people-oriented foal to teach her she actually liked human affection and interaction. You might find having Caso eventually ends up doing the same for Hermosa, and even if it doesn't, at least you got a few glorious months of foal watching out of it

I also think it's been a good thing for Hermosa, in a way. It's forced me to slow right down and spend the last four months doing nothing but basic handling three to four times per week. That's done her a world of good. She catches, leads, picks up her feet, etc. etc. It's also made her more confident. She's less of a wilting lilly in the herd now and will stand up for herself. She'll probably never be a dominant mare, but at least she's not too likely to end up as the victim of bullying, like her mum.

That being said, they're still both babies. She wasn't even three when she foaled! She will be four next June. Mentally, she's grown up a lot, but physically, she is less mature than a lot of other three-year olds I've seen. Probably due to being pregnant and then nursing taking a lot of energy that would otherwise be used for growing, so it will be a while before she is backed.

I bought Foinavon because I missed having a riding horse. The plan in the fantasy-land of my head was that Gypsum would bounce back in the summer, so getting the youngster made sense, but that is not how it panned out. I thought about keeping the foal and not buying another horse, but obviously I didn't do that. Just felt too daunted by the prospect of raising two babies on my own. Plus, my friend was keen to buy Caso, so he's staying at the yard.

 

[angel7]

Just a quick update as I've had a couple of HHOers message on Instagram to ask if I'd be making a post. It's been quite an exciting month here for me and my trio, with Flower going away for backing on the 1st and Mary's five-year anniversary on the 11th. It's very much been a period of firsts, which has been made all the more exciting by my Timehop flashing up lots of memories of Mary at the same age. It's crazy now to look back and realise how much of a baby she was when I got her!

Flower has made me proud from start to finish. Despite never having seen a horsebox before, it took less than five minutes to load her and she travelled like a pro. She called a little for the first couple of days after arriving but was pretty quick to settle in and has behaved impeccably. Lunging was the thing she struggled most with - as the lady who's breaking her said, "she's a horse who likes to live in your pocket". She's always struggled to see why she should walk around you in a circle when she could stand next to you and have cuddles, but she didn't take too long to get the hang of it, and then she was off.

Mary has coped surprisingly well with Flower being away - in fact, she hasn't given it a second thought! Because our pony comes in overnight, she's been stabled next to him and is loving her home comforts. We've been doing plenty of hacking to keep her occupied (not that she's bothered), which she's enjoyed immensely. It's crazy to think my brave, enthusiastic turbo cob is the same nappy four-year-old who arrived, but somewhere along the way she really has morphed into my dream horse.

These are just a few of our recent hacks. Those gorgeous, pricked ears say it all, don't they?

To really show you the transformation, here she is at four (I love seeing these pictures next to the ones of Flower at the same age) and now aged nine.

Now onto the most exciting stuff! I've officially had my first ride on Flower! After being led around with a rider for the first time on Friday, she had a rest day on Saturday, and then I was invited up for a turn on Sunday. Despite vastly too short stirrups (the lady breaking her is about half a foot smaller than me!), I felt so at home on her. The feeling of sitting on the horse you've bred for the first time is honestly indescribable - I don't think I've ever had a bigger smile on my face. Here she is in all her grown-up glory.

Apologies for the essay, but I know there are lots of you who are quite invested in her progress!

P.S. I hate to be that person, but please no criticism or unnecessary comments. This is a happy thread, and my last one of those derailed into a discourse on the dangers of long manes I know their manes are long. I also know they're not the slimmest, but I try my best and that's all you can do. What they are is happy, well-loved horses with an owner who couldn't be more proud of them

Would love an update of this old thread!!

 

[JJS]

Would love an update of this old thread!!

There’s nothing exciting to update it with, I’m afraid! It’s just over a year since either of the girls was ridden (due to my health issues, not theirs), but they’re both in fine fettle and living their best lives as lawnmowers. They’re still sweet as pie, still joined at the hip, and still as loved as ever

 

[splashgirl45]

There’s nothing exciting to update it with, I’m afraid! It’s just over a year since either of the girls was ridden (due to my health issues, not theirs), but they’re both in fine fettle and living their best lives as lawnmowers. They’re still sweet as pie, still joined at the hip, and still as loved as ever

Sorry to hear you’ve been poorly but glad you still have both of the girls and they are well .. hope you will be able to ride soon

 

[Backtoblack]

Absolutely wonderful

 

[Squeak]

Lovely to hear they're well and happy. Sorry to hear you've been poorly, I hope you get better soon.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Hope you're feeling better soon.
Glad the girls are doing well.