For the love......

[Christmas_Kate]

I think it's safe to say we're all into horses purely because we love them

. Not many ride just because it's a job that puts food on a table.

Whilst some have been fortunate enough to have had horses from a young age, and horsey parents, alot havent.
What have you done to achieve your dream of owning a horse? And if you don't own a horse what are your dreams and how do you plan to get there? Any really heart warming stories?
What was the first pony you rode? What was your first pony and yard like? any funny stories?
Had a long day and need cheering up

 

[dwi]

Got my first horse this year aged 24. Every spare penny spent on her and we are thinking of moving to buy a house with enough land to keep her at home. It was worth the years of saving and hard academic work to be in this financial position. I am one of the few people I know without a student loan, not because my parents gave me money but because I don't believe in debt. It now means that I'm not paying a loan back so I can spend what I earn.

 

[dieseldog]

I got my first pony when my parents split up, guilt is a wonderful thing. He was very old, and we shared him between 5 of us.

 

[Weezy]

Didnt part wth money for a horse until I was 21! I got a job on a yard at 12 and just worked hard getting rides - helped I had free rein over any horse on the yard tho! I have no idea why I do it, I am just not me without horses around!

 

[Kate_13]

I wish i was that good with money!

I wasn't able to get my first horse until I was 21! But I did use to ride a little arab x at my riding school every week when I was way younger! Maybe thats why I love my arab x's now!

I had my mare at 21 who was brilliant, she is now a brood mare and retired from riding.

I now have a lovely arab x gelding and a warmblood x on loan that after lots of hoo hah am going to get back I think!

 

[weevil]

Well I am currently trying to save up some money but with rent and bills it may take me a while

 

[teapot]

Don't have my own horse so just enjoy being able to ride (when I can) the big mixture that the yard has. I've been lucky enough to ride some good competition horses whether it be BD or BE related - they all had records and some are still competing.

I didnt start out at this yard - started at it after I moved schools and just stayed there really, 6 years later. Have many many memories, some good, some bad, but one of my instructors who I've had 6yrs probably is my main reason why I keep riding - she's always honest, tells me when it's crap, tells me when it's good and always seems to stay the right thing at the right time to pick me up. Lost my confidence completely last year and she was the one who sat me down and gave me the lift to get me back on a horse.

I had a pony on share last year, but alas didnt work out, reason for losing all my confidence so I now know not to rush into anything and also know what I would buy if I ever get the chance.

Dreams wise - one day to have my own horse - it wont happen in the near future so my main aim is just to get my confidence back to what it was & enjoy riding for what it is, not make it a chore

 

[Jellicle]

I share a horse and I'm really happy with it. Owning a horse is a big investment in terms of time and money!

I rode at all sorts of riding stables as a child and was the kind of girl who nagged parents about buying a pony (unsuccessfully).

In my year out, while others were doing exotic jobs abroad, I worked at a local livery stables and shared a six year old arab. Ten years later I finally got settled and secure enough to start sharing again!

 

[Blizzard]

I started riding at about 12yrs old, I used to save up my pocket money, I got £5 a week and riding was £6.50 so had to budget my lunch money at school!

I stopped riding at the riding school at 16, did my A levels. Started working at a point to point/hunting yard at 18, stayed there until I was 20 (still no horse of my own!)

Worked in an offce for a year and a half until April 2005, been a lady of leisure since thanks to OH, and finally have my own horses!

However I miss the contact of working with so many at the point to point yard, I loved them so much and some of them were basically mine to do what i wanted with, I always said all I wanted was 2 dogs and a horse, ever since I was a child.

I have my dogs, and 2 horses so am very happy! And at 23, much younger than I expected to have them!

 

[TrecPeter]

I started riding when I was about 40, and never ever imagined I would actually like it!. 12 years on I have my own (low cost) horse & transport and enjoy participating in Trec compets and other odd things. Beyond my wildest dreams we won last year's departmental final !!!!!!

If anyone had told me when I was at Uni that I would win a French equestrian competition, I would have told them they were mad !!

Life is full of suprises when you look back.

 

[skye123]

i started riding at six then had a 2 yr gap when i was about 8 cos i fell of three times in a row on riding school ponies which really knocked my confidence.

friend got me back into riding when i was 10 and got my first pony when i was either 12 or 13 cant remember lol!! sold her in august and have now got my mad horse skye!!

reading your posts make me realise how lucky i am seeing as neither of my parents were horsey (i`m gradually converting them though lol!!)

 

[LauraBR]

I was always obsessed from an early age... had lessons and rode friends ponies but had to wait until I had a job that paid enough to keep one! Managed it at last at 23...

 

[SueAllen]

Kerrrist - all you 20 somethings getting your first horse and thinking yourselves lucky!!? Mine was a 40th (oh my god am I really that old?!) birthday present to myself and I was only able to have him because we had been lucky enough to have the opportunity to buy the barn (and stable) next door plus some land, from the local farmer the year before. So I can keep him at home and I didn't have to look for him, he found me - and he only lived down the road too. I dreamt and dreamt of living in the country with way too many dogs to be practical, one or some horses, a small farm and I am now living that dream. Boy, it's hard work but I would never give it up. All those years of hoping and working and quietly dreaming were worth it. Just wish I was 20 years younger to enjoy it for longer....

 

[Christmas_Kate]

lol, in my latter 20's and still havent one. I had two on loan as a teenager, but then the kids came along and now they are into ponies, we only have room for one, so they get the stable lol.
I started riding at 4, a horsey mum, and horse hating father. carried on, on and off until I was about 15. Gave up after a nasty incident, and took up again about 18 months ago. I hope to get something about 13.2hh later this year, so that I can ride and my son will have something to grow into lol.

Oh, and my horse hating father?? he's been taxi-ing us the length and breadth of the country looking at ponies and even feeds and does all the stable DIY for us.

 

[brighteyes]

dwi - that's me exactly - I was 18 when I bought mine, out of my own money and never borrowed a penny off parents. They hadn't much anyway. Worked only to keep him.

Got married, bought a home with land for first pony (who is buried in top field

)OH funds ponies now and trying to instill the same ethos I had into my kids. I am not a 12.2 groom for anyone! You appreciate stuff more when you work for it.

 

[madhector]

got ponies on loan from my riding instructer, mostly ones that were unsutable for the riding school that she wanted selling or schooling, usually completly mad and difficult, but was better than none at all, then my sister bought a welsh c from a sale for £170 going for meat, she was going to back him and sell him on, but i ended up keeping him, was the best pony i have ever ridden! Hector was a freebee as too nuts to sell, Rio was the first horse i have ever actually bought( and thats been a bit of a disaster!), the rest have been begged, borrowed or stolen

 

[ThomasTank]

I started riding when I was 12 and was a helper on saturdays at our local riding school. I am one of nine children and the only one into horses. My mum died when I was 16 and at 21 i got inheritance money and because she could never afford to buy me a horse, Thomas was the first thing I bought with her money. I am now 36 and I still have him. He is a very special horse.... to me anyway

 

[Enfys]

Oh Crikey, reading all these stories make me feel like a complete spoiled brat

From the time I was 6 and we moved from Bristol to East Devon I have had ponies, usually more than one. My Mother used to collect them, she'd go to Exeter market or Bampton and buy anything that took her fancy then bring it back, hide it at a farm for a month or so then slide it into our land without my father noticing. (Funny, I used to do that too!)
I did all the usual hunting (skiiving from school), Pony Club stuff, and yes, I had a job from the age of 12 at weekends and holidays at a Countryside Park leading pony rides around a field for 5p a ride to help pay for them.
I did go on and take my AI, well HM and PTT back then, and have had a wonderful time working in a lot of different yards from trekking on Dartmoor to racing and studs. I even went to college and got a proper qualification too, and that had its' uses and was a great deal more profitable but a lot less fun.
I was incredibly lucky to have grown up with land and parents who encouraged me to enjoy my horses and ponies and competing. I did have a break from horses for a few years and at those times would never look at a horse or watch one on TV. 20 years ago I caught arab-itis and haven't been without one since, now, I am again amazingly fortunate to be able to have several horses at home and have the fun of seeing my own daughter enjoy them.

 

[Kezza]

ooo a long one as I have been riding for 25 years ...

My first word was gee gee, wanted a rocking horse but parents wouldn't get me one as they thought it would encourage me, it did the opposite and encouraged me even more. My Mum was quite ill when I was young and I often accompanied her to the hospital where they had the biggest rocking horse ever, I used to ride it the whole time we were there ...

I got to ride aged 4 on a dun pony called dusty whom I rode with a headcollar and baling twine. Then we moved and found another yeard where I started having lessons aged 7, once a week which gradually turned into mucking out for extra rides so I spent most weekends there. Then my friend went to a private yard where a couple of girls looked after 10 horses and in return they got free livery for theirs and gave her lessons so I went along too. The yard owners sold a few of the horses and my friend and I then looked after the rest and rode them (I was now about 12).

One of the girls had a beautiful welsh cross whom I looked after for a couple of years and when she decided to sell him, I asked my parents if we could buy him, but unofrtuantely my Mum was ill in hospital again and my Dad said it wasn't a good time so he was sold on. It broke my heart.

I then got another one on full loan at another yard and had him until I was 16. I had a few others on loan and then on my 18th birthday when I was old enough to get a bank loan, I went searching for my first horse to buy for the grand sum of £1000 and bought the first one I saw as I felt sorry for him.

He turned out to be a nightmare 16.1hh TB x who was way too big for me and dragged me around and generally walked all over me (I am 5ft 4 and 7stone). Sold him a while later to a lovely family who had their own yard. I lost a lot of confidence with him and had a few years break before starting dressage lessons on my friend's Prix St George horse at her yard which was a lot of fun and helped me regain my confidence. It was during one of these lessons that I saw a chestnut lying down in one of her fields, turned out he was owned by the groom who had a few ponies and was available for sale.

Needless to say I bought him, totally green, virtually un-broken, been living in a field for the past 5 years ... he was a nightmare to say the least but had a kind eye and I knew he would come good. I schooled him on for 2 years and he turned into a dream of a pony. During our second year together I found out my friends chestnut gelding (aged 19) needed a home as she was off to university so I offered to take him in. I hadn't even sat on him, finances were going to be tight but we struggled through. At 19 years old he was still a complete fruit loop and so much fun to ride, he made me remember what I used to like in a gee gee, something hot and lively and a challenge to ride. This made my younger boy seem to quiet and it took me a few months to come to the decision to sell him and stick with the older boy.

I found him the very best home with a wonderful lady whom I am still in contact with regularly. They are very much the perfect couple and he seems so happy.

So that brings us up to date although I did manage to track the chestnut down whom my parents couldn't buy for me a few years ago, he is still with the lady who bought him from my friend and it's looking as though he will return to my area to live out his final days as she unfortunately is getting divorced and can no longer keep him so my friend who used to own him has agreed to take him back, what a happy ending!