Found out what happened to my first pony. Cried for joy.

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pennyturner

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I had Brave for 10 years; sold him to RDA for driving when he was 18, as it was too likely that he would kill my children as they got old enough to ride him - he was not for the feint hearted under saddle! That was 12 years ago.

The other day I plucked up courage to get in touch, wanting to find out what happened to him, but knowing he would likely be dead.

Imagine my joy when they got back to me to say that he's alive and well, retired just last year (aged 28) to live out his days at the Horses Trust. There are photos and comments, and he's as beautiful as I remember.
 
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pennyturner

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It was just the right thing all round. Pony was very talented, but predictably dangerous under saddle. From the moment we broke him to drive, he never put a foot wrong, so he's been a wonderful RDA carriage pony for 10 years, doing some real good in the world. Seeing that he'd been retired to Horse's Trust was just the icing on the cake.
 
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pennyturner

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dollyanna said:
Is Brave by any chance a palomino, working for a group in Hertfordshire?
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That's him. Bright palomino like a newly minted coin, with a pure cream mane and tail, and enough arab in him to make his ears meet in the middle when he's excited. :)
Do you know him?
 
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dollyanna

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pennyturner said:
That's him. Bright palomino like a newly minted coin, with a pure cream mane and tail, and enough arab in him to make his ears meet in the middle when he's excited. :)
Do you know him?
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I paid for him :) It was my first year at Uni, they had in recent years lost 2 of their longstanding ponies and were struggling to find another suitable with limited funds (they had just received a grant for a much-needed 4 wheeler but had no pony big enough) so I did a camel trekking challenge in the Gobi desert to raise enough money to buy a decent pony. Managed to get just the right amount for them to get Brave, but by then I was at Uni so never had very much to do with him, though I did go and drive him in the holidays when I could.
They really cherish their ponies, all of the retirees have gone to the retirement home and they used to arrange day trips to visit them for the clients and volunteers.
 
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pennyturner

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How wonderful! It couldn't have worked out better. I notice that the HT have got his foaling date wrong by 10 years. Suspect they're used to police horses retiring at 18, not 28!

In his youth, he would do 30 mile hacks, jump a 3'6" XC course, and flying changes for fun.
He was broken to drive at 13 because I had a young family and could only keep him if I could find a way of taking the babies with me, so his first 5 years of driving were pulling a governess carriage full of children all over Hampshire... and he never put a foot wrong for me either.

(Quite jealous of the Camel Trekking!)
 
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dollyanna

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pennyturner said:
(Quite jealous of the Camel Trekking!)
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Haha, don't be, it was an absolute disaster, they did it in outer Mongolia where they weren't used to tourists, brought 2 different herds of camels together in order to have enough for each of us (with the usual result of 2 strange herds being hobbled in very close proximity!!), most of the camels had never actually been broken so took off across the desert resulting in a number of falls, the air ambulance came on on 2 successive days due to falls, one poor lady never even made it off base camp and didn't get home til 3 weeks later as they needed a flatbed seat for her to be transported in. Another did the whole trip with a broken collarbone as she refused to leave. The mongolian guides had to keep galloping off back to the city to call for help as the satellite phone we were told we would have didn't exist and the GP who was supposed to be the emergency doctor had no emergency training. There was one air ambulance for the entire desert so we had to stay put until it arrived each day. We ended up walking instead, which was fine except that we weren't equipped for walking. Then the last morning on the desert we woke up in a snowstorm - in September!! All the dome tents except mine (because ours was the only 2 man tent and so much smaller) had disappeared off across a salt lake and had to be retrieved so we finally abandoned ship and heading back to Ulaan Baatar and had an extra day in the city instead.

I really earned that pony!!!!
 
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