From naughty to nice - before and after - lets see yours

[jesterfaerie]

Inspired by Ahrena's post on the Ugly Duckling thread.
It would be interesting to see your naughty beasts and what they are like now. It is always nice to see someone transform their horse.

 

[westernriderH]

When my horses first came, (straight from Uruguay) they were really quiet and spooky...then they gained confidence and started getting cocky, I had Colorado rearing on me as I was trying to lead him, biting everything, and Sapo rearing on the farrier...Now, they've learnt to accept me as 'lead mare' or whatever, and they're pretty chilled out, and me and Colorado have gone on some extreme hacks :L we're getting there..

 

[humph]

I bought my horse 4 yrs ago and realised on his passport he'd never stayed with one owner for longer than 6 months - slightly worrying since he was rising 4 at the time. He had an amazing jump and a very quirky character. I have said ever since the day I tried him that he's the best horse I've ever ridden. His flatwork was uninspiring as he's not naturally an exciting mover but his technique and honesty jumping was always spectacular. He was advertised as a 4* character and they couldn't have been more true. He bites everyone, bucks and rears above your head at every given opportunity.

When i first took him cross country schooling, (he'd never jumped anything but showjumps before) i popped him over a little log as our first jump that must be less than 1ft high. I have a fantastic photo of it - he must be jumping about 5ft in a perfect bascule.

When I went on holiday and asked a friend to ride him, she gave up after the first day because he spent the entire time on only 1 or 2 legs and the rest in the air. I spent his 5 and 6 yr old years trying to work out what was wrong with him because his temper was so bad. We found out he had ulcers from his time in training and got those fixed and then he had various issues with his back which, with a huge range of therapists we finally fixed.

He is still the same naughty horse that bites, bucks, boings, and comes up with pretty much every naughty trick in the book. However, we've now discovered that if you keep his brain entertained and don't bore him, his talent shines through and his naughtiness diminishes. He started eventing last year and won his first two intros, was placed in various others then upgraded to PN and won or was placed in all of those and has now upgraded to Novice and out of 4 runs has been placed twice. He's being competed by a friend of mine who loves him for his quirks and they just go so well together. I'm due to have my first baby soon and am just worried that my horse is actually too talented for me, particularly since my time will be split between dogs, horses and now a baby.