How did it feel the first time you sat on/rode your babies?

[katastrophykat]

I've always felt- right from the first sit on Gunner- right at home. He's my one and only homebred, and I trust him implicitly- he is my dude! He's rising four, here's his life story

Day one-

Week 12-

Month 9-

Yearling-

Two year old-

Three-

Three 1/2 year old- first hack alone

Last month-

I can't wait to see him under harness!!!!!

 

[ladyt25]

What an absolutely gorgeous horse

....until it completely whites out and is a beggar to clean!!

 

[vicky86]

Ah he's going to be a real cracker. Looks very smart, I like a quality coloured.

I have done a few now (all of mine bar one - 5/6) and only one i found strange to be doing was the one that I bought as a foal. I remember looking at him the day I bought him and thinking that I could never imagine the day ever coming when I would be on him, he was just sooo tiny! Even when the day came to jump on I found it weird, as I still saw him as a real proper baby (never been like this with the others). It probably took me a year to start thinking of him as a proper riding horse he is now rising 7 and I love him to bits and think it makes it all the more special as I knew him from day dot.

Picture from the day I bought him at around 2 months old

Yearling:

No actual pics from first day I sat on him (unfortunatley i killed my phone before i got to upload them )but this is one of a couple of weeks in.

Rising 5

No very recent pics but as a rising 6yo

Sorry lots of pics!

Best of luck with the backing, please post pics when you do

 

[ladyt25]

I had had a lightweight rider on mine on the lunge a couple of times before I got on, but I was in the school just playing with her and decided to get on to see what happened. I'm trying to upload the video to photobucket so that I can post it, but it's taking forever - if it uploads, I'll post it. She didn't bother at all, walked and trotted round, and on New Years morning I took her for her first hack totally alone - I love her, she is totally fab! However she still seems to have quite a lot of growing to do, so will only be lightly hacked once or twice a week for the next few months until she matures.....

Try imageshack instead - I find it a lot easier than photobucket to use.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

I had had a lightweight rider on mine on the lunge a couple of times before I got on, but I was in the school just playing with her and decided to get on to see what happened. I'm trying to upload the video to photobucket so that I can post it, but it's taking forever - if it uploads, I'll post it. She didn't bother at all, walked and trotted round, and on New Years morning I took her for her first hack totally alone - I love her, she is totally fab! However she still seems to have quite a lot of growing to do, so will only be lightly hacked once or twice a week for the next few months until she matures.....

I am so chuffed she has gone well for you HH, cracking news

 

[Huff2013]

Picture from the day I bought him at around 2 months old

Sorry no very recent pics but as a rising 6yo

wow what a stunning horse! what a change from when he was a baby!

 

[Nicnac]

It felt amazing (and then we had a couple of yee ha moments & I fell off......twice )

 

[Springy]

Im a fully paid up member to the Gunner fan club

 

[kerrieberry2]

I love this post

my boy will be 3 in May and I am hoping to get on him for the first time around Sept! not doing anything exciting just a little walk around. so hopefully he will stop being so bum high by then!

him at 5 weeks

meeting his new friends - 2yrs old

paying dress up as a big horsey

practicing loading in our new trailer on xmas eve, very brave boy - 2yrs 7 months now

 

[rowy]

What an absolutely gorgeous horse

Why thankyou

....until it completely whites out and is a beggar to clean!!

Hah indeed! I picked her more because of her personality than colour. She is truly a very sweet and loving mare. It took me 3 washes with lemon fairy liquid to get her tail from a dark yellow/ brown to a pale yellow colour today. and she likes to use poo as a pillow. She obviously knows her destiny as a grey to get as filthy as possible. I will have to invest in a tail bag me thinks

 

[MileAMinute]

It felt amazing! He is my first ever horse to back and wasn't even mine...however the trust I had in him and the bond in breaking him I just had to have him!

As a foal:

And first sit in June as a 3.5yo:

I'm actually more nervous of getting back on him in the next few weeks after having the winter off!

 

[vicky86]

wow what a stunning horse! what a change from when he was a baby!

Ah thank you
He seemed to get darker every year until he reached 4 which I was actually pleased about

 

[Jesstickle]

Great because in her three year old year she had surgery and I wasn't sure I was going to ever get to ride her...


When I got her rising 2

First sitting on her (this time last year, about to turn 4)

Her this summer after she tried to kill me and my friend had to put us back together again ( I am bricking it in this picture!)

Now (she was 5 this 1st of Jan)

I lubs my little grey pony and whilst it hasn't been completely smooth (and that's saying something) she is totally worth it.

Lots of lovely ponies on this thread btw

 

[Holly Hocks]

I think I've managed to get the vid to work. As I said, I didn't expect to get on her this day, but we had been playing about over the poles in the school and I just decided to get on while the OH was there. She had been lunged a couple of times with a lightweight rider on and this is the first time with me on, and her first time off the lunge. Please forgive my appalling position, but I wasn't sure what reaction she was going to give. And yes, I know I'm too big for her, but I was on her for 5 minutes, and yes, ideally I would have had a neck strap etc etc, but hey ho, it felt right......I think you have to click on the picture to get the vid to buffer up and start.....

 

[Jesstickle]

If you're too big for yours HH I'm def too big for mine

 

[Marydoll]

Its the best feeling knowing youre the first to sit on your baby

 

[Holly Hocks]

If you're too big for yours HH I'm def too big for mine

No way - you look fine on yours! Yours is lovely.

 

[Kallibear]

Pips as a baby:

Then he was broken Text book BHS style.

1) At 2.5yrs, drag them out the field, tie them to a tree, chuck a bucket in front od them then scramble on for a photo.

Plenty of hugs are mandatory

2) Repeat occasionally over the next year. Regular little walks with tack on also recommended.

Tree tying not always essential. Field rocks are useful.

3) 3 1/2 to 4 yrs old: break your arm so enlist the help of just about everyone, inc your dinky mother, and go to beach, shows and hack for the first time.

stopping for regular snacks is also mandatory

4) Repeat many many times, with a little schooling and jumping for variety and you eventually have a broken horse.

5) accept that the horse just isn't going to make the size you were hoping for so buy much (much ) bigger 2yrs orange idiot and repeat. Sort of.

 

[QueenDee_]

Then he was broken Text book BHS style.

1) At 2.5yrs, drag them out the field, tie them to a tree, chuck a bucket in front od them then scramble on for a photo.

2) Repeat occasionally over the next year. Regular little walks with tack on also recommended

3) 3 1/2 to 4 yrs old: break your arm so enlist the help of just about everyone, inc your dinky mother, and go to beach, shows and hack for the first time.

4) Repeat many many times, with a little schooling and jumping for variety and you eventually have a broken horse.

5) accept that the horse just isn't going to make the size you were hoping for so buy much (much ) bigger 2yrs orange idiot and repeat. Sort of.

love it

 

[guesstimation]

It just felt amazing, got him as a 6 month foal and finally sat on him when he was 5, thought it was 6 but thinking about it I've been riding him nearly 2 years so he must have been 5, doesn't time fly! Best thing ever to do it all yourself and put the time in its so rewarding, will never forget our first hack, trot etc all felt incredible!

When I got him

As a yearling

First proper sit

 

[Queenbee]

After spending nearly 3 years watching my boy grow up I can't help being excited at the prospect of being able to finally sit on him (hopefully) this coming spring

day old:

a few weeks old:

beginning of summer 2012:

​

though of course I see him through rose tinted glasses I think hes turning into rather a handsome chap will be a special moment the first time i'm on board, especially as we sadly had to have his mom pts this year but a piece of her definitely lives in him


So how did it feel the first time for any of you? piccies welcome or anyone looking forward to their first sit in 2013?

For me, my first sit on was at the end of July this year... Id seen him at 2 weeks old, owned him since 6 months and ben had turned three at the beginning of June. Having lost my mare a month earlier to a cruel condition which saw her wasting away before my eyes and left me helpless to do anything other than end her suffering, considering ever riding another horse would have been impossible for me had I not already had my baby Ben. He was the most amazing and much needed tonic... My focus when I lost her was not on my grief, but in making his less, and within a month he was sent off to a trainer for backing as I was just too emotionally wrecked to do it myself, and he needed to leave the yard as he was just so miserable there since losing ebs... So many people... Wonderful people, offered me to ride their horses... But I just couldn't, I knew if I had to get on another horse again after my beautiful girl, it had to be him.

My emotions were a kaleidoscope and hit me with equal force, to the point that I think pride cancelled out guilt, euphoria, cancelled out loss, happiness cancelled out sadness... It was such a strange day, but I got on, beamed from ear to ear, but then just rode... I rode and can't remember much of the ride... I can remember being sat on him at the yard and smiling but that is it. For me, it was the strangest of days and passed in a bit of a blurr

 

[buddylove]

My boy was lightly backed last summer at 3.5 but as I was very pregnant at the time I didn't get a go :-(
Now the hitchhikers are off loaded he will be going back to school in the spring and I will get my first sit on him!!! Had him from a yearling so hope he will be fine, but still a teensy weensy bit pooping myself at the prospect. I am guessing his party trick will be setting his great big neck and carting me off into the next county - we'll see ;-)

 

[Shantara]

When I first sat on Ziggy, it was a very strange feeling. I'd known him since a tiny foal and he had only just been broken.
I remember being really nervous, newly broken horses wasn't something I did often.
However, he was a saint, never put a foot wrong. He felt more like a bombproof 20yr old than a baby!

 

[Ibblebibble]

I got the ginger nut as an unbacked 6 yr old, good ground manners and had done lots of inhand walking but had a few issues with lunge lines (ie went over backwards through a fence the first time we put one on!) and whips (veeeeery scary ) it was an interesting journey getting him to long rein, for some reason he will do that but not lunge but eventually we got to this

and TBH i was just relieved that i hadn't ended up face first in the mud!

we eventually got to this

mr brave pants out on his own usually with a bit less resitance , I think we went for a bit change after that
it's bloomin satisfying and the ginger one certainly hasn't been a straightforward journey but most definitely interesting and he's taught me as much as i've taught him

 

[Zimzim]

I've backed quite a few youngsters, and my own horses, but the one that stands out is my rising 5 sports horse. I backed him last spring when he turned 4.

I always felt safe with him (even though hes 17hh, athletic and a bit quirky at times!). I knew he would be an amazing ride as he has very expressionate paces, good confirmation and all round good balance and muscular development, but the power he has is just unreal. I enjoy riding him, and feeling all the power he has is quite special, and hoping he will make a good dressage/ event horse in time.

Theres nothing like backing your own babies, it gives you a sense of achievement, creates a strong bond between you and your horse/ pony, and you can see them learning and developing as time goes on

 

[snowstormII]

For me, my first sit on was at the end of July this year... Id seen him at 2 weeks old, owned him since 6 months and ben had turned three at the beginning of June. Having lost my mare a month earlier to a cruel condition which saw her wasting away before my eyes and left me helpless to do anything other than end her suffering, considering ever riding another horse would have been impossible for me had I not already had my baby Ben. He was the most amazing and much needed tonic... My focus when I lost her was not on my grief, but in making his less, and within a month he was sent off to a trainer for backing as I was just too emotionally wrecked to do it myself, and he needed to leave the yard as he was just so miserable there since losing ebs... So many people... Wonderful people, offered me to ride their horses... But I just couldn't, I knew if I had to get on another horse again after my beautiful girl, it had to be him.

My emotions were a kaleidoscope and hit me with equal force, to the point that I think pride cancelled out guilt, euphoria, cancelled out loss, happiness cancelled out sadness... It was such a strange day, but I got on, beamed from ear to ear, but then just rode... I rode and can't remember much of the ride... I can remember being sat on him at the yard and smiling but that is it. For me, it was the strangest of days and passed in a bit of a blurr

It is going to be like that for me too :'(. My new purchase is the replacement foal I didn't get chance to breed off my darling pony before she broke her leg and had to be pts this July. He is definitely making me smile again now and every first is a real boost for me. I have only got 3 years to wait till I get on, but that will seem insignificant to all the special days we are having and will continue to have along the way. Good luck with it all.