I have a little secret….

She’s beautiful! I’m a complete sucker for bay mares. Good luck with her and I can’t wait to follow your journey (and see more photos!)
 
She looks gorgeous!

I have considered an ex-racer for my next one. My boyfriend likes racing and I think it would give him a buzz to have one in the yard. I have helped re-train a few so know some of the process. I'll watch your progress with interest!
 
poiuytrewq said:
Sadly I don’t have many great photos!

After deciding to retire Ziggy and having made the decision that my TB was having a nice spoilt last summer if I couldn’t improve his soundness (I can’t) and 10 years + of awful luck with horses, I found myself at a bit of a x road. Did I call it a day, stop riding all together or try again one last time.
I wasn’t keen on spending big money, although Mr P had offered, they all go wrong on me anyway and I figured loosing £10,000 would be even more devastating!
So, I went down the freebie x racer/pointer route……. Well she cost me the promise of photographs emailed every so often to the guy who owned her the past 5 years!

And I absolutely adore every single little bit of her! My first mare.
Picked her up about 6 weeks ago now. She had run her last race badly, two weeks prior and been out in the field since.
So she was shod still and good to get on and ride.
Picked her up for a few weeks to try her out
Ideally I’d have given her a few months off but realistically I have zero grass and the flies and heat are horrid so we have just very quietly gone straight to her new normal.
She is just hacking away quietly. The first few weeks were slightly hair raising at times. She then had a few weeks off and has come back ten times more chilled.
She has just led an older more experienced horse round a busy village, past lorries including a huge one with no fuss at all. She has learnt she’s ok to leave her friend and hack home alone, scary the first few times now she gets a long rein and strides back home. (Listening to be blubbering on about how amazing and beautiful she is!)
She’s not perfect, nothing is and there are things we need to work on.
I honestly think as long as my curse doesn’t catch up with us this could potentially be my best horse.

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What a beauty :) Good luck with her !
 
Oh wow, Thank you everyone. What an amazing response sha has had! Maybe someone of you can more understand why i was so stressed out at my partner springing the surprise holiday on me a few weeks ago! She was just starting to settle and apart from the getting people to do all the animals difficulties I didnt really want to leave her and have a sudden change of routine so early on.
Our progress will be nothing mega exciting, We wont be eventing any time soon! I don't have a school and anoyingly of course the fields are rock solid, I will be taking her super slow anyway- very nervous of breaking her or ruining things as its all going so well! There is no hurry or time limit. My only goal for her really is to be my forever ridinh horse, whatever that entails.
I do have a lesson booked mid August so will hopefully pick her up a little more from then, Until that point she will continue hacking and chilling, I do want to get her hacking alone before the Autumn as I dont have someone to ride with in bad weather. She has been a bit nappy going out alone and the yard is so busy and becomes so slippery for some reason in harvest that I'm not pushing that bit just yet. I know we can get over it quietly and slipping and falling would set her back. I don't anticipate it being difficult, she used to go out alone form her old yard so I think the slight reluctance here has been more the new place etc. The fact she didnt like leaving our friends to hack home alone at first but is now totally happy shows how willing she is, I always think thats a big ask of a horse.
 
poiuytrewq said:
Oh wow, Thank you everyone. What an amazing response sha has had! Maybe someone of you can more understand why i was so stressed out at my partner springing the surprise holiday on me a few weeks ago! She was just starting to settle and apart from the getting people to do all the animals difficulties I didnt really want to leave her and have a sudden change of routine so early on.
Our progress will be nothing mega exciting, We wont be eventing any time soon! I don't have a school and anoyingly of course the fields are rock solid, I will be taking her super slow anyway- very nervous of breaking her or ruining things as its all going so well! There is no hurry or time limit. My only goal for her really is to be my forever ridinh horse, whatever that entails.
I do have a lesson booked mid August so will hopefully pick her up a little more from then, Until that point she will continue hacking and chilling, I do want to get her hacking alone before the Autumn as I dont have someone to ride with in bad weather. She has been a bit nappy going out alone and the yard is so busy and becomes so slippery for some reason in harvest that I'm not pushing that bit just yet. I know we can get over it quietly and slipping and falling would set her back. I don't anticipate it being difficult, she used to go out alone form her old yard so I think the slight reluctance here has been more the new place etc. The fact she didnt like leaving our friends to hack home alone at first but is now totally happy shows how willing she is, I always think thats a big ask of a horse.
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More importantly, have fun and enjoy riding! You have had a few stressful months, you deserve it! ♥️
 
Barton Bounty said:
More importantly, have fun and enjoy riding! You have had a few stressful months, you deserve it! ♥️
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Exactly, this is the aim.
I can honestly say its so nice to come home and be smiling after a hack round the village, I don't get home and be relieved to be in one piece, I'm not conatantly worried she's hurting or was that a lame step, Is horse miserable, why is it miserable and so on. It's nice not seeing a lorry or big vehicle approach and think :oops: crap, where do I get out the way of this one.
I don't care whats around the next corner, Well as long as its not a man with a power tool, and even the little things she dosent like she's already better with. She did whip round at bikes a few times at first, now we barely look.
That's all worth so much to me.
 
Cinnamontoast said:
Super pretty! I can’t believe Mr P was so bothered about Wotsit but encouraged you to get a horse!! Hilarious!
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I know 🤣 When someone suggested threatening to get another instead of Wotsit i knew that wasn't going to work!
To be fair I lost one and then the one on loan went so... I even managed to persuade him to take the afternoon off work and be chief box driver, we did a picnic lunch on the way 🤣
 
poiuytrewq said:
Exactly, this is the aim.
I can honestly say its so nice to come home and be smiling after a hack round the village, I don't get home and be relieved to be in one piece, I'm not conatantly worried she's hurting or was that a lame step, Is horse miserable, why is it miserable and so on. It's nice not seeing a lorry or big vehicle approach and think :oops: crap, where do I get out the way of this one.
I don't care whats around the next corner, Well as long as its not a man with a power tool, and even the little things she dosent like she's already better with. She did whip round at bikes a few times at first, now we barely look.
That's all worth so much to me.
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She sounds utterly perfect!! Sooo chuffed for you! ♥️

Got to admit, even though Orbi is only 5 I do not even worry on him, the trust we have in each other is amazing and I know he will trust me not to put him in any danger and he doesn’t put me in any either.
 
Just got back from a long walk home.... my tip of the day, brush your horses tail really really welll before riding.

Alice got a horse fly on her bum, I carry a schooling whip solely to swipe horse flies off her. Flicked it off, she flicked her tail and the two becaome firmly attached (HOW???) :oops: Que frantic jump forward and tail (with whip) swishing across her bum.
Luckily I'm pretty swift at bailing out so detached whip very quickly and disaster averted, apart from the fact that by this point there was not a hope in hell she was going to stand on a very over grown verge and allow me to hop back on off a very wobby wall. Not wanting to risk panicking her further we walked home 🤣:rolleyes: ah well...

*must also work on actually standing still longer to be mounted, maybe a foot in the stirrup just in case!

@Barton Bounty I hope she is my Orbie! 😍
 
poiuytrewq said:
Just got back from a long walk home.... my tip of the day, brush your horses tail really really welll before riding.

Alice got a horse fly on her bum, I carry a schooling whip solely to swipe horse flies off her. Flicked it off, she flicked her tail and the two becaome firmly attached (HOW???) :oops: Que frantic jump forward and tail (with whip) swishing across her bum.
Luckily I'm pretty swift at bailing out so detached whip very quickly and disaster averted, apart from the fact that by this point there was not a hope in hell she was going to stand on a very over grown verge and allow me to hop back on off a very wobby wall. Not wanting to risk panicking her further we walked home 🤣:rolleyes: ah well...

*must also work on actually standing still longer to be mounted, maybe a foot in the stirrup just in case!

@Barton Bounty I hope she is my Orbie! 😍
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I hope she is too ♥️
 
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