SmartieBean09
Well-Known Member
change them!!
So, its not very often that I post nowadays but I feel that a post is required not only to thank an amazing friend and honour our achievements but also because I feel that those fellow HHOers who have lost their confidence will hopefully find this post helpful in their journey to become just what they would like to be.
I fear this may be long but then I have spent some 14 years being a nervous rider. I will try to keep history as brief as possible.
Having had a couple of horses which were completely too much for me to have ever have had fun with, small chips were taken from my confidence. Add that to 10 years of owning the best pony possible but also one I only hacked and schooled and nothing much else, my confidence to do anything outside of this was zero....infact I would go as far as to say it was -10 by the time I became a Mum and the added worry of something possibly happening to me whilst riding. I became someone who rode every horse except the one I was sitting on. I would ride in fear of what my past horses would do and in fear of what my horse may do.
After losing Jamin my best friend of 10 years ( and infact im becoming a bit emotional typing this as I still miss her more than anything) I never planned on getting another as there really was no point. There was no other like her and I was way too nervous. 18 months later and I came across a 24 year old ex riding school pony for £300. There was something about him and he came home. I then spent the next 8 months on an emotional rollercoaster. Mainly regretting buying him as I so afraid of him and he really was nothing to be afraid of but as I mentioned earlier, I wasn't riding him...I was riding past and future horses perhaps but not this genuine pony I had bought.
After meeting Vickijay on here and moving to her yard, my life changed. In the 6 months I have been at the yard, My pony Dazzle and I have exceeded any dreams or expectations I ever had so below in photos is our journey.........
April 2013 and Dazzle pays a special visit to my wedding (with lots of thanks to VickiJay for all her hard work in making my £300 pony look a million dollars!)
Then one morning in June deciding that small jump or big jump I was scared and nothing would change unless I made it happen so here we are one the biggest turning point of our journey ( I cant seem to upload the pic of us jumping it but this is the jump which may as well have been 1mtr 20!)
A week later and with VJ by my side we astoundingly managed this!!!
This then led to me entering a Dressage competition....competing is another fear and in 17 years I have competed 4 times including this one as my nerves just get the better of me (as you can tell by my face!)
With further encouragement from VJ we decided that it would be a very good idea to take Daz to another yard with super scary jumps. He was amazing and jumped everything without question. Unfortunately I cant find the photos to upload these (stupid new phone) but will keep looking.
Further to that we always had on our list to eventually take Daz to mini ( and I mean mini) Cross Country. The aim was for October but yesterday we hit our aim with just over a month to go! Not only did we jump in a field but we also cantered/galloped in a field! (fields and speed...another fear) Here are the pics which I am soooooo proud of.
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[URL=http://s900.photobucket.com/user/SmartieBean09/media/IMG_54389316031309.jpg.html]
As you can see, they ended up being not quite so mini (Thanks again VJ
) and not only was I proud of our achievements but so was Daz, as he proves in this picture, looking very mighty and proud...
Thank you for reading this far and hopefully if I can do it, so can you other nervous nellys.....there are still episodes of tears and the fear is still most definitely there but this time 6 months ago, this was all just a dream.
Something I always think about is "if you always do what you've always done then you will always get what you have always got"
ps - massive thank you to my friend and fellow HHOer Vickijay. I will be eternally grateful for your support, encouragement and always reminding me that I have the most amazing pony who I need to trust and enjoy. Thank you xxx
So, its not very often that I post nowadays but I feel that a post is required not only to thank an amazing friend and honour our achievements but also because I feel that those fellow HHOers who have lost their confidence will hopefully find this post helpful in their journey to become just what they would like to be.
I fear this may be long but then I have spent some 14 years being a nervous rider. I will try to keep history as brief as possible.
Having had a couple of horses which were completely too much for me to have ever have had fun with, small chips were taken from my confidence. Add that to 10 years of owning the best pony possible but also one I only hacked and schooled and nothing much else, my confidence to do anything outside of this was zero....infact I would go as far as to say it was -10 by the time I became a Mum and the added worry of something possibly happening to me whilst riding. I became someone who rode every horse except the one I was sitting on. I would ride in fear of what my past horses would do and in fear of what my horse may do.
After losing Jamin my best friend of 10 years ( and infact im becoming a bit emotional typing this as I still miss her more than anything) I never planned on getting another as there really was no point. There was no other like her and I was way too nervous. 18 months later and I came across a 24 year old ex riding school pony for £300. There was something about him and he came home. I then spent the next 8 months on an emotional rollercoaster. Mainly regretting buying him as I so afraid of him and he really was nothing to be afraid of but as I mentioned earlier, I wasn't riding him...I was riding past and future horses perhaps but not this genuine pony I had bought.
After meeting Vickijay on here and moving to her yard, my life changed. In the 6 months I have been at the yard, My pony Dazzle and I have exceeded any dreams or expectations I ever had so below in photos is our journey.........
April 2013 and Dazzle pays a special visit to my wedding (with lots of thanks to VickiJay for all her hard work in making my £300 pony look a million dollars!)
Then one morning in June deciding that small jump or big jump I was scared and nothing would change unless I made it happen so here we are one the biggest turning point of our journey ( I cant seem to upload the pic of us jumping it but this is the jump which may as well have been 1mtr 20!)
A week later and with VJ by my side we astoundingly managed this!!!
This then led to me entering a Dressage competition....competing is another fear and in 17 years I have competed 4 times including this one as my nerves just get the better of me (as you can tell by my face!)
With further encouragement from VJ we decided that it would be a very good idea to take Daz to another yard with super scary jumps. He was amazing and jumped everything without question. Unfortunately I cant find the photos to upload these (stupid new phone) but will keep looking.
Further to that we always had on our list to eventually take Daz to mini ( and I mean mini) Cross Country. The aim was for October but yesterday we hit our aim with just over a month to go! Not only did we jump in a field but we also cantered/galloped in a field! (fields and speed...another fear) Here are the pics which I am soooooo proud of.
[/URL[URL=http://s900.photobucket.com/user/SmartieBean09/media/IMG_54389316031309.jpg.html]
As you can see, they ended up being not quite so mini (Thanks again VJ
) and not only was I proud of our achievements but so was Daz, as he proves in this picture, looking very mighty and proud...
Thank you for reading this far and hopefully if I can do it, so can you other nervous nellys.....there are still episodes of tears and the fear is still most definitely there but this time 6 months ago, this was all just a dream.
Something I always think about is "if you always do what you've always done then you will always get what you have always got"
ps - massive thank you to my friend and fellow HHOer Vickijay. I will be eternally grateful for your support, encouragement and always reminding me that I have the most amazing pony who I need to trust and enjoy. Thank you xxx
