Mahoganybay
Well-Known Member
So i have had my mare for just over 4 years and we finally seem to be clicking together nicely at last, had a lovely relaxed hack out together this morning and she was a pleasure, really listening and working well with a lovely springy step with her ears forward.
We have not had an easy 4 years together, for the first 18 months i fell off her more time than i care to remember, she was very very spooky, sharp and nervous and to be honest i had completely over horsed myself, many times i would be so relieved to get off her. Then just as we started to get going she fractured her pedal bone and had a year off work, took me a good 6 months to bring her back into work.
Started lessons, but the yard i was on at the time had a terrible outdoor school (either flooded or frozen) and i could not practice, also as it was an outside school on a very busy working farm there were lots of excuses to spook, i feel now looking back i was asking too much of her. As she is sooo excitable she is prone to tying up and last winter we had 3 episodes of it :-(
So a decision was made to move yards and we moved to a fab yard with a lovely indoor school, great i thought we can crack on now, only for her to start showing discomfort/un-levelness behind, had her checked out to find she had a chip fracture to her offside hind hock, arthroscopy performed and nearly 6 months of box rest / in hand walking / slow short hacks followed.
Fast forward today, and i feel that my mare is listening to me, we had a lovely relaxed ride (she is normally very tense), and i was grinning from ear to ear all the way.
Looking back over the last few months, i have come to the conclusion that it is down to a number of things, change of yard, consistent low-level schooling where she listening to me (yay i no longer feel like a passenger), and maybe she is coming to an age where she is calming down (8 years), i am also probably not as nervous/stressed/uptight as i used to be plus i accept her now for who she is.
We are never going to be world beaters, show jumpers, dressage super stars, eventers etc she is only really sound enough for light schooling & hacking, but i am happy with that and i am so glad i persevered.
For those people that get a new horse and expect it to be perfect from the outset, you are very very lucky if they are, and sometimes its either just sheer determination or in my case stubbornness/stupidness that sees you through.
It may all go wrong tomorrow, but for today i am one happy happy horse owner.
Just had to share.
We have not had an easy 4 years together, for the first 18 months i fell off her more time than i care to remember, she was very very spooky, sharp and nervous and to be honest i had completely over horsed myself, many times i would be so relieved to get off her. Then just as we started to get going she fractured her pedal bone and had a year off work, took me a good 6 months to bring her back into work.
Started lessons, but the yard i was on at the time had a terrible outdoor school (either flooded or frozen) and i could not practice, also as it was an outside school on a very busy working farm there were lots of excuses to spook, i feel now looking back i was asking too much of her. As she is sooo excitable she is prone to tying up and last winter we had 3 episodes of it :-(
So a decision was made to move yards and we moved to a fab yard with a lovely indoor school, great i thought we can crack on now, only for her to start showing discomfort/un-levelness behind, had her checked out to find she had a chip fracture to her offside hind hock, arthroscopy performed and nearly 6 months of box rest / in hand walking / slow short hacks followed.
Fast forward today, and i feel that my mare is listening to me, we had a lovely relaxed ride (she is normally very tense), and i was grinning from ear to ear all the way.
Looking back over the last few months, i have come to the conclusion that it is down to a number of things, change of yard, consistent low-level schooling where she listening to me (yay i no longer feel like a passenger), and maybe she is coming to an age where she is calming down (8 years), i am also probably not as nervous/stressed/uptight as i used to be plus i accept her now for who she is.
We are never going to be world beaters, show jumpers, dressage super stars, eventers etc she is only really sound enough for light schooling & hacking, but i am happy with that and i am so glad i persevered.
For those people that get a new horse and expect it to be perfect from the outset, you are very very lucky if they are, and sometimes its either just sheer determination or in my case stubbornness/stupidness that sees you through.
It may all go wrong tomorrow, but for today i am one happy happy horse owner.
Just had to share.
