Christmas Crumpet
Well-Known Member
After having my wonder horse PTS just before Christmas I wondered whether I'd ever find another horse for the money I had in my savings.
I was very lucky in being given a 15hh coloured mare to hunt for the season and she was truly amazing. She never stopped once and hunted all day. She is the easiest horse to do and has a heart of gold. We nearly sold her in April but then the buyers backed out at the last minute. She is up for sale again at the moment and its looking promising due to her coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd at hunter trials in the last week and being advertised at events etc. It has made me very sad that she will go because she's such fun to ride and always cheers me up when I take her out in the evening. I couldn't afford to buy her myself so asked my father in law to find me something else.
Happy has now arrived. He is a 16.1hh bay 7 year old Irish TB. He came last Tuesday and has settled in well apart from skinning his off hind last weds and being kicked by the mare on Sun night!! I've only ridden him twice due to injuries but am hoping that will all settle down now. I feel slightly daunted that I'm going from riding a completely machine who is so genuine to something that has only been out of training for 3 months and I'm going to have to start at the beginning again. He is SO different to ride and he's a long way up compared to the mare!! Its the little things that you take for granted with one horse and forget when you are on something new i.e. doing gates, things that may be lurking in the bushes etc. However, I've come to the conclusion that I could keep the mare and pay her off in installments but that I wouldn't learn a huge amount because she does everything already and doesn't take much riding or I could have something new and actually learn a lot more. Think it might be a steep learning curve.
Hope I've done the right thing
I was very lucky in being given a 15hh coloured mare to hunt for the season and she was truly amazing. She never stopped once and hunted all day. She is the easiest horse to do and has a heart of gold. We nearly sold her in April but then the buyers backed out at the last minute. She is up for sale again at the moment and its looking promising due to her coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd at hunter trials in the last week and being advertised at events etc. It has made me very sad that she will go because she's such fun to ride and always cheers me up when I take her out in the evening. I couldn't afford to buy her myself so asked my father in law to find me something else.
Happy has now arrived. He is a 16.1hh bay 7 year old Irish TB. He came last Tuesday and has settled in well apart from skinning his off hind last weds and being kicked by the mare on Sun night!! I've only ridden him twice due to injuries but am hoping that will all settle down now. I feel slightly daunted that I'm going from riding a completely machine who is so genuine to something that has only been out of training for 3 months and I'm going to have to start at the beginning again. He is SO different to ride and he's a long way up compared to the mare!! Its the little things that you take for granted with one horse and forget when you are on something new i.e. doing gates, things that may be lurking in the bushes etc. However, I've come to the conclusion that I could keep the mare and pay her off in installments but that I wouldn't learn a huge amount because she does everything already and doesn't take much riding or I could have something new and actually learn a lot more. Think it might be a steep learning curve.
Hope I've done the right thing
