Overhorsed

[Nudibranch]

Buy a Cleveland Bay, a well handled 3 year old if you can find one. get it professionally backed, as you will not pay a fortune for the horse, you can afford to do that.

You will have a quiet hack and a talented riding club horse who won't cost you an arm and a leg in vet bills, won't need lots of expensive feed and will give you years of happy hacking.

This! I love my CB, one of the most genuine horses you could wish for. I am in no doubt when the time comes to buy another it will be a Cleveland Bay again.

 

[khalswitz]

You may indeed be having fun (you might just possibly have even more fun with a different, more amenable horse?), but it doesn't sound as if your horse is. What happens if "in a few years" he hasn't settled down? Actually I do think it matters that you are overhorsed, you don't have to be, you know.

He's an exracer who has only been schooled for the last 9 months (when i bought him) so he's going to go difficult phases. 90% of the time he is very generous and well behaved, great jumper, flatwork really coming on, bombproof hack. When I push him, he reacts - and when he reacts, he's a lot of horse. Competition environment is difficult, I have to put my big girl pants on for that. Even then, though, we've successfully been to BRC camp, done a couple hunter paces and a gymkhana without too much drama, just been the showing attempts he's reacted. And all in all, he's had me off twice in 9 months due to bucking, about six episodes all in all. Yes, life would be much easier with an easier horse, but it's the retraining that I enjoy (left over from my breaking and producing days) and as I don't compete that often I'd be bored stiff if I didn't have a project. He has his moments, but I'm hardly stressing him out that much. It'll take us both longer to get where we're going, but I'm hardly going to sell him because he's a lot of horse. It's all about managing him.