Blitzen
Well-Known Member
Just a silly happy post in honour of my brave mum!
When she bought her current horse 18 months ago, her confidence was at an all time low. She was terrified of him, and he duly took the pi$$, the wily old git. He knew every trick in the book to get out of doing anything. He was a grumpy old turd, constantly grizzling and pulling faces, impossible to catch without a substantial bribe. (Bought as a confidence giver, would you believe it, lol)
2 months into owning him, she'd been thrown off 4 times, been nipped and kicked more times than I can count, and was completely ready to give the bugger away and forget about horses.
...
Fast forwards 16 months of blood, sweat, tears and tantrums...
Horse is a different person, he's obviously had a rough time at some point and has some major trust issues. He adores mum now, follows her like a puppy, and is a much more chilled and relaxed chappy. He's a real character and we wouldn't be without him.
Mum was schooling him over some small jumps yesterday, a feat in itself as she was sick with nerves about trotting over cross poles on the floor not long ago. Well she popped him over a nice 2ft6 and horse 'bounce-bounce-bounce' baby bronked out of pure excitement. She pitched onto his neck, he slammed the brakes on (I swear he was going "oops! Sorry!"), and she plopped off the side.
Now, a few months ago there would have been some tears, shouts of "I give up! I can't do it!" and a point blank refusal to get back on a sheepish looking pony.
Instead, as she picked herself up, laughing, she shouted "give me a leg up!", hopped back on, proceded to do a flawless walk-canter transition and popped him over the jump again, grinning like a cheshire cat.
She then decided to take him for a gallop around the big back field as "the poor lad obviously needs to stretch his legs and blow off some steam".
I think she may have turned a corner.
When she bought her current horse 18 months ago, her confidence was at an all time low. She was terrified of him, and he duly took the pi$$, the wily old git. He knew every trick in the book to get out of doing anything. He was a grumpy old turd, constantly grizzling and pulling faces, impossible to catch without a substantial bribe. (Bought as a confidence giver, would you believe it, lol)
2 months into owning him, she'd been thrown off 4 times, been nipped and kicked more times than I can count, and was completely ready to give the bugger away and forget about horses.
...
Fast forwards 16 months of blood, sweat, tears and tantrums...
Horse is a different person, he's obviously had a rough time at some point and has some major trust issues. He adores mum now, follows her like a puppy, and is a much more chilled and relaxed chappy. He's a real character and we wouldn't be without him.
Mum was schooling him over some small jumps yesterday, a feat in itself as she was sick with nerves about trotting over cross poles on the floor not long ago. Well she popped him over a nice 2ft6 and horse 'bounce-bounce-bounce' baby bronked out of pure excitement. She pitched onto his neck, he slammed the brakes on (I swear he was going "oops! Sorry!"), and she plopped off the side.
Now, a few months ago there would have been some tears, shouts of "I give up! I can't do it!" and a point blank refusal to get back on a sheepish looking pony.
Instead, as she picked herself up, laughing, she shouted "give me a leg up!", hopped back on, proceded to do a flawless walk-canter transition and popped him over the jump again, grinning like a cheshire cat.
She then decided to take him for a gallop around the big back field as "the poor lad obviously needs to stretch his legs and blow off some steam".
I think she may have turned a corner.
