Tell me about your first ponies/horses!

LollyDolly

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 May 2012
Messages
809
Location
Cheshire
Visit site
I thought that it would be a nice idea for us all to share stories/pictures/descriptions/ANYTHING about our first horses!

Mine was a lovely 14.2 Irish X (no recorded breeding!) 12 year old pony called Brambles! He was a complete saint, the absolute definition of bombproof. I used to ferry the polyjump wings on him back and to from the field, he never batted an eyelid at anything! His only flaw was that he was cripplingly lazy, although he did give me very strong leg muscles ;) He is now 18 and is with a loving forever home just down the road from me, I still go and visit him!

Here is us, not been together long:
Variouspictures173.jpg


And here is us out showing a few months later, wouldn't have thought that it was the same pony (or rider!!!) :eek:
Variouspictures158.jpg

Variouspictures166.jpg


So please, share your stories! :D
 

Batgirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 February 2011
Messages
3,190
Location
Yaaaarkshire
Visit site
No piccies but I had a 14'3 Chestnut Welsh Sec D Gelding, 15yo, ex riding school, bombproof in company but a ***** alone! Used to drop shoulder and stop like he had hit a brick wall jumping but he was fun and I loved him for the year I kept him (sold him for the same I paid which was nice)

:) I was 20 yo myself
 

Surreydeb

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 April 2012
Messages
737
Visit site
Full Arab mare completely mad but always felt safe on her. Had her 20 years before pts aged 27. Did everything I asked of her and fab jumper. Lost her due to her navicular getting the better of her but managed it for 15 years really well and sound for most of those years.
 

biggingerpony

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 March 2009
Messages
899
Visit site
Gorgeous boy OP ! He's got such a lovely face

Heres a pic of my first monster:
soldat2.jpg


soldat1.jpg


4 year old 15.2 Cob type called Soldat.... I was 12 and as light as a feather!
He was a nutter I used to attempt to school him in the field only to be carted off to the nearest tree so he could get me off. Out on hacks he was good though, apart from we used to have big brake issues that made cantering out very interesting.
Looking back he was too much for me, but I had great fun and learnt a lot from him. I was absolutely fearless, he used to chuck me off and I used to brush myself off and get right back on him again! In the end we sold him as I wanted to do pony club and he just wouldn't have been right for it.
He was such a dude though. Sorry about my sis and her funky trousers :)
 

mudmonkey17

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 September 2005
Messages
1,391
Visit site
Still have mine :) after sharing for a few years got a 15.2 chestnut gelding. Had ridden him for precious owner for 2 years so thought knew him quite well. Lol how wrong was I? Was a complete plod when I got him just as a hack.
Has done more than I ever dreamed and we have competed in most disciplines with some good results. Is now 19yr old still fit and sound despite being arthritic in a few places and generally he just likes to have fun :)
Takes the mick on a daily basis but love him to bits :)
 

Gusbear

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 February 2012
Messages
805
Location
Was Richmond, Surrey now a mountain forest in Oz.
Visit site
My dad bought me my first horse when I was 14. He was a 5 year old 15.2hh Standardbred that was covered in scars and scabs from being mistreated. I couldn't ride and had no idea how to put on a head stall, let alone a saddle. Day 1, horse bolted and I came off, Day 2 horse bolted and I came off, Day 3 dad booked me in for lessons on a schoolmaster. Had Barney for 3 years and sadly lost him to Salmonella.
 

Goldenstar

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 March 2011
Messages
46,022
Visit site
Prince a black Shetland , rolled all the time never had a saddle because of this just a felt pad you had to be very quick to bail out when the went down very lazy except out hunting which he loved was a night mare at shows on it took three people to get his head out of a Bucket in the potatoe race ,he was eating the potatoes.
Bit loved pulling the toggles off duffle coats but I loved him.
 

LeannePip

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 August 2010
Messages
3,186
Location
Southampton
Visit site
My lovely little pippy who is my first and current horse :D i fell in love with a scraggly little yearling (nearly 2) who eventualy turned into a little swan - slightly biased though! shes now 4years old and is just amazing - super safe to hack, schooling nicely, willing to learn, bold jumper and amazing fun - even when shes being a t*t i never feel unsafe on her and spend most of my lessons laughing at her idiotic attempts to be a rebel ;)

this is pip when i bought her home when i was 16 and she was rising 2.
Picture21.png


this is her a few weeks ago - 4 years old
ScreenShot2012-05-13at154012.png


last year
ScreenShot2011-12-26at143345.png
 

tormor

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 January 2006
Messages
826
Location
West Sussex
Visit site
My first pony was Sammy the Shetland. We got him when I was 5/6 ish. He was given to us by my godmother after her son died. They had, in turn rescued him from people who didn't have a clue. Sammy was a Shetland that lived up to all the stereotypes. I used to fall off every time I rode and he would also pretend to be lame limp down the road then when I was taken off he would change leg and limp on the other leg!! Then final straw for the yo was when he charged at someone and mowed them down! After this he then when to live with calfs after they were weaned. He is still going, still very naughty and very feral! He is in his 30's now.
 

zaminda

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 August 2008
Messages
2,333
Location
Somerset
Visit site
My first pony was Tom, he's about 14h/14.2 strawberry roan heinz 57, not too chunky but a real hunter type. He was 4 when I got him at 13, and a complete pest. Very strong, he used to run off with me all the time, and I used to ride for 5 or 6 hours a day in the holidays just to keep on top of him. He has a massive jump, but wasn't the most honest pony when he was younger, so I fell off a lot! He will be 21 this year, and is out on loan to a great girl, who is having lots of fun with him. He will turn his hoof to anything, carries a side saddle, has done re enactments including roman pony racing and mounted falconry, as well as trying some jousting.
These days he is a complete saint, and is great for giving confidence to people, so not bad for a pony my instructor wanted me to shoot!
Not sure how to post pics, but he looks as good now as he did 10 years ago.
 

Enfys

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 December 2004
Messages
18,086
Visit site
The first ones I remember actually having at home, all at the same time. It was a floating population, ponies came and they went but those are the ones I remembered first.

Sebastian - bay,
Godolphin - paint,
Apple Pie - palomino,
Sixpence - grey,
Conkers - bay,
Duster - bay.

All about 12.2h.

I don't really recall very much else about them, that was about 1970 -ish. I do have photos (real ones, in an album :eek:) but can't be bothered to scan them.
 
Last edited:

Chestersmummy

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 January 2012
Messages
793
Visit site
My first pony on loan was a 14.2hh grey arabxsection a who was about 19ish. I was sharing her with my best friend at the time until she bolted with her and she wouldn't get back on. She was a great pony who I did a lot of in hand showing with, and even won my 1st and only trophy with!
I had her for about 2 years before I outgrew her. She went to live out her days at a riding school. When i found out she had passed away i was devistated and cried my eyes out. I had her from when i was 12 until i was 14.
On my phone so can't post pictures
 

tinap

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 January 2011
Messages
4,897
Location
Yorkshire
Visit site
1st pony we loaned was a 12hh bay fell X called spike. He had been kept in a garden shed & fed dinner scraps until my friend bought him for £50! He was 5yrs old & we loaned him for my 5yr old daughter - his head was bigger than her body!! He was ace though, she started pc on him & she learned to canter on him. When she started to learn to jump though he was just far too scopey for her being so little so we had to downsize!!

So then the 1st pony we bought when the daughter was 6yrs was a 11.2hh chocolate dun welsh A X called frizbee. We had been struggling to find a small 2nd pony so we ended up buying friz who had been a LR pony who was prone to laminitis. She had her quirks! We were at a show one day & the daughter had gone into the collecting ring while I was pottering about with the baby. She shouted to me "mum, I think Frizbees bucking" - I turned round to see her stood on her back legs!! So she taught her to sit a rearer!! She started to compete her sjing pretty much as soon as we got her & she would whiz round small courses - the daughter won loads & gained so much confidence, as well as teaching her to ride better as she would regularly bog off with her!! A year later Friz unfortunately got a tumour in her eye which turned her blind - she still jumped & did pc & it made her a gymkhana wizard!!

A year after that, after much illness with copd, we chose to pts aa her chest got so bad she was on very regular steroid injections which weren't really helping & her being 24/7 out wasnt helping with the laminitis.

Still miss the pony & she's been gone 8yrs. Infact, the song Lolas Theme still makes my daughter tear up as she did her 1st musical ride to it on Friz at her first ever PC camp.

Phew - that turned into an essay :D
 

dollymix

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 September 2006
Messages
2,069
Location
North Wales
Visit site
My first pony was a chesnut mare called Beauty (Meadow Misstress for posh!). I think she was about 13hh and was prob welsh x.

She was an absolute gem and the love of my life. my parents couldn't really afford for me to have a pony, but after constant pestering they bought Beauty from the riding centre in a local park which acted like a trekking centre. In return for her costs I was one of their weekend slaves and Beauty worked in the trekking centre. But I didn't care because I loved that pony and when she wasn't working in the trekking centre, we had a fab time bombing around the parkland and woods. Me and a few other girls would go early on Saturday morning to the 'jump woods' (which were fantastic pine woods, with a lovely pine needle surface which was soft and flat!) and we would make jumps out of any branches we could find! We'd also build then at random around the parkland. Later in the day if we had a free ride, we would head straight there and have an awesome time!

Even though Beauty was only 13 hh she could jump like a stag (her old owner once jumped her out over the feild's five bar gate so I could ride her when we forgot the key for the padlock!!) and she was also soooooo fast. She could easily keep up with the bigger horses.

Even though I never had lessons with her, she taught me so much about riding and horses in general. She had a sweet nature and would give you kisses for treats.

I miss that little lady so much....and yes, I would definitely have another chestnut mare!!
beauty.jpg

beauty2.jpg
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,027
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
My first pony was every little girl's dream..... 14.1hh, dapple grey and gorgeous. Think "Merrylegs" in Black Beauty, that's how he was.

Everyone talks about the "perfect pony" and/or "horse/pony in a million". Well I can honestly say that I had him. I was a very novice thirteen-year-old when I had him - with no horsey parents to support either (not their fault bless 'em!) and he could so easily have taken advantage with me.

He never, ever did. The only time, ever, that he was remotely fizzy was when I took him to our first pony club event: a paperchase on the local common. He was only five, I'd had him a matter of weeks, and he jogged all day!!!! But he didn't tank off, he didn't pull, he was perfectly polite.

Everyone said it was a disaster waiting to happen: i.e. 5 yo pony; novice (13 y o) rider, and no horsey parents to sort out any problems arising, but he never ever thought to do anything silly or take advantage whereas lots of ponies would have. Not him, he always looked after his rider and it would never have entered his head to do anything else.

By our next outing we'd got thoroughly used to each other and he was the sort of pony you could just put your reins down on his neck out hunting and everyone could be hooning around him in every direction, hounds running under his belly practically, and he'd just stand there resting a hind leg. He'd never jump unless he knew I was safe up there and the only thing he hated and really wasn't very good at was mounted games, simply because he was never fast enough for it.

He carried me safely through pony club, then when I got out of P.C. and started work I kept him at various livery yards and he was always such a good boy, never fretted or quarrelled with anyone.

He was my guardian angel and even though I lost him in 1985 I still mourn his passing. A perfect, sweet little man. I was so lucky to have the perfect pony; he never caused me to be scared or lose confidence, and he never ever put a foot wrong or had a wicked thought in his head. Yep, know what the pony in a million is like coz I had him. Wait for me at the silver gates little man coz I'll see you again one day.
 
Last edited:

evj

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 April 2012
Messages
398
Visit site
My first was a 12h chestnut nut case called Brandy, he came from a dealer as a lead rein pony. He would bronc, bolt and generally do any thing to get you off. The only time he was happy was when he was following another pony and after a few months he went to a riding school as my sister and i were totally terrified of him.
 

Pipkin

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 July 2010
Messages
1,460
Visit site
I had my first horse when i was 11, a three year sec d :D
First couple of years were great, then he found his feet and was quite the handfull.
I sold him when i was 16 to a family friend and he's still with same guy.
I'm actually going to visit him tomorrow.
Plans are hopefully he'll come to live his final years with me:)
 

Bikerchickone

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 September 2008
Messages
2,604
Location
East
Visit site
My first was a 16.2 IDxTB in his 30s who came from a riding school very very underweight. Soon found out why though, once fit he was an awful lot more lively! He was a flea bitten grey ex hunter and no matter what he did I loved him dearly. My boyfriend at the time bought him for me when I was 17. Only had him two years but they were very special. I'm lucky in that although my current two have very big hooves to fill they're both doing remarkably well at it. :) x
 

rascal

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 May 2007
Messages
1,640
Location
West Midlands
Visit site
My first pony was a 13.2 chestnut called (Star) Bronleys Redstart. He was a welsh x and stunning. He might even still be around i know where the owners live but havnt seen them to speak to.
The first pony i really fell for was a beach pony called Soda in Southport in the 70s, she was palamino.
 

Spotsrock

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 June 2008
Messages
3,224
Visit site
13.3 black welsh x tb. Jumped anything. Real fizzy little thing. Called gladys till we changed it. Bit and kicked, I still have the scars. The savagery got better after name change. She still put someone in hospital every time I went away on holiday though. Bought when I was 12 sold when I was 15 as I needed something a bit bigger, and friendlier! Bigger and friendlier is still with me. We are both now 32!
 
Top