Tell me about your 'one in a million'

Had this conversation with my mum so many times when drunk! :)

Can't pick one! Would be between:

Pip - my super but super old little 11.2, who is a bit legendary in the Rockwood hunt - "that little grey pony that jumped everything, and if the walls were too big he'd jump on top and spring off!"

Jimmy - gorgeous Welsh D, super talented pony with attitude to match!

Paddy - my beautiful boy who was killed in an RTA. :( Had the most fun on him show jumping, was a little bugger, but made me love him all the more.

Badger - Well my boy has to be in the running! :P
 
That would be my man Riley, a Hano TB, the big red horse below.

I got him when I was 17 and mourning the loss of my horse Breeze to cancer. Riley (Denny, as in Dennis the Menace was his name before me) came with a bad rap - he had blown through 5 local trainers in 18 months, and still dumped his elderly owner by bucking- he wasn't yet 8. He had also torn down the side of a barn.

He was sent to his breeder to be sold, who showed him a bit with good scores, but only had one person try him in a year. My trainer heard about him through a friend " There's a big chestnut for sale, talented but kind of crazy, with growths on his head." Great, I thought, they want me to buy a horse with a brain tumor! Ends up it was just sarcoids, later taken care of, but he is still homely. My first clinic when I had him three weeks, the well known judge, one of the 5 trainers he went through told me "that horse is crazy, and I would NEVER have sold him to someone."

We went and scored a 78% the following weekend at our first show.

Oft injured, but when not suffering from an ailment of some sort, we won High Score at Every. Single. Dressage. Show. for 7 years. In fact, our last show last summer at 3rd was the first time we didn't. We were national (US) Pony Club Champions in 2004, Double level Region 1 Junior Champions in 2008, and 11th in the whole U.S. as my first year as an amateur in 2009. Last year we won our Bronze Medal Award.

He is my best friend for the last 8 years, and I will probably never be able to sit on him again. He blew out his weak check ligament that always bothered him at the end of October after being retired since July. He went on a downward spiral, and I called my vet the week before Christmas to have "the final talk." Vet wanted to try one more thing before we put him down because "he's a fighter, he's special, the toughest horse I know, and I don't think he's given up yet" in his words.

So far so good! He's had a good month now, with only about 5 bad days. Today, he even got to go on a little walk to find some grass for about 10 minutes! When he had bad days, he was 3 legged and not mobile. Today, he was walking, slowly, but easily and not hardly limping! If we are over the worst of it, and i think we may be (he's had 16 good days straight), the prognosis is good for a least being pasture sound this year.


And in 8 years that "crazy" horse never got me off, never even tried. He loves me, thinks he's my dog.

After our first "10" score a few years ago, the judge came out to me exiting the ring and said: "That horse, he is your alter ego." A strange comment, but absolutely true. He is my obnoxious, cocky, flamboyant side to my quieter self. :)
 
Ridge, my grey. He is my other half, he makes me complete. I was giving up when I was approached by his owner to keep him ticking over. I fell in love the first time I sat on him. I was buying a happy hacker (but nothing compared) when they offered him to me.
He came home nervy, apparently hard to catch and head shy. He'd show jumped and hunted, I decided I wouldn't jump again. Then I thought maybe I'd do a little eventing. I was totally s*** scared, thought maybe I'd do an 80 HT at most. That horse has carried me round PN, taken me hunting and show jumping to 1.10. He does his darndest to keep me on top. I have rheumatoid and he is so incredibly gentle. He has adapted to me perfectly, and knows exactly what I can and can't handle. At 15 he started his dressage career and has Novice points.
He's not the easiest, he stops sometimes (often!) (but never out hunting). He bucks, sometimes rears, often spooks. But I feel completely safe on him, I have only come off once, he never pulls and never bolts.
He comes running when he sees my car, hollers at me when he hears my voice and follows me round like a dog. He is truly *my* horse.
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Wow what a fantastic response to this thread, thank you everyone for sharing your stories, I must admit I am sat here welling up after catching up with them. As I said before there really are some special horses out there who give their all to make us happy.
 
I'm lucky enough to have 2!

Olympic would be the first, I lost all my confidence over fences but so desperately wanted to jump so I started looking at showjumpers. I always loved looking at the photo's of Olympic Dieseldog put up and when I saw he was for sale I asked Weezy if he would be suitable and she said yes so I went to see him. After riding him around for ages I eventially plucked up the courage to point him at a 1' xpole, grab his mane and close my eyes. He got me to the other side good as gold and then I finished off jumping around a 2'3" ish course happily. Within 6 months I jumped confidently around my first newcomers (whilst carrying a horrifically painful injury..... I got bitten on the boob, couldn't wear a bra, every impact was agony :D ). I still look at the photo's of him on my wall and it's just painful how much of a hole he's left.

The other is Woody. I had a little taste of polocrosse in '07 and in April '08 I promptly went out and bought a horse. He failed the vetting on his sarcoids, his partial parylisis of the larynx and the fact he was lame but I loved him and bought him anyway. He's taken me to numerous tournament wins (too many to keep count), nationals and best rider there in '08, nationals in '10, the europeans in '09 and south africa to world cup glory in '11 :D
 
mine is the horse i have now, a 16'2 bay with four white socks ISH mare, she will be 19 this year and i bought her when she was 7, she is very sharp and spooky and def not everyones cup of tea but i just love her to bits, she had showjumped as a youngest and gone sour! she had been knocked about a bit and was very jumpy and headshy but with love, time and patience she has come through this, although she still doesnt trust people that she doesnt know! iv hunted her, showjumped, xc, beach rides, dressage and she hacks alone and in company!!
she is def my horse of a lifetime :)
 
For me, my one in a million didn't go round massive XC courses with me, or win me rossettes.... He put so many important foundations down for me to build te rest of my horsey knowledge on.

Floyd was a 11 year old Arab who noone could really do anything with. Took you hours to get a bit in his mouth, he planted, he bucked, and was down right arrogant ( aren't all Arabs) but he was given to me when I was 14 for me to toddle along with. 14 year old Jennifer thought ever horse was plain sailing and that we'd be out competing in no time - oh how wrong I was!

He was the horse from hell, everything I mentioned above and more, he pushed me so close to the edge so many times. I can remember crying to my mum one day after not being able to get a bit in his mouth saying 'why can't I just have a pony I can ride like everyone else' obvious answer was that mum couldn't afford it but I had a horse to look after!

Fast forward a few months - floyd has been moved yards, and he prefers it. We've been working on the bitting, and he now takes a bridle. He doesnt nap anymore and we can hack out on our own for hours. Were jumping, and my riding was coming on even more! I had some wonderful help from people at the new yard. After I was kicked in the face Floyd was the horse to help me regain my confidence.

I could go on all day about him, u really could. That horse taught me that not everyone is perfect and you need to put the work in!

He died in 2010 from grass sickness, and I will never forgive myself for not getting the chance to say goodbye. RIP, Dark Side of the Moon x
 
Probably Henry... if you want to know about him put his foot in a gate, pulled his leg off and had to be shot. Excellent at hunting, and could be good at everything else, if he felt like it. If he didn't feel like it he was a prize g1t. In retrospect I should have sent him away to a pro for some "proper" work, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Baby racehorse I have now is very similar to Henry characterwise, without being ruined by previous owner. Hopefully she will turn out better than Henry.
 
My ‘one-in-a-million’ without a doubt has to be Andy, the grey in my signature. He is 15 now, and I will have owned him for 10yrs in September.

He is my best friend, my soul mate and I cannot imagine life without him. He isn’t a world beater, he hasn’t taken me from nothing to Badminton, but I have achieved things with him I could never have imagined doing before I got him.. I used to be very nervous jumping, I’d never jumped more than 2’6” SJ on my old mare but with Andy I have competed at PN level eventing, done Elementary dressage, draghunted, team chased and we also did a handy pony class once – and won it!! :D

He has the most amazing temperament and always has a big fan club at whatever yard we’re at, everyone comments on what a lovely person he is.. Although he is a TB and can have his ‘moments’ when ridden (his favourite pastime is spooking), he is the most fantastic horse to handle, so laid back and gentle. But being laid back doesn’t stop him having a personality, he can be very cheeky and he makes me laugh a lot too!

He is also the injury come back king. My physio/vet/farrier etc, are all amazed that he is still eventing considering what he has been through in the past (colic, fractured leg, suspensory injury, foot problems, back problems). But each time something sets him back, he seems to come back even stronger than before!

I absolutely adore him and I count myself very lucky to have him in my life :)

One of my (many) fav pics of us (excuse my face, I was very sunburnt when this was taken!). He is rather handsome too!! (not that I am biased or anything..)

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Mine is Zak, its an odd story how I ended up with him as realistically I should have never been bought him. He was born in the field next to our house when I was about 9. His breeders were definitely not "professionals" in this field and were more known for being small scale dealers. They did however have one nice mare who was a big IDxSuffolk punch who they decided to put in to foal to a local small scale show jumping tb stallion (a nice horse but nothing special really).
My mom was actually the first person to see him when he was born and came to wake me up to go and see him so we were probably the first people to see him.
Over the next year we watched him grow and get naughtier and naughtier driving his mom insane, not letting anyone catch him and just generally causing havoc ;)
He was then weaned and taken away and I didn't see him or hear anything of him for the next 2.5 years. As the time went by I really didn't think about him or expect to see him ever again.
Then when we were on holiday my mom came downstairs and said "do you remember that horse born in the field next door? Well i dreamt we owned him" I didn't really think any thing of it. Then (this is the really weird bit) when we got home the breeder came round to our house and asked us whether we would be looking for a horse for me at any point in the future as Zak was for sale. My mom, after having dreamt about him decided we should go and see him thinking it could be a fate thing which is actually quite out of character for her as she is generally very practical :) Anyway we turned up and he was a state, not neglected or anything like that just completely wild looking and clearly had not been handled, he was 16.2hh tank with a couple of screws loose. I was 12 and was still on my 13.2 pony so we wern't exactly a match made in heaven. Anyway to cut an already long story slightly shorter I ended up falling for him and through everyone's better judgement my mom bought him. When we got him back to the yard everyone thought we were insane, he dragged me around like a rag doll and just was clearly way, way to much horse for me. He was backed by me but the yard owner properly broke him in. She said he was one of the most difficult horses she had done and advised us to sell him which I was dead set against. Over the next year we struggled a lot, I was on the floor more times than I can remember, he bolted, bronked, span reared everything really. I used to lie and if no one saw me fall i wouldn't mention it as new it was a fine line as to whether he would stay or not.
The next few years things slowly improved although he was still very quirky but I was just so stubborn and would not let him be sold.
Although he was clearly rather wild he did show talent and we started jumping, by the time he was 6 we came 3rd at open area show jumping and had started doing some eventing. Anyway in the end he definitely turned out to be my one in a million winning upto fox hunters bsja, open level eventing and elementary dressage. We have learnt so much from each other and when it called for it his heart was always there. In the last year of eventing he was in the top 3 at nearly every be event he went too.
I still have him now, however he fractured a sesamoid bone two years ago and it was been a long process bringing him back. Last week I jumped him for the first time in two years and he loved it so hopefully he might be able to do a bit this year.
It has not been a walk in the park but I can't ever imagine trusting or loving a horse more than I do him, gushy I know ;)
A few pics:
3yo Zak
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Older Zak
sorry for lack of hat it didn't happen often at all and never does now.
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Typical Zak thinking he is invincible moment:
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Sorry that turned into an apic story ;) well done if you made it to the end.
 
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A&K Andy is stunning. He is the spitting image of my mums late event horse and her one in a million Murphy. He was also a grey TB :). Murphy has been gone 6 years now and my mum still can't talk about him without crying. Even now she rarely let's herself have the luxury of remembering him because it hurts too much. She said he was her soul mate :).
 
My one in a million is my (originally my daughter's http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif) chestnut mare pony, who is beautiful to look at and be with. We went to look at a stunning 15hh grey TB type mare which was a bit too sharp. The dealer suggested we look at a 14hh pony in the next stable, which by comparison was too fat and pony-like and definitely too small (I expected my daughter to grow to my height 5'9"), but when my daughter rode her she felt safe, so after a vetting and pressure from dealer saying others were on their way from 3 hours away to see her, we bought her (huge buyers-regret moment!) and have NEVER looked back.

We knew nothing about showing, but with lots of help from my instructor we conquered the County level show hunter world and our pinnacle was to come 5th in Search for a Star for a place at HOYS as well as showing at Windsor horse show (which was a dead loss as her one hang up is flapping flags and we had never been anywhere so windy or flagged!!). She saw my daughter through pony club until she was 16 but being 14h, Ginger Spice couldn't compete at all the jumping when other girls moved up to their 16hh horses. She loves coming in to the garden in summer, down the steps and poking her nose through the back door, earning her the nickname patio pony! She is really nice to be around. She took my daughter hunting for several seasons and now me (yes I look like a mexican riding a donkey, but I am only 9 stone and we both love it-I've never galloped so fast on anything else).

She was there to nurse my bashed confidence from my bucking big horse. She was there to take me out on long hacks when I was too afraid of my horse's spooking. When I ride her I smile, even when she stamps her feet and rears very rarely - it's like watching a toddler have a meltdown, so funny and so not scary! She was there to get me to the other side of hedges out hunting. She was the one to allow me to hone my in-hand skills, so easy with her little, manoeverable body, and experience my first ever ridden piaffe and half-pass. She was the one to survive our stable fire and help me back from my deep shock and grief. The right horse survived that fire and for this reason alone she has a forever home. What a clever girl!

And now my daughter can't ride because of arthritis, so happily she is mine, all mine!
 
festivefirewell said:
A&K Andy is stunning. He is the spitting image of my mums late event horse and her one in a million Murphy. He was also a grey TB :). Murphy has been gone 6 years now and my mum still can't talk about him without crying. Even now she rarely let's herself have the luxury of remembering him because it hurts too much. She said he was her soul mate :).
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Aww, thank you so much :) If your Mum's Murphy was anything like Andy he would have been very special. I can't bear to think of the day he will no longer be here but I have so many fantastic memories I hope this will help me through. I am getting all misty eyed just thinking about it now..

It's so lovely to hear about so many special horses on this thread, they are such amazing animals! :)
 
A&K here was my mums boy, bit of a blury picture i'm afraid! They are the ones on the bottom right, its eventing magazine from 1992 :).

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I don't have any others of him on here, he bulked out as he got older and was a right tank by the time he was in his 20's. He was very special :).
 
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