The first time you saw the one?

I wanted a project and was on the look out. Friend rang me from sales saying I have a found a lovely mare.

Drove up there just as she went in the ring, gutted as obv wouldn't bid as not seen her. Anyway she didn't sell, bought her out back under reserve price with foal at foot


Take me home!!!

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2.5years on.... Sweet mare yes. Genuine mare....yes. Solved project.... Don't think she ever will be that. Have had some rather large creases to iron out and only now is she realising just how much fun life can be.

I will never sell her unless forced even if I go to buy something bigger, she has showed too many times that despite her issues our bond is very solid, and have never felt so in tune with a horse before as I do her even when she's flying backwards at the hosepipe!!!!!!
 
Omg just noticed her auction number is 44. all my user names on forums and work passwords are toffee44. Because toffee is my pony and used to do World War Two stuff so the year 44.



Omg freaking a bit now, never noticed that before!!!
 
He was soaked, filthy, covered in bot fly eggs but coloured! I knew he was the one.:) I was lucky to be given a week's trial.i bought him within about four days and this is him on the day I handed over the cash:
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I remember the first time I met all of ours!

I remember first meeting my mums horse, he was 4 and I was 4 - and I have such a clear memory of watching him gallop up the field to meet us and loving him from the first second I saw him!

The first time I met my 'first pony' I was only 10, I peered over this stable door and saw this beautiful grey pony with big eyes and a pink nose and fell in love there and then, I somehow managed to miss the devilish glint - I opened the door, he bit me, wouldn't let me get on and was launching himself all over the place, bolted with me down a bridleway and bronced until I fell off on the way home of my 15 minute test ride - god knows why we bought him but he had me off on every ride and taught me to have a good sticky bum, he has the biggest personality and is still bossing me around to this day! :o

The first time I met my late gelding I wouldn't say I fell in love with him! - but I just felt so sorry for him. I'd gone to the sales 'just to look' (:rolleyes:) and saw this miserable looking grubby dun in the back of a stall with such a sad expression on his face. Dun has always been my favourite colour, so despite him obviously having terrible sweetitch, being hugely obese, brought there by the owners friends who couldn't wait to get rid of him, probably with laminitis and something very not right about his demeanor (doped springs to mind!!) I took him home. He was definitely a rescue case, I looked into his past and it was horrible. I loved him to pieces but he was very difficult and never came quite right - i'm just glad he spent his last years somewhere that he was loved and well cared for. He definitely taught me patience ;)

When I saw my mare (most recent purchase!), I fell in love with her photo - but when I went to see her I was faced with this monster and my first thought was 'oh my god I'm not even getting on that!!' and nearly walked away then and there, as she was nothing less than a firebreathing dragon climbing the walls. But I fell in love the second I got on her. She's absolutely stunning, and I felt so lucky to be riding this beautiful horse. I nearly cried when I jumped her for the first time as I love jumping but had spent years riding horses who did everything they could possibly think of to avoid going over a jump, however small - so all the fun had gone from it really. But when I pointed her at this jump, which was the biggest I'd done in years, her ears pricked, she sped forward, messed up the striding completely but did everything in her power to get us over that jump safely - sounds completely ridiculous but that was the moment I fell in love - she'd been so enthusiastic, so determined to get over it, and I'd had nothing but fun during the test ride and was going round grinning from ear to ear - I didn't want to get off! I went home to think about it for a day or two as the initial impression of her had really put me off, I didn't want anything high maintenance or difficult to handle.. but we rang up to try again and see if she was any better only to be told someone was very keen and wanted her too and was coming back to see her - and I just had this really heavy feeling of dread, as if I'd missed this huge opportunity. So did the only thing I could do, leapt in the car with my cheque book and drove over there like a lunatic to hand over the deposit - and thank god I did, I love her to bits - even if she is high maintenance! :D
 
I first met Rog when i was 12, my friend H had just got him to do some schooling with and to bring on for his owner. H managed to persuade his owner to let her buy him for her daughter.
He did have quite a buck so went on loan for a few years before he came back for her daughter to ride. Me and my sister rode him a couple of times when we went to visit and i always wanted it to be me that he came to.
When H's daughter outgrew him he had a couple of loan homes and when the last one was having family problems my sister was looking for a pony for when hers was away at stud. So he arrived at my sisters about a week later.
At the end of the summer he came to me, i remember him arriving at the yard on an ennormous Gilies lorry he just looked so cheeky.
Friend very generously gifted him to me about 4 years ago now as she wanted to guarantee him a good home for the rest of his days.
I still love him to bits and he makes me smile even on the darkest wetest days
 
My palo Ffion, well I had just bought Winnie unseen for my daughter (she is a yearling so fairly low risk buying unseen!) and my friend sent me a link to Ffion who was my childhood dream pony. I had to buy her, as soon as I saw her I knew she was mine. Phoned the seller, phone was off. Tried loads that night, phone off. Tried all day the next day, phone off!!! I was going out my mind by now :o and I messages them through the ad site and said please phone me. Eventually she did and I bought her over the phone! Never regretted it for a second. She is just what I always wanted as a kid:).

Oh and the other reason I knew she was for me is that my best ever sheep dog is called Ffion too!

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Yup, rode past the field at the local stud with mum and baby in it, went home to tell hubby I'd found my future horse and he said don't be ridiculous!!!
Got her at eight months, after loads of heartache and hassle she is just the best girl!
My trainer loves her attitude and she's just getting on with working life. Big risk but wouldn't change it or her!
I fell in love with a foal in a field and now I have my horse of a lifetime....
Worth every minute of hard work and watching friends go out riding.
Mad but true :-))):D
 
The first time I saw J I remember thinking wow at him :) He looked stunning and was competition fit (Even though he hadn't done any) and I remember thinking he was probably going to be too much for me before I had even opened his stable door!

He was so good when I tried him though - shame its taken 2 years since to get competing properly as has some serious quirks :eek: In some ways he is almost my horse of a lifetime - he has taught me so much and has been very successful this season doing BS/and starting WH.

When I first saw A I thought she looked a very sweet, calm little mare and I had a good feeling about her - she was laid back so I felt comfortable around her unlike most horses I tried! And so far she has been perfect:D
 
Yep, I had had a fall and broken my arm, sent my loan horse back so idly looking on the market again, found a haflingers for sale page on facebook and saw her, knew from pictures and talking to her owner on facebook she was the one I wanted and drove 4 hours to view, confirmed and organised everything, very happy with her :-)

Aww who could resist those happy ears :-)

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2005, call from a friend who said he thought his boss (a dealer) had a horse that might suit me.
Went to the yard, saw this enormous chestnut TB who took a liking to me, nuzzled me etc.
He was tacked up, taken to the school and friend rode him. Fizzy as heck!
Threw a little buck in, spun a bit. I said, no way am I getting on that! (he was 16.3 I am 5' 1")
But horse kept edging to me, wanting to nuzzle me.. Other friend got on, fizzy horse!!
They persuaded me to get on ( leg up from mounting block lol)
Horse was totally different. We walked and trotted and he was a gent. Then took him out of the school and followed track by golf course on my own
What a fab horse!
He came the next day. (May)
Eric was mine, we bonded instantly, he was a true gent for me. At the time I ran a RS and I let a few people ride him.
He was naughty and fizzy. But with me, a total gent, easy to ride, loose rein, easy to stop.
Loved that horse.
He was attacked by a dog in October, bitten in the hock.
Tried desperately with the vet to save him and at one time, he was sound and fit, but alas, a roll in the stable rejuvenated the infection, by March infection ravaged him internally.
I didn't have him long but he was the one the moment I saw him.
 
We went to a dealers yard in Reading just looking for a 5 year old that had been out a couple of times, green but broken and with potential...

we got there and every horse has a really snotty nose but then we noticed this ugly looking chestnut in a stable at the back of another stable with another horse in and he didnt have that snottier nose (mum hates snotty nosed horses) so we asked to see him out. it was mid november -1 outside. he was fully clipped and unrugged, he had been in the country 4 days (just shipped from ireland) and had been oated up and had no turn out since before the sales so he was feeling a little ermm fresh :o

a small polish man came to get him out and as soon as he was out he started dragging this poor man around and he was rearing up and kicking out so they ran him into the school and let him loose. they then rushed around and put up a 5 ft extention on the 4ft fence so we were a bit like aye? at this point hes charging around snorting trying trample the dealers dog :o. they then put up a jump. it was a 5'6ft oxer in the middle of the school with no poles either side and they all just stepped out of the school and by this point we were like wtf :S and then he turned and saw the jump and i have never seen a horses eyes light up like it before! he cantered steadily up to it and poped it with very little effort clearing it by a good foot and then he carried on going around and around poping it and in the end they had to dismantle the jump to stop him jumping it! we bought him then and there and he was delivered a week later - as an unbroken barely handled 3 year old :o so not what we were looking for at all ahaha!

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first week

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9 years later :)
 
yeah everyone had left the school and the jump was just in the middle :) he still did it up until a few years back often popping 5ft from a walk but its not that exciting now although he will still pop 3'6ft on his own and he still pops the fencing in the field and back again when he feels like it which is 4'ft :o
 
i went to see Chico because i found about about him after i bought his dam. I just wanted to visit him before he was sold but the second i saw him i just knew. It was the best spur of the moment decision i've ever made.

This was the scruffy young man I met that day.
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Aww! Some fab stories here! Really made my day to read them especially after coming in wet and muddy from a day cutting back prickly hedges! You lot have reminded me why we have horses in the first place :D

For me, I was asked as a 14yr old kid to school a 13.2, 4yr old pony for a friend of a friend who was doing her A levels and had a pony that up for sale but wasn't doing much. I went to try him and we rode in a king sized sand menage with the whole yard sat on the fence watching us. He was steel grey, ugly as hell, far too quick for my bum to stick in the saddle and so fine I felt like I'd come off the back any second. I'll never forget it... all I could think was 'this thing is going to kill me!' but I had nothing else to ride so I naively brought him home. It went from a favour to a full loan when she left for university and hadn't found anyone who could stay on long enough to take a liking to him. I didn't like him much either to begin with but he was the closest thing I had to my own pony.

We hacked for hours and hours and hours, tanked along grass verges, jumped in the woods, did the odd gymkhana/clear round and I slowly but surely fell head over heels in love. Then, six months later the owner said she needed to sell him to pay her uni fees and I was absolutely devastated. A week after that, on my fifteenth birthday I opened a gift which was a framed photo of pony and I together. Of course, I was really, really upset with that too because I didn't know how long I had left with him, but at that point my parents said I'd better cheer up because my new pony wouldn't recognise the blubbering mess that was me.

Blubbering again now just thinking about it! That was nineteen years ago but he's still going strong, and I'll never ever forget that first day in the menage or that framed photo which is still on my bedroom wall. For the record, he and I have slowly conquered the world together :)
 
They've all chosen us, one way or another.

The classic was the Clydesdale mare who was living at a local RS. We happened to ask at the tackshop, where they had a large, sensible mare, if they knew where we could get one like her (sounds mad but we'd been all across the country looking at horses which were not as advertised). We were told neighbouring RS had one similar. We wennt round on the off-chance but owner was out. A member of staff showed her to us in the stable and we arranged to go back to talk to owner. A few days later we went back and the mare saw us and whickered very loudly to us. Needless tosay we bought her!
 
Love these stories, I'm glad I'm not alone in being crazy.
i saw an ad for ride n drive 15 2 X trotter, with tack, harness and exercise cart, never one to resist a bargain went to see him, met him being led down a lane, having spun round and ditched his rider, he was held in a stable and when I offered to shut the door, the reply was "No the b*gger will be out in no time" True. 4yrs later he is still one of the loves of my life and still a character, I didn't even ride him due to a knackered knee, but no regrets.
Another time I saw an ad for an ex racer, told my OH I thought I'd found his new horse, went to see him and what a gent, bought him but didn't have him nearly long enough (he died), desperate for a replacement, my lad was seriously grieving, I went to a local rescue and saw an ex brood mare, covered in mud and quite depressed but she had such a kind eye, my OH tried her and she came home, eight months later apart from still learning manners, she is a star, won't put up with my lads bullying and although not quite Ozz is not far from him.
I go with my gut instinct and so far it hasn't let me down
 
I was at the Royal Show in 2004, watching the Shire ring. Into the Mares with foal at foot class came a huge, beautiful black mare with, what announcer Mike Tucker said was, 6 weeks old twins. I took several photos of them, and was smitten. I tried to find them at the stables after the class, but they had left for home. I was told that the foals were not twins, but a colt, which was the mare's own, and an adopted filly. They were so alike anyone would have thought they were twins.

In September of that year, I summoned up the courage to ring the mare's owner. In the Shire world there is a great deal of exportation of premium stock. A mare of the quality exhibited by "my mare" would have gone to any number of countries, particularly Sweden. I was warned to speak up or lose a possible opportunity. When I asked if the mare were for sale, her owner answered in the affirmative. When I asked her price, the game was over. So that was that.

The following March, at the Shire National Show, the previous year's studbooks were available. The first section of the book I always turn to is the export listings. And, there she was, exported to the Middle East. I was crestfallen.

Months went by and I was attending the Moor Green show in August. There was a lovely black yearling filly being shown by a young girl. The catalogue only had names of exhibits and owners, no sires, dams or breeders. The prefix of the filly's name was vaguely familiar. I asked one of my friends if he knew the young girl and her horse. He said the filly was the adopted foal of the big, black mare at the Royal Show, "my mare." I went over to the young girl and told her how much I enjoyed watching her handle her baby. I told her she did a beautiful job. We engaged in a bit of small talk, when I said something like it being shame that her filly's adopted mother was in the Middle East. The girl said "no she's not." I figured she was young and probably didn't read the studbooks. So I told her that the mare was listed as exported to Saudi Arabia. The girl looked at me and said "no she isn't, I handled her just yesterday." I still get giddy skin when I think about it. Three weeks later, at an annual foal show and sale, I was leafing through the catalogue and saw that the mare, "my mare," was the last entry in the last class. A very good friend of mine was at the show and he offered to talk to the mare's owner. He, basically, did the deal for me. My friend fetched her at another show where he and the owner agreed to meet, and brought her home to his place because I was having surgery the following day. After two weeks, he transported her to our farm. There isn't a day that I don't marvel at this gorgeous creature. We definitely have a special rapport. She is my horse of a lifetime and I know there will never be another like her for me.

BTW, the studbook listed her name as the export, instead of listing her older daughter's name.
 
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