QueenOfCadence
Well-Known Member
Hey guys!
I'm in such a proud mummy mood that I thought I'd share my boy's story (I'll try to summarise so that I don't bore anyone to death
).
So I bought Jongintaba's Golden Arrow in November in 2005 from a dealer, we weren't told much about his history (just that he jumped Children's A Grade and not much else), we basically just got his passport, loaded him into the box and paid 40 000 Rand (3333 Euro)
Once we got him home (it was about an hours drive from the dealer's yard to the livery yard where we've kept all our horses since probably forever). We unloaded him and turned him out into a little cooling down paddock (so we could make sure his stable was ready for him and so that he could sum up the yard without someone having to be attatched to his lead ). We just walked into the american style barn when one of the groom's yelled - I looked around and saw Goldie had jumped the fence and was now galloping around the yard like a nutter. This is where the trouble started
So basically what happened (to summarise) is he was absolutely bezerk to the point where he was unrideable. I use to fall of twice in a 30 minute session and he use to spook for EVERYTHING (crops, men, little children, dogs, trees, loud noises, plastic bags, jumps, a horse jumping and the starting bell for jumping). I never jumped him (I had bought him as a dressage prospect) but I couldn't even ride in an arena with jumps in it (he use to spook at them and take off out of the arena at a frenzied gallop)
After a near death experience (Goldie threw me over his head and trampled me) my mom and I decided to do some research on his background (by now we were nearly certain he must have had some bad experience not too long ago). We went to our local showing body (GHS - Gauteng Horse Society) to view his showing records and to hear if maybe somebody knew anything about him. It turned out they did. As soon as my mom had said "we're looking for Jongintaba's Golden Arrow's showing records" the receptionist said "oh! The jumping pony who had the accident? I was wondering whatever happened to him".
Anyway, long story short - it turns out Goldie had been a little superstar in the Children's A Grade world ^.^, but he had had a horrible accident over a jump (he got the poles tangled between his legs because his rider took the jump at an angle and fell over forward), his previous owner didn't seem to have cared very much for him (he was in his stable 24 hours of every day, she didn't have anything to do with him except riding him and paid everyone else to do things for her - like lunging him or grooming him or turning him out for shows). Of course, after hearing about the accident we got out vet out to check for possible injuries that they might have missed during his vetting. It turns out he has damaged vertebrae in his neck (so now he sees the chiro bi-monthly :L)
Overtime though, Goldie got better and better (and I fell off less and less) - we found a way to get him to stay in his paddock (an old WB gelding as a paddock buddy), he got over his fear of most things (including crops), he could be taken to shows without spooking at everything (90% of the time) and he was just much sweeter and would allow you to do basically anything with him (as an example, I dressed him up as a reindeer a few days ago )
I'm such a proud mommy and I can't believe the progress he has made in 5 years. He went from not knowing how to do anything except gallop around with his head in the air (bucking me, trampling me, stomping on me, kicking me, biting me. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he used me as a punch bag during his "not so good" stage), and even though we have to keep a constant eye on his bad neck (making sure he doesn't get arthiritis and that it isn't bothering him) he is a very happy hoss
Can't believe the turn around some horses can make just by getting the correct handling and tons of love ^.^!
Here are some recent-ish photies of Jongintaba Golden Arrow <3
(waiting at his paddock gate for me to fetch him):
Being a flexible little bugger (look at those neck wrinkles):
half pass (can't believe we started in Prelim):
He has even conquered his fear of jumping and can now do this (except he jumps extremely flat bareback):
I'm so proud of my little palomino
I'm in such a proud mummy mood that I thought I'd share my boy's story (I'll try to summarise so that I don't bore anyone to death
).So I bought Jongintaba's Golden Arrow in November in 2005 from a dealer, we weren't told much about his history (just that he jumped Children's A Grade and not much else), we basically just got his passport, loaded him into the box and paid 40 000 Rand (3333 Euro)
Once we got him home (it was about an hours drive from the dealer's yard to the livery yard where we've kept all our horses since probably forever
). We unloaded him and turned him out into a little cooling down paddock (so we could make sure his stable was ready for him and so that he could sum up the yard without someone having to be attatched to his lead ). We just walked into the american style barn when one of the groom's yelled - I looked around and saw Goldie had jumped the fence and was now galloping around the yard like a nutter. This is where the trouble startedSo basically what happened (to summarise) is he was absolutely bezerk to the point where he was unrideable. I use to fall of twice in a 30 minute session and he use to spook for EVERYTHING (crops, men, little children, dogs, trees, loud noises, plastic bags, jumps, a horse jumping and the starting bell for jumping). I never jumped him (I had bought him as a dressage prospect) but I couldn't even ride in an arena with jumps in it (he use to spook at them and take off out of the arena at a frenzied gallop)
After a near death experience (Goldie threw me over his head and trampled me) my mom and I decided to do some research on his background (by now we were nearly certain he must have had some bad experience not too long ago). We went to our local showing body (GHS - Gauteng Horse Society) to view his showing records and to hear if maybe somebody knew anything about him. It turned out they did. As soon as my mom had said "we're looking for Jongintaba's Golden Arrow's showing records" the receptionist said "oh! The jumping pony who had the accident? I was wondering whatever happened to him".
Anyway, long story short - it turns out Goldie had been a little superstar in the Children's A Grade world ^.^, but he had had a horrible accident over a jump (he got the poles tangled between his legs because his rider took the jump at an angle and fell over forward), his previous owner didn't seem to have cared very much for him (he was in his stable 24 hours of every day, she didn't have anything to do with him except riding him and paid everyone else to do things for her - like lunging him or grooming him or turning him out for shows). Of course, after hearing about the accident we got out vet out to check for possible injuries that they might have missed during his vetting. It turns out he has damaged vertebrae in his neck (so now he sees the chiro bi-monthly :L)
Overtime though, Goldie got better and better (and I fell off less and less) - we found a way to get him to stay in his paddock (an old WB gelding as a paddock buddy
), he got over his fear of most things (including crops), he could be taken to shows without spooking at everything (90% of the time) and he was just much sweeter and would allow you to do basically anything with him (as an example, I dressed him up as a reindeer a few days ago )I'm such a proud mommy and I can't believe the progress he has made in 5 years. He went from not knowing how to do anything except gallop around with his head in the air (bucking me, trampling me, stomping on me, kicking me, biting me. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he used me as a punch bag during his "not so good" stage), and even though we have to keep a constant eye on his bad neck (making sure he doesn't get arthiritis and that it isn't bothering him) he is a very happy hoss
Can't believe the turn around some horses can make just by getting the correct handling and tons of love ^.^!
Here are some recent-ish photies of Jongintaba Golden Arrow <3
(waiting at his paddock gate for me to fetch him):
Being a flexible little bugger
(look at those neck wrinkles):
half pass (can't believe we started in Prelim):
He has even conquered his fear of jumping and can now do this (except he jumps extremely flat bareback
):
I'm so proud of my little palomino
