Those who own but didn't grow up with horses

[All]

I was going to ask a similar question

I have been trying to get more experience caring for a horse ( trying to volunteer at several rs ) ect and no we're had a any interest ( was even going to pay for my own CRB check / acces ni because I may be working with children! )

I eventually decided to get the experience by doing the BHS exams
( Every one a thought this was a good idea but haven't had any one do it before for that reason? )

How did everyone else get there experience ?

 

[Pippity]

I was going to ask a similar question

I have been trying to get more experience caring for a horse ( trying to volunteer at several rs ) ect and no we're had a any interest ( was even going to pay for my own CRB check / acces ni because I may be working with children! )

I eventually decided to get the experience by doing the BHS exams
( Every one a thought this was a good idea but haven't had any one do it before for that reason? )

How did everyone else get there experience ?

I think it is a lot harder to get the experience nowadays. I was working for rides at a riding school in the 80s/90s, and the owner was just cottoning on to the idea of charging kids to clean tack and muck out, and claiming they were stablework lessons. There are a couple of riding schools around me that do 'proper' stablework lessons, but that doesn't give you the experience of being properly hands-on day after day.

When I was getting back into it as an adult, I volunteered at my local RDA branch. They had a lot of horsey kids and a lot of not-particularly-horsey adults to help with the riders, but were short on horsey adults. Having a responsible adult willing to come down and muck out, groom, school/exercise the horses a bit, etc., was welcomed, no matter how long it took you to muck out, because it saved the YO having to do it! However, that was when the branch was hosted at a private yard, and the horses were used purely for RDA. It's since moved to a riding school, and the RDA horses are now treated like all the riding school horses, so not so much of an opportunity.

 

[Marigold4]

Completely non-horsey family. Had a few riding lessons paid for by granny and was hooked. Begged daily for a pony, then one day my erratic father bought me one as a surprise! Had to work at the stables she was at to help with keep and no more lessons but we managed. Pony was used for the riding school lessons as well. Once outgrown, pony went on loan. Took very lowly paid job at a yard abroad for a gap year. Exercised horses for other people during university holidays. Parents were divorced early on so very little money - but horse experience can be got without wealthy horsey parents. You have to do a lot of mucking out and yard sweeping though, ha ha.

 

[scruffyponies]

My dad was very clear "People like us don't have horses".
When I went travelling after uni I lied about being to ride at every opportunity, and if I fell off, I got back on.
With my first pay packet I started hacking out at the local stables weekly, until I met a stable girl crying over their problem pony one day (he was going off to the sales bad behaviour). Reader, I bought him.
The next 10 years were him teaching me to sit bucks and rears, and me teaching him to drive (Thank you Sally Walrond!).
I never did have more than a handful of lessons, but I have read just about everything I can get my hands on, including this site. I reckon it will only take another 80 or 90 years before I know what I'm doing.

 

[Gallop_Away]

My family wasn't in any way horsey but since I was tiny I was mad about them. Every Christmas a pony was on my list, and as I told my father when he pointed out to 6yo me that we had no room for a pony, I simply said we could keep it in the garden shed ?‍ unsurprisingly I never got my pony.
As a child I had lessons at a local RS and would go hacking on the beach at a trekking centre a few miles away. Then when I went to university I joined the equestrian society and continued with lessons/hacks throughout my degree.
Once I graduated uni and got my first job, I found a part loan, a completely batsh!t chestnut mare........ But I learned so much about the care of horses and stable management from my mare's owner who was a very patient lady. I learned a great deal about owning horses from her and have much to thank her for....including meeting my husband who also had a horse on the same yard.
A few months after meeting my husband I decided I was ready for a horse of my own. After some searching I purchased my Welsh pony, who was well known on the yard and firm favourite among the other liveries and YO. I still have him 7 years later and he is going nowhere.
Horses are like chocolates, and you can't just stop at one, so a year or so after buying my pony, I found my beautiful mare, and hubby has his big beautiful gelding.
The rest, as they say, is history

 

[ecb89]

Come from a very non horsey family. Got some lessons for my 13th birthday. Rode on and off in my teens, the one lesson my dad came to watch I fell off and he declared he wasn’t going to pay for me to kill myself.
Started lessons again about 20, did my stage 1 and 2 at night classes.
Age 26 bought Paddy, childhood dream come true.

 

[Widgeon]

My family is not at all horsey. When I was taken pony trekking about 7, mum put the saddle on back to front ?‍

This is excellent. I suppose at least she had a go, I don't think my mum would've gone near a horse with a saddle. She was always very encouraging from a distance though (as was my dad), and happy to pat the riding school ponies. My parents never understood my horse obsession but they were generous enough to pay for my lesson every week and shuttle me up to the yard at 8am on weekends, so I've got no complaints! I learned by watching, listening, helping on yards all my weekends and holidays (two riding schools in particular) then when I went to university I shared a pony locally. Stopped riding for a few years as a young adult because £££, then more lessons, then another share, then bought my own. I also spent my childhood inhaling any and all books relating to horses and acquired quite a lot of useful information that way. I had an ancient PC manual from the eighties (I grew up in the nineties) which I read many times and coloured in all the diagrams in the way you do when you do when you're ten.

ETA - it does seem that "helping at the riding school" is a thing of the past now, which is very sad. We had a little pack of us kids who did most of the manual labour and gradually got older, more knowledgeable and more responsible. By the time I was 18 I was teaching the teeny tiny ones to sit on a pony and helping in lessons for older ones. Although I do remember that almost nothing had back shoes on which probably greatly decreased our risk

 

[JGC]

No one in my family was horsey or had any kind of animals! I do not remember a time when I wasn't asking about riding lessons and getting a dog. My parents were able to just about afford riding lessons by the time I got to 9 and then I started helping at the riding school as much as I was able. Didn't ride much at uni as struggled to find the money and wasn't particularly outgoing enough to get catch rides. Got a proper job and both horse and dog arrived at the grand old age of 26 (me, not them!). I've always had them on yards where there's an instructor for back up, but I certainly felt knowledgeable "enough" to own a horse when I got my first one

 

[Red-1]

Yes, non horse family here.

I first sat on one in a London park when I was about 18 months old. There it started... A ride a year, more or less.

We moved to Sheffield when I was 9 and I was bribed with a promise of riding lessons. Once a week lessons, every night reading books! When I was 13 3/4 I got a pony. I was hapless. Poor pony. I did my very best though, had 3 riding lessons which helped us and started to have fun. Then, he went lame and I started to 'work' for the livery yard I was on. After a while, the pony went to a friend, I got a horse, did pony club and kept riding the eventers and dealer horses belonging to the livery yard owners. I studied hard and did my AI the year I left school, when I realised I had done rubbish at A levels.

Ended up fulfilling all my hopes and dreams. Worked with them, have them at home, competed in all manner of disciplines, had a training business. All from a non horse background!

 

[Xmasha]

Im another one from a non horsey background. My mum wasnt interested, but my dad used to love taking me on a sunday for my lessons. ( i started at 4)
He always wanted to buy me my own, but mum would put a stop to it. So I worked in a riding school just to be around them. The highlight would be bare back riding the ponies ( whilst leading 3 others) to the field up the road. Had to stop when i got in my late teens, and finally got back into it when i had my daughter. Ive over compensated ever since, why have one when several will do
Ive learnt as ive gone along, but when i first got my own i had them in full/working livery so i could be sure i got things right.

 

[McFluff]

My family love animals and we had pets (cats, dogs, fish, gerbils) but we couldn't afford a horse or riding lessons. I read every book I could find, watched films, spent hours watching ponies in the local fields, but didn't sit on a horse till I was 14. Had a really good friend with horses and she was generous enough to let me spend my weekends there and help (with hindsight, I'm not sure how much help I was!). I would groom, tack up, clean tack, muck out and generally be there when she was competing. I learnt enough to hack out and warmup/cool down for her.
I got a Saturday job and then paid for weekly lessons myself for about a year or so before leaving home to go to Uni.
Gave up when I went to Uni (had no money) and for a few years after. Ironically, my mum then got a horse, but she was 150 miles away!
In my late 20's my lovely OH bought me a lesson and I was re-hooked. I had lessons and had the opportunity to do fittening work for a friend who had two showjumpers. I loved it, I still love hacking and fittening work (weird I know!).
I then moved to the other side of the country and during my 30's I had a weekly lesson and a weekly hack.
Finally got my own when I was 40, it was a dream come true. Still is. It helps that I kept her on full livery where there was loads of support and help. I'm still there and on horse number three...

 

[oldie48]

Born to a working class family in the centre of Birmingham the only ponies I saw belonged to the rag and bone man (any old iron!). At 11 I won a scholarship to a posh school, lots of the girls rode so there was lots of horsey chat and we were all obsessed with Bonanza which required lots of galloping around the playground, for some reason I always had to be "Little Hoss". This led to me going with a friend to a riding stables to watch, which further led to lots of nagging and pleading which sometimes elicited enough money for a lesson from my poor parents who were struggling to keep me in school uniform. The RS had some nice ponies and an owner who reeked of gin but who got me cantering and popping small jumps very quickly so I thought I could ride, which I couldn't. However, I spent the next 30 odd years doing other stuff until I started riding lessons in my late 40's, had one a week for several months and then a window of opportunity opened. My second daughter, born in my early 40's (thought she was the menopause) sat on a donkey and wouldn't get off! She was all the excuse I needed to throw myself and a lot of money into becoming "horsey".
I got my experience by surrounding myself with kind knowledgeable people, kept our first equines on a yard, the YO knew her stuff and was a complete no nonsense person who also ran the training for the PC. I made a donation and was able to sit in with the B test students for stable management lessons, which was well worth doing. I've read loads, gone to exhibitions/clinics and 20 odd years down the road I'd say I've learned a lot but am still learning. I am still in touch with most of the people who have helped me and currently sharing horses with one of my first instructors. It is and has been a wonderful journey, punctuated with some real highs and some terrible lows, but that's horses and being a "horsey" person!

 

[Umbongo]

I am from a very non-horsey (and non-animal in general) family. Grew up in the middle of Basildon and with not much money, I didn't really have any experience with horses except patting the travellers cobs tied up on the side of the road. But I was obsessed with them. I read soooo many horse care books before I was 10. A couple of times my mum had driven me to a stables out of the city on my birthday to do a "own a pony for the day".

When I was 11 we moved to Somerset, I noticed ponies in the fields nearby and would hang around them all the time. A lady noticed me and said she taught riding and would I want to have a go? She had 3-4 ponies, and she did casual riding lessons for children.

My parents weren't keen, but I started 1 lesson a week on the condition that I had to pay for it myself with my pocket money & by doing odd jobs until I was old enough to get a proper paying job. I had to get there myself which involved cycling 10 miles each way when we moved villages later on.

I then progressed to hanging around the yard and leading ponies for the younger kids, the instructor taught me how to care for the ponies which I did in turn for the odd free hack. I shared one of the ponies on weekdays sometimes. I did this for a few years until I was old enough to get a paying job on a yard at weekends. I then went on to share other horses, then loan. I also worked on various yards throughout my teens.

My instructor was very old school, but she taught me well and taught me to ride properly! This was in the late 1990's/early 2000's.
I think it is a lot harder now for kids to get experience. Working for free in return for rides doesn't seem to happen much. Mainly due to insurance & liability I suspect.

 

[bonnysmum]

I think it is a lot harder now for kids to get experience. Working for free in return for rides doesn't seem to happen much. Mainly due to insurance & liability I suspect.

Absolutely this. Which is why - despite me being from a completely non-horsey family (apart from my auntie) and not having sat on a horse since I was 7 - I ended up buying a pony for my daughter, because trying to get regular time for her to help care for other people's horses was just proving impossible. So I am now learning as I go!!

 

[TotalMadgeness]

I was born into a big non horsey family who lived in a town and couldn't afford lessons for their horse mad daughter. So my riding experience started on beach donkeys at Whitley Bay! All pleas for a pony were duly ignored and riding lessons were simply a no no. It was so hard as I had friends at school who went riding and were bought ponies. Whereas I had to make do with my plastic horse toys, reading horse books (like the Silver Brumby) and drawing and painting horses. However when I was about 10 due to a very kindly horse racing mad uncle who took pity on me I started getting lessons which cost 75p an hour. I started saving my pocket money so I could get the bus to the stables and I basically hung around the stables helping out. If I was really lucky my mum would pay for a 'own a pony week' during the school holidays which was brilliant. Eventually though my mum put a stop to my weekend trips so I could concentrate on exams (bah humbug). Her opinion was that there is no money in horses and I need a real job because I was too ugly to get a husband. Just as well I was thick skinned eh?! After passing my exams and starting Uni I couldn't afford riding as a student so waited until I had a job/home/husband (aged mid thirties) before starting more lessons at local riding school. Of course once the lessons began that was it I was totally hooked and started signing up for all sorts (e.g. horse care, daft competitions etc.). I then took one of the riding school ponies and paid £40 a month to ride it when it wasn't being ridden. Oh the joys!! After a few years I bit the bullet and bought one of their horses (a stunning Dales/TB cross) and plummeted headfirst into what I discovered was a very shady world of livery yards. After a difficult start (because it turned out the Dales X had shivers) I replaced the Dales X with a pure bred Arab then moved yards three times eventually finding a totally brilliant yard (a riding school/livery run by a lovely pair called David and Rosemary). After a year of so it all went t^ts up when my first husband divorced me (ironically because of the horses) which meant I ran out of money and had to sell my beautiful much loved arab and leave the yard of my dreams. I was left totally skint and heartbroken at that point and just stopped riding. In my early 40's I tentatively started riding lessons again at another huge yard that had just opened up, then I got made redundant and decided to work part time at the aforementioned huge yard for a bit of experience. It was the best decision I ever made as I learned EVERYTHING I needed to know about horses. And I mean everything. It was hard, unrelenting and shockingly badly paid work with long hours but there I studied for and gained my UKCC 1 and 2 coaching certificates. I then worked part time at another riding school for more experience (and had one of the riding school horses on loan) and decided to try again at horse ownership. This immediately led to misery due to the curse of the livery yard rearing its ugly head as well as being overhorsed which promptly divested me of my confidence. Sadly I got kicked off the livery yard (which was utterly humiliating and devastating as I loved the place) but thankfully I was able to move to somewhere where I regained my sanity and found the balls to get rid of the horse I'd bought and swap him for the horse I still have now. I am happy to report that I have now escaped the curse of the livery yard and keep my horses at home. My childhood dream has finally come true and even though I am now physically knackered (old age/arthritis) I love it. Kudos to all the instructors and horsey folk who encouraged and inspired me (David, Rosemary, Ashley, Denise, Jill, Gillian and Kate as well as my uncle Tom!) and a big dirty finger up to all those horrible small people who tried to destroy me for no good reason whatsover.

 

[HorseyTee]

No animals at all in the family let alone horses.
I always had a big interest so in my 20's I volunteered at a riding school for a few years and loaned a horse from them, had lessons and hacks.
Then took the plunge and got my welshie.
In hindsight I was still not very experienced but knew the basics but he taught me tons and I had to learn fast.
I've had him 6 years now and have another cob too who've I've had for 3 years.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Back in the 70's and 80's my sister and I often had kids that helped us with our ponies. They got to ride in gymkhanas and most of them went on to get their own ponies. One of them is still one of our best friends nearly 50 years on. Now we wouldn't dare have kids to help us, far too much risk these days with such a litigious society, such a shame really. One of them bought a pony off me and when she outgrew him used to give local kiddies rides. It was her way of passing on the pleasure she had got on our ponies.

 

[Fransurrey]

I'm just curious as to whether there is anyone on here who owns a horse(s) but didn't grow up with horses/wasn't born into a horsey family? If so, did you find it hard to get to the point of having enough experience and knowledge to own your first horse? I'd be interested to hear people's stories

For years I was convinced I'd been dumped on the doorstep. None of my family are active, nevermind horsey ?. I was obsessed from being tiny, to the point when I went to the shop for an old neighbour aged 7, they gave me a horsey book. My sister had a brief friendship with someone that had her own pony on a farm and I would beg to go down there with her. Had a couple of rides on the back of the pony riding tandem and one solo where the bitch of an owner whacked her on the rump to send me off at a gallop around the field. STILL not put off. As an 11 year old I made friends at my new secondary school with a farmer's daughter, who had just got her own pony. Her mum didn't like her being in our form, though and made them move her (wouldn't let her learn German, which our half of the school did!). When I was 15 and needing a weekend job I found a job at a riding school on a Sunday. Proper slave labour. £5 a day and if you had a half hour ride, you worked for nothing. I was fired for my bus not turning up one morning, so I was an hour late. Then aged 16 I went into 6th form and the friend from the 1st year was there and we picked up where we left off! I went round to hers to ride at weekends, sometimes (she had a bigger horse by then) and I even got the occasional ride at a fun ride. That carried on into uni years (I had my first lessons at uni, too). I moved away to the SE for work and by accident ended up taking on her pony when she also moved to the SE and needed a home quickly for him as the new loaners had changed their mind after she'd set off. So, I became a horse owner at age 23. That was 2000. I kept him on part livery, so learnt a lot there as the managers were lovely and happy for me to do bits. Then I moved him with me to Surrey and started a steep learning curve. The BHS forum was my friend! Only actually moved to livery properly in 2013!

 

[Gilmore Girl]

My parents were born or raised on farms in ye olden days when they'd horses for ploughing and/or pulling a cart as transport.
My generation weren't raised on or near farms, neither of my parents showed the slightest interest in anything equestrian, but I was obsessed from a very early age.
I started having lessons when I was 13, the RS I was at started doing 'camps' during school holidays where you were given a pony to care for and ride for a week.
My parents were always complaining vociferously about my love of horses and made no effort to encourage me or anything.
Someone had put money into a bank account for me when I was born (I still to this day have no idea who) and when I was 16 I got a check for £200. I used that to buy myself a pony for my 18th b'day.
There was war over my wanting to buy myself a pony, but I did it anyways. I kept her at livery at the RS and worked around the yard helping out, and the RS owner reduced my livery bill (they'd very few staff)
I was forced to sell my pony when I was 20 - pressurised by my parents into "getting rid of her" because I should have outgrown this pony nonsense by now(!)

25 years later, having never 'grown out' of the pony phase I now have a horse, both of my parents have passed away so there's no one to stop me!

I don't ride at the mo' due to Covid restrictions, as I don't have a car any more and no one will drive me to the yard...

But, yes it is possible to be horsey without having the horsey family!

 

[Miss_Millie]

Wow thank you so much for all of your responses everyone, it's so nice to hear your stories! I'm in my late 20s now and despite having weekly lessons from age 5 into my teens, I feel that I'm quite far away from the lifelong dream of owning my own. I can afford to buy/own a horse but I feel that I have too many gaps in my knowledge when it comes to horse care. Getting a part loan in this area seems impossible and my local riding school is really dismissive about teaching adults stable management stuff (I wanted to sign up to a learning day but they turned me away saying 'children only').

I think that times have changed, it certainly seems like it was easier to volunteer and gain experience that way in the past. For now I'm just going to keep reading as many books as I can. I've always felt disadvantaged by having no horsey family members though, I'm sure that lots of people learn the essentials when they are raised by a horsey mum/dad. You guys give me hope that it isn't impossible!

 

[Spotherisk]

Totally non-horsy, I had sporadic lessons and some riding holidays in the 80’s which were absolutely the best part of my childhood by miles. Never shared, never worked at a yard for rides, these were not options available to me.

I bought Harley in 1997 and he’s still going strong, albeit retired, at home with me and another aged gelding.

Photos are me aged two having a pony ride at Meavy Oak Fair, and aged four with my grandad, having rented a pony for an hour from the local riding stables. My grandad had working horses and I wish he’d lived to see me own a horse.

interesting how so many of us learnt loads from books - I taught myself how to handle double reins, Weymouth and Pelham, from setting the bridle up on the newal post at the bottom of the stairs, and watching how my hand movements affected the bits.

 

[lottiepony]

Non horsey family however my mum always took (and paid!) me to my fortnightly riding lesson. I helped at the weekends and during school holidays and did the riding schools own stable management course which actually was very very good and even now I know that is where some of my knowledge came from.
I think I was about 15 when I made friends with a man who had horses and from there on in I spent all my time at his. He was such a wonderful person as used to let me do pretty much anything from riding and learning to lunge to doing paddock maintenance with the little lawn tractor. It was my first real experience with non riding school horses and definitely helped improve my riding 10 fold. I then went to college to do an equine course. Once I finished college I bought my own horse and have always had one since. Worked with horses in various roles for a good number of years before joining the family business. I still keep in contact with Brian who is now 88, I'm really am so thankful to him for all the opportunities he gave me. Still have my horses, still spend all my money on them lol. I don't think it matters if you have a horsey family or not, granted it helps but you either have the bug or you don't.

 

[9tails]

My maternal grandad was a scrap metal man in North London after the war and my mum would tell me about Bessie, his horse that pulled the wagon. Her biggest memory of horses is how "its @rse opened up and an enormous sh!t came out". She wasn't a horse lover at all, Bessie lived in a shed behind the house when she wasn't working and was fed on old potatoes. I never met my grandad let alone the horse, he had a lorry by the time I was born.

I loved horses but didn't get my own until I was 38, I had a few riding lessons when I was about 9 then started them up again at 32. I had to lose the parasitic live in boyfriend before I could get the horse but it worked out beautifully. I've managed to keep her alive for the last 14 years

 

[Translationsneeded1]

Didn’t even get on a horse until well into adulthood! Own a couple now!

 

[Landcruiser]

I came from a non horsey family. I was horse obsessed as a child, but it was made clear there was no way on earth I'd get a pony of my own. At about 11 I used to hang around a local greengrocery where the owner kept some horses locally, he was a bit of a backstreet horsedealer on the side - me and a friend just infiltrated until we were allowed to ride some of them and help with them. I remember backing and longreining youngsters, and learning to tack up and drive a driving horse, but it was all very rough and ready and more than a bit dodgy. A lot of the riding was bareback, and often in headcollars, including out on the roads (MUCH quieter back then!). Later when I started work I had a few lessons when I could afford them, when I was 18 or so. After that life happened and apart from the odd holiday ride or ride of a friend's horse, there was a horseless wasteland. Fast forward to when I was 48, OH and I had a bit of an inheritance, and having long ago written off and thought of horse owning I had a "now or never" moment, and went for it. OH is also totally none horsey, but he'd just bought a boat so I got away with it.
Fast forward 13 years or so and that one horse is now 3, plus a 3 acre property to accomodate them. Ooops.
The learning curve was very, very steep at the beginning. I knew far less than I thought I did. Luckily I found quite a bit of help with the training and horsemanship side of things by joining a local riding club (western in my case) and the day to day care was (and still is) pretty basic, trial and error. You see what works best for your horse, and go with it.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Mum had a connie but he went on loan when I was a baby. She plonked me on a pony when I was young and I had an hour private lesson every fortnight until I was about 10 and then I had to decide whether I wanted to continue riding or ballet. Ballet won until I finished my grade 8 then I started riding again and bought my own at 23.

 

[Birker2020]

My Mum used to occasionally ride a horse belonging to an aquaintance, my Dads father was in the mounted Police at Aston in Birmingham, his Father was in the Fire Brigade again in Aston, Birmingham and had the horses pull the fire engines.

My Dads Fathers Sisters Husband (I'm useless at abbreviated terms) used to be a blacksmith and had a smithy at Dol-y-bont which is by Borth in Wales. Dad was evacuated during the war to live there and he used to ride the Shire horses bareback every now and then down to the smithy.

I wasn't allowed lessons until I was 11 as Mum and Dad didn't feel I would be able to take instructions in until then. Then I had lessons for a few years, culminating in private lessons from an aquaintance of my God Mothers who lived in a caravan in a field of 12 acres in South Birmingham. In those days you never worried about jumping your horse in a field of mud and she used to use barrels and poles on a flat part of the field when it was really muddy and I used to learn to jump the pony called Anna. Mum, Dad and I used to meet the lady and the pony at the local riding club and jump the little classes and I loved it but Anna was strong and it all ended when I let my nerves get the better of me and we jumped an oxer backwards lol. Sue was terrified I'd hurt her pony so i stopped riding it.

The I went on to loan a few horses before having my first horse aged 17 or 18. But it didn't last long, when we went to collect Goldie (Beta Gold) an eleven year old TB chestnut mare with four white socks (talk about being naive) she wouldn't load into our friends trailer and went over backwards. We didn't realise at the time that she must of hurt herself but every time I rode her after we'd bought her she used to buck, rear and bolt. Mum and Dad thought I was exagerrating so I showed them what she did and they couldn't believe their eyes. So she was luckily sold to a person who bred from her (she had terrific breeding) and she was never ridden again.

I had a gap after Goldie was sold and then in 1995 bought my first 'real horse' a grade B showjumper called Biggles (Castleford Quest) and he was amazing, would jump anything and stop at nothing. He sadly died as a result of an accident on a fun ride, they couldn't save him despite three ops under GA. He was so cuddly, a real old trooper although he was only about 14. Thus followed Mikki a 5 year old ISH, he died after breaking his leg in the field during turn out, had him 11 months, was planning on selling him, I'd bought him in haste. Then my third horse lovely Billy, how I adored Billy. Had him 2.6 years, he dropped down dead of a heart attack turned out in the field one morning, terribly sad for all concerned, but one hell of a shock for me. He was smashing, so kind and gentle, we had loads of fun together over the time I had him. Then the lovely Rommy followed, had him 2 years 8 months, he developed wobbler syndrome, there was nothing they could do, he was only 10 when he was pts. Broke my heart, I think I loved him most out of all my horses. Leading him into the put down box when he was too frightened to walk in with the nurse just about finished me, I developed depression and anxiety as a result of that day.

Then finally the amazing Bailey who I was lucky enough to share 17 amazing years with, she was pts aged 24 in June this year after her final week full of fun, love and being spoiled rotten. We did so many things together and I loved her with all my heart but had to let her go.

And now I have the lovely Lari who I have owned for 2 weeks and 3 days. He is amazing, soft, gentle, dopey but mad at the same time. He is my new future, and I am terrifically excited at what the future might hold.

 

[honetpot]

I was obsessed by horses as long as I can remember, and got my first ride on a traveller pony when I was about six. Lived in a semi, on the edge of a town, and no one in our family was interested, but when I was about twelve I had a few lessons, but my dad lost his job and I couldn't continue. So I learnt from books in the school library, and blagged rides at the local stables. I suppose what changed was a friend of my brother had a naughty pony, kept on a small dealer's yard, I rode their pony, and mucked out, then rode the dealer's ponies, and I learnt by falling off, a lot.
I don't think either of my parents saw me ride, they always said they would buy me one when I could afford to keep it, so my mum paid for a pony, which was far too small for me when I was eighteen, it was a £150, with tack.
Not having your own makes you work hard. My daughters who sat on a pony almost as soon as they could walk, and both rode far better than I ever did, can take it or leave it, and did something else as soon as they were about eighteen, but we had a wonderful time together doing ponies.
My daughter said to be only recently, we had an idyllic childhood really mum, she didn't say that when I was trying to get her out of bed to muck out.

 

[paddy555]

When I was taken pony trekking about 7, mum put the saddle on back to front ?‍

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I had a holiday job taking rides out at a trekking centre. Back in those days people were encouraged to brush and tack up their own pony which of course they all loved and wanted to join in. We had a mix of very experienced adults whose only idea was a pub ride and as many pubs as possible in the ride.
Then we had total beginners. I never realised that there were so many variations as to what one could do with a snaffle bridle with no noseband, a saddle and a horse.
Snaffle bit rings over each ear was a particularly attractive design

 

[windand rain]

I was obsessed with horses every waking day from the age of 4 when I was bought a rocking horse. After that I used to run awway to the field where a big grey hunter was turned out for the summer and hang on the fence watching him graze. Age 11 my parents decided I could spend my 10 shilling pocket money on what I wanted and could go on a bus alone so paid 5 shillings for an hours hack the rest went on getting there and sweeties. Until it dawned on me that in good weather I could walk the 6 miles over the fields and have 2 hours hacking before walking back it wasn't much fun in bad weather but by then they realised I was beyond help. We then moved house 500 miles from my friends and they decided if I found livery for my pocket money they would buy me my own I paid 7shillings for grass livery so had a bit left over. Unfortunately for my horse I learned as I went along he was very long suffering he was a 4 year old newly backed irish tb not ideal but he taught me so much he was so kind. Dad was a horse hater after being brought up with clydesdales and shires. He always said "they bite at one end, kick at the other and are damned uncomfortable in the middle"