Update on my new horse, event horse, Portly Ford.

charlie76

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I bought a new horse before christmas, Boris( Portly Ford) who has competed at 3 * level. We bought him on the spur of the moment as he seemed to be good value and could teach us a thing or 2!
Anyway, he came to us with a few 'ifs and buts' but he has been great.
We have had no problems (touch wood) with him to handle or ride.He is so sweet in the stable and very easy to do.

He is a bit cold backed but its easy to manage,we have put a sheepskin girth sleeve on him and just girth him up slowly, give him a carrot whist you get on and he is fine, if he has a day off we just spin him on the lunge for 2 mins and he is good as gold.
His flat work is getting better and better as he gets fitter and he is doing some really good lateral work including half pass and this morning I found 3 time changes in a straight line. He can be lazy, its like having a multi gym- calorie burning!!
It takes about an hour to get up the road out hacking on his own as he walks like a snail- hopefully he will be faster on the xc course!!

We are going to start jumping him this week so looking forward to that.
He is now clipped and looks more like an event horse than a mammoth!

He is very supple for an older boy with brilliant hock action and he seems very sound, we have been working him quite hard. We are feeding him a joint supplement and he wears magnetic rugs and boots at night which really helps him.

Hopefully we should be off to our first outing next month.
grin.gif
 
I will try and get some pics, he looks good now. He is huge for an event horse- looks more like a show hunter,you could drive a car through is front legs!! I think he did win the Grade C champs and was BN champion as a 4 yr old.
He is a star!
Bit of a weirdo but its enchanting!!
 
He sounds lovely. We have an older event horse who is new to us, coming into work. My friend is discovering all sorts of stuff with him - like inadvertent flying changes when she shifts her weight.
Are you going to event Boris?
Was it you that had Patrick Print teaching at your yard? Does he still if so?
 
I remember the name from the past too. who was he with, I am pretty sure he did well.Good luck and let us know how you do with him.
JC
 
I used to look after Boris when I worked for JTR 3 1/2 years ago- he was such a poppet! We all loved him- so easy to do (apart from the girth!). I used to hack him out, bit of schooling & took him up the gallops & he was lovely (but yes I have to agree on the lazy part!) & he's always looked like he should be a showhunter- even when he was 3* fit! Good luck with him, I really hope you enjoy him!
 
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