Toby_Love__x
New User
I started riding when i was 3 years old but i had to stop when i was 7 because i had Kidney Failure and spent nearly a year in hospital. My parents didn't want me to carry on riding for a while but they sent me on a riding week for my 9th birthday and i had a great time! When i was 10 we moved out to the country to a house with 13 1/2 acres of land and 2 stables. My parents had always said one day i would be able to have own pony. So i started to have lessons at a local riding school. It was also a dealers yard so they had a lot of horses come and go. I had been riding again for about 7 months and we were looking to loan a horse when the owner of the riding school offered this 14'2 cob mare she had just got. I rode her and liked her and so we had her on loan at the stables. She was amazing and we planned to take her home for the winter and see how she went at home and then think to buy her. The after having her on loan for around 4 months, she was being used in the riding school during the day and she began to pick up bad habits. I tried to work past these but a month later i got on her and she bucked, reared, bolted, bronced, everything possible until she got me off. I tried again and again for weeks but i just ended up covered in cuts and bruises. We decided she wasn't the best horse and we decided to look to buy a horse because we felt it had a lot to do with the habits she had learnt in the riding school. By this time i was 11 and we had been looking for a horse for 3 months but hadn't been to try any. Then on the morning of the day we were going to look at a pony my great-gran died. She had been like a mum to my mum so we felt it was fate when we went to see the pony and he was absolutley gorgeous, always placed when shown, brilliant on the roads etc. etc. i rode him in the menage where he was kept and he threw a buck as he saw a jump i was trying to get him over and i fell off. Possibly a warning sign but we were convinced he had a connection to my great-gran or something. A week later we went to see him again, got him vetted and put down a deposit. Two weeks later we brought him home. And that was how i came to own my lovely Toby. A 13'2, dark bay, Welsh Section B 7YO gelding. At first my dad did all the mucking out and feeding and letting out and things but he said i would have to do this when i was 13. My parents would accompany me when i rode Toby and soon he grew attached to them. If i wanted to canter Toby i would have to somehow restrain him as my parents walked down the other end of one of our fields then i'd just let him run to them. It didn't seem bad at the time. I think really i wasn't old enough or experienced enough at the time to have my own pony. After his companions (who belonged to our neighbours) left he got lonely and one day i walked him past a a field with horses in near our house and he reared up because he wanted to stay with them. He also began to buck awfully. And nearly every time he would get me off. The vets said his back was fine and his saddle had been specially fitted for him so we knew there was nothing wrong with him. I would argue with my mum whenever she went with me around the field where i rode Toby. The riding school i had been going to told me to keep my hands down and apart but ever the old-fashioned rider, my mum tried to force me to keep my hands up and together. Something i consequently found out is the proper BHS way to ride! Though now i have trouble riding like this. If only i had listened to my mum
So two years of this went on and the riding became less and less frequent. I was looking after Toby by myself by now but i was frankly rather bored because there was no one with me and my riding had become non-existent. Toby was putting on weight in the field and it seemed like all i did with him was muck out. When i was 14 my parents put Toby at the riding school where i had had my first loan horse. They bought him back into work for me and it was amazing but the place was making money from dealing horses and having lessons with groups of 10-12 people and had really gone down hill. My pony was put in a field with 30 other horses, 3 of which Wind-Sucked. They would constantly move the field he was in so i would spent about an hour a week trying to find him because no one knew where they had bee moved to. Sometimes his field would be nearly 10 minutes walk away through the health centre also owned by the riding school owner. Toby got mud fever because of the state the fields were in, he got an infection in his hoof from one of the other horses in his field and had to have a chunk cut out of his hoof which meant he couldn't be ridden for a number of weeks. Once Toby was bought back to form the owner of the stables began to pressurise us into selling him to her for her daughter. She told us we could name the price we wanted for him. That i could choose any other horse or pony as a trade. She got me to try out many different horses in my weekly lessons where i usually rode Toby. One of the horses i rode spooked and ran off at a jump then began bucking and i fell onto my head and then landed on my elbow breaking it which meant i couldn't ride for a long time. (Though i have to admit i still did ride when i was bandaged up!!) After this i bought Toby home and tried to carry on with his training. It went amazingly and we were a great pair now we both knew our place, but then i went away on an exchange trip to America for a month and when i came back Toby was fine but gradually realised work wasn't for him and went steeply downhill after that. By this time i was 15 and i started working at another riding school near where i live. A tiny riding school, it had just 8 horses and ponies when i first went there! The 4 ponies and 2 of the horses were used in the riding school and the other 2 horses were the owners' competition horses. Just husband and wife running the stables together it was so friendly and i began working there on Saturdays. There were two girls that worked there already and another joined after me and we are the best of friends. I have been going there for over a year now and i have learnt more there than i have ever learnt in my time of riding! I mean i never knew there was such thing as Jumping Position?!?!?! At my older riding school we just jumped and hung on for deal life... no wonder i fell off all the time!! But now i can jump over metre fences without fear. They have been looking for new horses actively so we get a lot of new horses and us helpers get to try them out after the owners. I feel i could ride any horse over anything... Ah... but theres the catch! Theres just one horse i can't ride. Yeah you've guessed it! It's Toby. At 12 years old he's still stunning for his age. He looks about 6! And acts it i have to say. His stable manners are as impeccible as ever. Not a problem. But if i get on him theres the sudden realisation of "This isn't just a horse, it's Toby." and i just can't seem to get anywhere with him. I've put it down to so many things: Toby doesn't like being ridden in the field, I can't concentrate in the field etc. so when we put electric fencing around a section of one of our fields for our miniature shetland my dad said i could use it to ride in. Then i went on a riding camp and it was amazing and i have vowed that next summer i am going to take Toby to a pony camp. I may only be 5ft2 but next year i'm going to be 17 and i may need to think about selling Toby if i want to get another horse but he was a stunning pony when i got him and as he is, he wouldn't go for anything more than a companion. He's been my best friend for 5 years now and there is no one i would go to when i'm upset of angry than him. For some reason he can always make me feel better. My mum bought some menage markers and jumps at a farmers auction recently when i said i was determined to take Toby to camp. I know it sounds like i will never be the kind of person to have a pony of their own successfully but i seriously am a much different horse person than i was when i got him and i know i can do this if i can just get past the first few rickety months. I know exactly what will happen when i first get on him. I will get on him, ask him to walk on and he will walk a few steps. He will then realise that i am on him and will stop. I will ask him to walk on again and he will stand still. The asking will become full blown kicking until he is sent into a fit of bucking. I plan on putting a martingale on him as he has a tendancy of putting his head higher and higher everytime i kick him. I learnt years ago to ride the bucks but i am terrified of him rearing up. I have tried lunching him but he absolutley detests lungeing as he gets bored so this won't help me but if anyone could give me some tips, or a way to go about this, or a website for horses that seem to have his problems, or any kind of schedule or just write about their similar experiences or something i would love to hear from anyone.
Oh and i am so sorry about how lengthy this message is but i thought you really need to know the full story before you judge that i'm not i good horse owner. I can ride any horse but him within reason and i'd just love to show him before he gets too old. I love Toby with all my heart and i really don't want to let him down, either by keeping him bored in his stable and field or by selling him to a dealer of some kind. I don't think i'll ever be able to part with him so i want to make our time together happy! At least to make up for the past 5 years!!
Thanks xxx
So two years of this went on and the riding became less and less frequent. I was looking after Toby by myself by now but i was frankly rather bored because there was no one with me and my riding had become non-existent. Toby was putting on weight in the field and it seemed like all i did with him was muck out. When i was 14 my parents put Toby at the riding school where i had had my first loan horse. They bought him back into work for me and it was amazing but the place was making money from dealing horses and having lessons with groups of 10-12 people and had really gone down hill. My pony was put in a field with 30 other horses, 3 of which Wind-Sucked. They would constantly move the field he was in so i would spent about an hour a week trying to find him because no one knew where they had bee moved to. Sometimes his field would be nearly 10 minutes walk away through the health centre also owned by the riding school owner. Toby got mud fever because of the state the fields were in, he got an infection in his hoof from one of the other horses in his field and had to have a chunk cut out of his hoof which meant he couldn't be ridden for a number of weeks. Once Toby was bought back to form the owner of the stables began to pressurise us into selling him to her for her daughter. She told us we could name the price we wanted for him. That i could choose any other horse or pony as a trade. She got me to try out many different horses in my weekly lessons where i usually rode Toby. One of the horses i rode spooked and ran off at a jump then began bucking and i fell onto my head and then landed on my elbow breaking it which meant i couldn't ride for a long time. (Though i have to admit i still did ride when i was bandaged up!!) After this i bought Toby home and tried to carry on with his training. It went amazingly and we were a great pair now we both knew our place, but then i went away on an exchange trip to America for a month and when i came back Toby was fine but gradually realised work wasn't for him and went steeply downhill after that. By this time i was 15 and i started working at another riding school near where i live. A tiny riding school, it had just 8 horses and ponies when i first went there! The 4 ponies and 2 of the horses were used in the riding school and the other 2 horses were the owners' competition horses. Just husband and wife running the stables together it was so friendly and i began working there on Saturdays. There were two girls that worked there already and another joined after me and we are the best of friends. I have been going there for over a year now and i have learnt more there than i have ever learnt in my time of riding! I mean i never knew there was such thing as Jumping Position?!?!?! At my older riding school we just jumped and hung on for deal life... no wonder i fell off all the time!! But now i can jump over metre fences without fear. They have been looking for new horses actively so we get a lot of new horses and us helpers get to try them out after the owners. I feel i could ride any horse over anything... Ah... but theres the catch! Theres just one horse i can't ride. Yeah you've guessed it! It's Toby. At 12 years old he's still stunning for his age. He looks about 6! And acts it i have to say. His stable manners are as impeccible as ever. Not a problem. But if i get on him theres the sudden realisation of "This isn't just a horse, it's Toby." and i just can't seem to get anywhere with him. I've put it down to so many things: Toby doesn't like being ridden in the field, I can't concentrate in the field etc. so when we put electric fencing around a section of one of our fields for our miniature shetland my dad said i could use it to ride in. Then i went on a riding camp and it was amazing and i have vowed that next summer i am going to take Toby to a pony camp. I may only be 5ft2 but next year i'm going to be 17 and i may need to think about selling Toby if i want to get another horse but he was a stunning pony when i got him and as he is, he wouldn't go for anything more than a companion. He's been my best friend for 5 years now and there is no one i would go to when i'm upset of angry than him. For some reason he can always make me feel better. My mum bought some menage markers and jumps at a farmers auction recently when i said i was determined to take Toby to camp. I know it sounds like i will never be the kind of person to have a pony of their own successfully but i seriously am a much different horse person than i was when i got him and i know i can do this if i can just get past the first few rickety months. I know exactly what will happen when i first get on him. I will get on him, ask him to walk on and he will walk a few steps. He will then realise that i am on him and will stop. I will ask him to walk on again and he will stand still. The asking will become full blown kicking until he is sent into a fit of bucking. I plan on putting a martingale on him as he has a tendancy of putting his head higher and higher everytime i kick him. I learnt years ago to ride the bucks but i am terrified of him rearing up. I have tried lunching him but he absolutley detests lungeing as he gets bored so this won't help me but if anyone could give me some tips, or a way to go about this, or a website for horses that seem to have his problems, or any kind of schedule or just write about their similar experiences or something i would love to hear from anyone.
Oh and i am so sorry about how lengthy this message is but i thought you really need to know the full story before you judge that i'm not i good horse owner. I can ride any horse but him within reason and i'd just love to show him before he gets too old. I love Toby with all my heart and i really don't want to let him down, either by keeping him bored in his stable and field or by selling him to a dealer of some kind. I don't think i'll ever be able to part with him so i want to make our time together happy! At least to make up for the past 5 years!!
Thanks xxx
