well this is my story :)

S

Santa Clause

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As soon as I saw her I knew she was the one for me, beautiful 15.1 7yr old bay mare. I wasn’t a very confident rider so was a bit nervous about riding a different horse, but I got on her she was so quiet and sensible, went into a lovely outline & had paces to die for - I knew she would teach me loads. That day I put a deposit on her & if my riding instructor approved of her then she was mine !,

When my RI went and tried her out she was perfect again & was the ideal first horse for me, so I bought her there and then. I remember driving home with her passport on my lap with a massive grin on my face, I couldn’t wait for her to arrive.

1 week later was the day I had been waiting for, it had been the longest week of my life, I went down my new yard and made her bed, feed & got all her rugs hung up, about 10 minutes after I had finished I saw a big blue box pull into the yard - suddenly I was overwhelmed with excitement.

The man driving jumped out, opened the lorry, untied her & handed the leadrope to me, I calmly led her down the ramp and turned her out into her field for 15 minutes. When I went to catch her she came trotting up to me, ‘this is the start of something great’ I thought to myself...

shall i carry on or am i boring you ?!
 
will be very honest here...all of these posts are doing my teeth in (too much sugar)! I will leave this thread now before my molars disintegrate..sorry!
 
The next 3 days she behaved perfectly and was settling in nicely, then the trouble started. Day 5 I bought her up to the stables and groomed her for about 30 minutes before tacking her up (for the first time !!!) I bought her into the riding field and quietly got on and asked her to walk on, she went trotting off head shaking in the air & scaring me in the process, bought her back to halt & tried again she was still a bit fizzy but calmer than our first attempt.

Each day she got more excitable and after about a week I couldn’t even tack her up, she was losing weight even with more food - she was becoming uncontrollable & starting to scare me.

A few weeks later she started terrifying me, this is when I realised things needed to change. I went to my tack shop and broke down in tears, explained everything where the feed man was unbelievably supportive and gave me lots of advice on how much to feed her etc,

glad your liking my story :)
 
She was later diagnosed with Azotouria (sp), so in the 2 weeks where I wasn’t riding her I started lunging her, she would walk in a circle but as soon as I asked her to do anything she would buck & rear and then gallop off dragging me along with her, she was now reducing me to tears nearly every day, everyone who saw her with me told me to sell her, they told me she was going to kill me - I couldn’t even walk her to the field on my own. I wanted to sell her, but something kept me going, something told me not to give up on her.

Gradually things started improving, I started riding her again, even if it was only at walk with a leader, it was a start. I started leading her to the field on my own, and grooming no longer became an issue, until we had the farrier that is;
Farrier no. 1 - managed to touch her before being thrown up against his car & kicked in the head
Farrier no. 2 (with sedalin) - managed to pick up 1 foot then broke farriers hand and galloped off down the yard
Farrier no. 3 (vets sedation) - managed to take 1 nail out of 1 shoe then broke leadrope & tie up section & galloped down the yard
Farrier no. 4 ( more sedation) - all 4 shoes in a record time of 2 hours 45 minutes !!!
So by now we had improved in soo many ways, I started to regain my confidence & she started to trust me more …
 
About 6/7 months after she first came, I had starting jumping her, lunging her with no problems & now farrier with no sedation at all - we had really clicked and she was turning out to be everything I had ever wanted & more. One day I got a letter through my door, it was from her passport company saying there had been a mistake & instead of her being 7 she was actually 3 & ½. I sat there, I didn’t know what to think, I cried happy tears because of how far we had come & how grown up & sensible she had become, I was very proud of her.

The next few months she just kept improving, I couldn’t believe what we had achieved together & how much we had already taught each other. In June 2009 we went to our first show, we didn’t do any classes just warmed up and socialised, okay she wasn’t perfect but for a 4 yr old at her first show it was pretty darn good. The next show (2 months later) we did a 1”6 class, so what we got eliminated at jump number 1 & there were a few rears and moments where I had slightly less control than I would have liked, it was a start.

it makes me smile how eager you all are to hear more, i didnt think anyone would be interested
 
nah, youve got me hooked. Cant wait for the next instalment!!!!! Did you never think to look in her mouth before her passport arrived?
 
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