What’s your greatest horse achievement?

05jackd

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Having seen a lot of discussion about the #shiteeventer group etc it got me thinking that we are very good at putting ourselves and our horses down so for a bit of lighthearted fun-

What’s your greatest equine related achievement??
 

Mule

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I came 6th in the riding club eventing national championship in Ireland a few years ago. Ironically I then lost interest in competing and haven't done it since. I found it stressful. I prefer hacking and schooling now.

Ps (that result was mostly due to my horse as he loves to jump. I got us around the dressage and he got us around the sj and xc)
He's a star :) ??
 

Coblover63

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In my mid-fifties, I had some brain-training to overcome a very long-standing (30+ years) and deep-rooted fear of jumping. Luckily, my young traditional mare decided that she loves jumping and had enough confidence for both of us, so we learned together. It took me a few months to pluck up the courage to enter a 60cm SJ class and we only went and bloomin'-well WON it! ❤️
 
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It depends on the discipline. Showing wise - The Wee Coloured Job winning at Blair as a 4yo beating the other small breeds and a whole host of black shetlands under a dartmoor judge. He has since gone on to become an amazing kids pony and was strutting his stuff at the NPS Spring Champs at the weekend and came back with 2 2nds in HUGE classes.

Racing wise - there are too many. Bringing on young horses to win their races, sparking up older, sour horses back to winning ways and then you had Sky Khan, my wee pocket rocket who was placed at 3 Festivals in 6 weeks. He was a fighter, a terrier and the more trouble you threw him into in a race the more he relished the challenge!
 

maisie06

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About 10 years ago winning a worker hunter class on a rescued cob that went like the clappers, how I stayed on I don't know, but the judge said he'd love to take her hunting , I never competed or jumped again after that - only did it on a whim as I was terrifed of jumping!! A few years later I lost all confidence and sold up when she was PTS I will never ride again,
 

EventingMum

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Taking my first horse, who came to me as a malnourished 15hh, 3 yo when I was 12 and bringing him on to be a Grade A show jumper qualifying for many things on the way including the Foxhunter Final at HOYS. He was definitely my horse of a lifetime and I resisted many big offers for him and kept him till the end. Happy memories albeit many years ago.
 

cauda equina

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Taking my first horse, who came to me as a malnourished 15hh, 3 yo when I was 12 and bringing him on to be a Grade A show jumper qualifying for many things on the way including the Foxhunter Final at HOYS. He was definitely my horse of a lifetime and I resisted many big offers for him and kept him till the end. Happy memories albeit many years ago.
That sounds like a National Velvet-esque pony story!
 

SEL

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Taking a feral, newly backed (we've sat on him a few times) youngster on an endurance ride in Namibia. He'd come out of a feral herd and was different to any other youngster I've sat on before or since. I was 20 years younger then and had no fear of dying - which was handy when he forgot I was on board a few times!!
 

Sir barnaby

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Doing a team chase 10 years ago amazing day, taking
taking my granddaughter on a riding holiday 3 years ago
 

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Melody Grey

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Lots of eventing- ness but probably the day I’ll never forget is riding infront of a funeral cortège for my best friend’s daughter infront of a beautiful Victorian hearse drawn by a team of fresians.

Monty was solid as a rock that day and did us all so proud. I produced him myself and it was amazing to hear praise for his behaviour and turnout from the funeral director and the family. An honour we’ll really never forget.
 

EventingMum

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That sounds like a National Velvet-esque pony story!
It almost was, we trundled round in our ancient little lorry hoping it would get us to wherever we were going and nobody gave us a second glance. My horse certainly didn't fit the image of a show jumper, he was quite unorthodox in his way of going but it worked and he always gave everything he had. My parents weren't rich but did all they could to support me - the lorry cost £500 and my mum had saved it for new carpets at home which she never got!
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scats

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Is it weird that I can’t think of one? I was a very successful junior rider and won a lot showjumping, but I honestly don’t think I can pick anything out.

I actually think my greatest achievement was nursing Jack back from colic surgery and having 4 of the most fun years with him afterwards. We ditched the showing (having decided it was a complete borefest!) and just went and did farm rides and had fun afterwards.
I remember a local venue did a fun day and set up a mini cross country course that you paid to go round. It had about 30 little fences- bales, logs etc.
We just set off at a fast canter and flew around everything without breaking pace. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pony having as much fun as he did that day and I still remember it. I can honestly say it was probably the most fun I have ever had on a horse in my whole life. So I’m going to use that as my greatest achievement. It’s funny how that little thing means so much more to me than all the wins I had over the years. I’m now wondering what that says about me!
 

Celtic Fringe

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Wow - lots of amazing achievements :D
Mine is totally insignificant in comparison but important to me. I've been able to get back on my little cob after not being able to ride due to arthritis for two years and then having a total hip replacement with a long recovery period. We are hacking out alone a couple of times a week. He is really fit so not a total plod along although he is very calm in most situations. The nicest thing is that his proper professional rider says that he always feels really good when she rides him the day after I've hacked :)
 

J_sarahd

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Lots of amazing achievements that I could only dream of coming close to achieving! I have two, both pretty small compared to the rest of yours but both things I'm very proud of on two different horses.

One - I used to ride a very strong, opinionated Welsh Sec D who I honestly struggled with for months. He would just tank towards jumps and then put the breaks on or over-jump and our first few working hunter classes, I got eliminated or a fair few jumping faults. Looking back, he was far too much horse for me when I started riding him but I persevered. One of our last shows together was at Ashby Show. We ended up going clear, winning our class and then winning the championship, against people who do that sort of thing all the time.

Two - this one is with current pony and it was going clear at our first show jumping show. It was only 50cm but my boy was extremely green and it was his first show jumping competition. He would often put in stops at jumps he hadn't seen before due to lack of confidence and I often backed off too. We had a lesson a few weeks before and it took us a good 10/15 minutes to get over two jumps. But we did it and we went clear. We then also entered the 60cm and came 2nd with one of the only clears in the class. Now my sights are set on bigger classes, but I'll never forget that feeling when I came out of that class knowing I'd gone clear despite everything.
 

milliepops

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I've had lots of competitive achievements but the thing I feel happiest about is keeping my deeply weird and troubled little welsh cob in a positive state of mind :) it was a long road to get to understand her, and her tune into me, and she's not an easy horse, but I think she is the one who has taught me the most about horsemanship so far, and I worship her funny face :p
 

AdorableAlice

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48 years of keeping horses through winter and still being sane, if somewhat insolvent and still wanting to keep going even though I only potter around now on a sensible horse and that is only possible due to a couple of very special people in my life.

I don't have a greatest achievement as so many moments have been achievements in differing ways.
 

Birker2020

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Having seen a lot of discussion about the #shiteeventer group etc it got me thinking that we are very good at putting ourselves and our horses down so for a bit of lighthearted fun-

What’s your greatest equine related achievement??
Being in a three page spread in Horse & Rider magazine with my current horse. Going to Milton Keynes 3 day event three times with my present horse. Being in the Blue Chip final with a previous horse. Being in the Trailblazers final with a previous horse. Bringing my horse from prelim to elementary without lessons and riding in a GP saddle!
Probably nothing to most people but to me they all meant the world. :)
 
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fetlock

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I had so many achievements as a child with my pony of a lifetime over the four years I had him but, though not the greatest achievement but certainly the most memorable, was the first time he qualified for Peterborough as a working hunter pony.
This was in the early 1980s but remains one of my most favourite memories, being one of three clears and then to be pulled in first ahead of two other very successful partnerships. When the judge pointed to us I did a classic double take and was so overwhelmed, totally forgot to do a lap of honour, much to the bemusement of the 2nd and 3rd...
Fortunately I managed to recover my wits in the championship when again pulled in top and did manage the lap of honour that time, albeit with a face the colour of a tomato with all the excitement.
 

marmalade76

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Getting to 44 without having broken any bones (yet!)

Best thing I ever did was completing a hunt scurry, finished in the top ten out of 43 - not that my placing mattered, the whole thing was such a buzz and I would have loved it just as much had we been last.

Another one was winning the open section of a handy pony aged 40, not an easy feat, I'll have you know!
 
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