Who is your dream event horse??

Kerelli, I don't think an averge rider would even have got him to an event!!!
He had to be led or boxed to the gallops as he was unrideable!

Ian also used to let him make errors at local events, but it didn't alter Murphy's ego!

He was a freak......
 
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Kerelli, I don't think an averge rider would even have got him to an event!!!
He had to be led or boxed to the gallops as he was unrideable!

Ian also used to let him make errors at local events, but it didn't alter Murphy's ego!

He was a freak......

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yes, i remember reading that he couldn't be hacked to the gallops because he was such a nutter.
hmm, i can see what you mean, but i don't think making a minor error at a local event on a horse that already thought it was invincible, had scope to burn, and tbh thought anything under Advanced was cavalletti-sized, would be enough to shake his confidence in the slightest...
what i mean is that if he'd had a few minor whoopsies while learning the job, he might not have been so so arrogant!
he was a freak, absolutely, especially as most xc horses that bold are not necessarily rideable in the dressage, but he was. i doubt we'll ever see his like again, it was an absolute privilege.
 
I'll never forget the road crossing at Stockholm as long as I live.......... awesome!
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The first time I saw him without tack on I was amazed by how ordinary he looked. Another time, I remember watching him almost running away with Ian UP the hill toward the end of the Advanced at Auchinleck...

Oops, this should probably have been in the other thread.......
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Considering Murphy did his first 2* at 5 (not the mandated 6 years of age because of a clerical error) his formative years would have been about a year.
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Also, from what I remember, Ginny didn't start him from scratch, so all his rides would not have necessarily been fantastic ones.

I will admit that my opinion might be coloured by another horse I rode for a bit, a mare an employer of mine bought as a 4 coming 5 year old. She didn't really look it standing still but she was an absolute freak, and I say that having sat on a lot of quirky horses.
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She would leave from any distance, did not seem fazed by any jump, and generally seemed to have no regard for her own safety. I have never sat on anything like it in my life, it was the most extraordinary feeling and wasn't even really about just being talented, it was a totally different feel. She also tried to kill us both one day when we changed her saddle pad and she decided it was coming OFF! You could not have paid me to hack the horse. My boss had sent horses to the Olympics and I've ridden some quirky critters in my time so it's not like we didn't know but we were in the business of selling and just could not see this horse EVER being an amateur's horse!

So we made a short list of three of the most insane professional riders we knew and offered them the horse inexpensively - they all saw her and fell over themselves trying to sort the finances. The one who got her was a good Advanced rider, known for being absolutely mad fearless (she also raced motor cars) and able to stick on anything. We didn't hear back for awhile but I ran into the rider at an event and asked her how they got one. Her response was along the lines of, "Oh my god! I'm not riding that horse anymore!" Apparently they'd gone out xc schooling one day and the horse has started jumping a few small things with her usual verve. Then they'd moved up to a few jumps the horse *shouldn't* have been able to do at her level, which she handled easily. Then suddenly she'd figured out they were jumping the lower/solid bits in the fence line and it was like a switch flipped. She landed in one field, set off towards the next gap or visible obstacle. The rider couldn't pull her up or dissuade her. She effectively bolted, each time she landed heading for whatever next space she thought was jumpable or whatever she saw that looked like a jump! She jumped everything, including various bits of fence line that shouldn't have been jumpable, never touched anything, never had a doubt in her mind. Sounds fabulous . . . unless you're the one sitting on it! Recounting the story, the rider had clearly been pretty damn scared, possibly for the first time in her life!

Apparently after that she was even worse, even more sure of herself. She hadn't had great rides or all good experiences, she was just mad as a box of frogs and talented enough for it not to matter.

She really should have gone to someone like Ian because no one else would have been able to cope. It wasn't about schooling or bitting or anything else, it was about her. I've never even seen another horse like it and all I could think about was how much she reminded me of Murphy looked. It wasn't so much what she did - she could be fine on the flat - it was the feel you got when she did it.

I think I found the most telling thing about the Murphy episode was the vehemence of Ginny's mother and coach that the horse should go. They knew what they were up to, that lot, and I'm sure if they thought the horse could have been taught humility they would have found a way to do it.
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Sorry, don't mean to rant but I think lots of people *think* they'd love a horse like that, that it's just like any other horse, but I'd disagree. For professional use only! I'd say the same about horses that are truly aggressive/violent. I've met maybe 4 (2 of them related) out of hundreds and hundreds of horses but they are not like other horses, they are a different kettle of fish entirely. Most people are not going to meet horses like that, for the simple reason most don't make it into the general population, and that's probably a good thing!
 
ah, okay, now i see. must admit, that reminds me of the number of times a commentator said "Murphy's in charge"...!
i've only been bolted with once, briefly (20 secs or so) and there were no fences involved, i don't like to think about being a literal passenger to fixed fences...
i think what coloured my thinking about Murphy was that my grey mare used to have what I called "Murphy moments", taking strides out with impunity (including once bouncing a 1-stride step out of water to upright, which i'd walked as very slightly short and asked Leslie (ex-boss) whether anything ever bounced it... he said No, he'd never known 1 bounce it, even his Badminton horse hadn't. I even trotted my mare to the step and she STILL bounced the distance easily!) but hers were just for a few seconds, or she'd take charge for a whole complex, and then she'd start listening to me again immediately... HUGE difference, I know.
wonder what happened to that uber-talented mare you rode.
 
They bred her.
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The rider said, quite sensibly, that they picked a nice warmblood stallion, known for producing lovely minded, amateur friendly, ridable horses so they could get her with a better mind.

I asked what they'd do if they got a bigger, more powerful version of her with HER mind . . .
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I never heard another word. My guess is the foal was nothing special or was just as mad as the mare but not as fabulous. Seems to work out that way.

She also did extra ordinary things in her every day life as well. I bollocked the girls one day for turning her out in the cold and snow without a rug. (I don't know what I thought they were thinking, as it was December.) The obviously denied it and about a month later we found her winter turnout, fully done up, buried and obviously trampled in a snow drift!

We also had one of those very scary selling moments, when someone saw the horse and decided she had to have it for her timid 13 year old daughter and offered bags of money. Even after they watched the horse turn itself inside out with me she was pushing the kid to jump up and give her a try. Poor kid looked terrified. Luckily my boss, however keen she was to make a buck, didn't suffer fools but this woman would have put her kid on this horse in a second if we'd let her.
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I do remember jumping HOUSES on this horse one day when both my boss and I took leave of our senses. The horse didn't rush or get hot or bounce or do anything obviously crazy looking, but I honestly don't think I could have stopped or turned away once she was on target for a jump. It was the most extraordinary feeling, like an irresistible force. To the "talent" thread though, I don't see how the average rider would have coped with such a horse. She was simply not "normal" and not dangerous in the ways horses usually are, just absolutely unconcerned for her own safety and intent, always, on getting her own way.
 
Marius (olympic gold medal winner 2008) or lenamore. Normally i don't like greys - too hard to keep clean! but they're both incredible jumping machines - make everything look easy...
 
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