Who was Your First Horse !!!!

[Bananaman]

My first pony was Toffee, a 12.2 cobby sort that could be SO naughty yet taught me so much!
I bought him with all my savings, Premium Bonds etc. for the grand sum of £75 from a dodgy dealer when I was 13.
He lived until the age of 24 when one day his 'batteries ran out'!

Never a champion, but a dear, dear friend. He is buried in our top paddock.

Here are two photos of us out hunting. The first when I was 15, (please excuse the lopsided stirrups

), and the second when I was 26 and all my friends were hunting their eventers etc. and I was still hunting my 12.2!!!!!
I know who had the best time though!

 

[4whitesocks]

I inherited Snowball (wonder if you can guess what colour he was!) from my sisters who had both learnt to ride on him (he must have been in his early twenties when he came to me)...he was 12 2 little gem, totally bombproof, have fab pics of my eldest sister out hunting on him with my Dad beside her on a 17hh hunter!! Snowball sadly died when I was 7, my Dad waited for the bus to drop me home from school & sat me down to tell me....never forget it (mind you was such a demon I told my best friend at the time that I had seen his ghost wandering the fields...she told her Mum and I got in lots of trouble!!).

A few months later my Dad put me in the car & said we were going for a surprise trip - ended up at a riding shcool in Kilkenny where we met Judy - 13 2 bay mare about 14 - the widest back in history (I could and did stand up on her back!!) she was a superstar - my Dad paid £100 for her which at the time (23 years ago) was a huge amount of money & the guy who sold her gave me back £1 luck money (had to shake his hand and he had spat in it which was a bit gross!) but 6 months later my Dad died and Judy became my one true friend - I cried into her mane so often and complained about my Mum and how awful life was....
I was sent to boarding school at 10 and came home one weekend in second year to discover Judy, and all the horses (we bred SJumpers) had been sold - my Mum couldn't cope with 6 or 7 horses, 4 kids and a farm to run (which now is completely understandable but back then I hated her for it).

Best story about Judy was at PC camp doing the xcountry we were going over a log....front end went over, back end didn't so we straddled the log, Judy spotted a nice bit of grass to eat and started to graze!! I was such a softie then too that wouldn't let anyone give her a smack to get her over it - hopped down onto the log, then the ground and had to lead her over!

 

[Natalie_H]

My first ever pony was technically my Mum's - I was 6-yrs old. He was a 14HH Bay New Forest Gelding - a very sweet pony, but I don't remember him as well as I would like. My first proper pony was Sophie - bay 13.2HH Arab x Dartmoor. I was 12 & she was 13. She was a complete star and the best at jumping. Stubborn at times, but totally solid. She lost one shoe in 13yrs, & was lame once for 24hrs. That was it! I sadly lost her when she was 26 & I was 25. I still miss her terribly.

 

[Gwenneh]

My first horse was a brilliantly beautiful bay Arabian mare named Golden Rose. She came to our barn because while the manager was hunting for the prize stud she'd worked with in her youth, she'd discovered that he and the rest of the herd were living in deplorable conditions across the country. A call to the local authorities revealed that they were more than happy to bring charges against the man but that the horses would have to be destroyed (there were no facilities to keep them for rehoming, many of them wouldn't survive anyway, and some of them had gone vicious in their abuse). So my barn manager undertook a massive rehoming project, and Rosie was one of the last to be rescued and came to us. I'll never forget the day she did, or the day I was told she'd been given to me because we worked so well together.

This is us, looking very serious while going over a small jump with evil, scary flowers in it!

 

[not_with_it]

I still have my first horse. I got Gin when I was 17 and at college. She was up for sale and I really loved her so at the last minute I offered the owner what I could afford (which wasnt much) and she accepted

3 1/2 years later she is still with me and always will be.

We have learnt so much together and I wouldnt change her cheeky ways for the world.

 

[ladylisa]

After a 12 year gap from riding i quit smoking to save up for my first horse that i goy at the age of 25, a 15hh grey conny mare called ellie but she was horrible moody on the ground to handle and only had two paces 'trot and gallop' so as i had got her from a dealer i sent her back and then got a 2 1/2 year old dales/fresian gelding called sebastian just to play with, lunging and trying to walk him out as he had a leading problem ...would just park his feet and wouldnt move.

I then sold him and got a 10 year old 15.2hh piebald cob who gave me my confidence back after the moody mare.
I then had a show pony or two for inhand showing untill i got the mare that i bought this year.

 

[Henmen]

I didnt get my first horse till i was 22, i had on on a share, a bay 15.2 Arab x selle Francais mare, Jasmine, would love to know where she is now

 

[bellaboo]

Mine was a 13.3hh piebald cob that i brought from the trekking centre i was working in. He was my lead horse and when i left there he came with me! Perfect in every way, loved him to bits but sadly he died after a car accident

 

[Gingerbird]

Muffin, who I still have, was my first pony. I got her when I was 12 and she was 3 (not ideal but we came to no harm) She's and Emoor X with all the Exy markings but an illegal white star. She satands at 13.3hh and I haven't outgrown her so I still get to ride her. She's great!

 

[Dovorian]

Orange anglo arab - the ultimate chestnut mare...........we have never had one since!!

 

[Abs]

Muffin, 11hh white fluffy welshy type. I was 11. She wasn't 'mine' in that she didn't legally belong to me, she belonged to an old lady I used to visit with friends of my parents. I used to ride her in a headcollar with bailer twine for reins and an old hunting saddle someone found in a skip. Eventually my mum bought me a second hand bridle and a bit that would now be illegal.

The old lady's sister used to feed her raw potatoes and she eventually died of collic. I'm 31 and I still can't part with her bridle, which is being used for lunging!

 

[MillionDollar]

I got my first pony (or ponies) when i was 10 after riding for 6 years. They are 2 NF ponies (the ones in my sig) both were very green (to ride) at 5 and 6, but taught me soooo much and they are just fantastic. I even broke them into harness last year. I got my first horse when i was 12 a tb x clydesdale who is alo fantatic and still have her shes now 22. Then i got my danish WB when i was 16 who is a horse in a life time i love her so much. And then i also got 2 wild stallions, 1 i sold and the other i have broken to harness and im now selling.

 

[vicm2509]

I got my first horse Oliver when I was 14. My grandad went halves with my mum and dad to buy him for me. He was a 15.2 TBx and a fantastic horse. He taught me so much in the 18 months we shared together and every horse I ride I still compare it to him. Unfortunatly we lost him to colic, and only now, 9 years later have I found the strength to buy my second.

 

[igglepiggle]

My current one!

 

[beh]

a 13.2 ba*tard gelding called snoopy, a right little [****], broncoed if i asked for anything faster then a walk (and they were nasty broncs, head down and twisiting) aint got a pic, yours is a pretty one though

 

[JessPickle]

My first horse ever was........ Pickle, so dont really need to descibe! I got him a a year and a half ago and hope to give him a home for life

 

[Hattikins]

My first pony was Scampi, a 12.2hh bay exmoor x

i got her when i was 7 and she was 8, shes 16 now

and we sold her last year

She is just like a thelwell pony and just as cheeky

!!!!! she id also the laziest thing on earth but could really shift when SHE felt like it, she adored hunting and gave me my first taste of it!!! Her speciality was popping round the 1'6" at the local show then after about the 5th fence preferably on a down hill run, she'd stick her head in the grass straight after landing over the fence and id fly!!!!

I loved that pony, and she certainly taught me to stick on a pony!!!

 

[CastleMouse]

My first pony is Castle!

My gorgeous, handsome fella who has thought me so much!

 

[ann-jen]

My first horse was Cherry a 14.2hh half TB. I got her when I was 9 yrs old. My older sister and I shared her and boy did that cause some arguments. I was far too small for her as my legs only reached the end of the saddle flaps but I'm short and my sister is tall so she had to suit both of us.
She was an absolute horse in a million. Never be another like her. Would jump literally anything - didn't know how to stop but an absolute fire cracker and rubbish at dressage - kept trying to jump the white boards and cantering when should have been trotting lol.
She only died 2 years ago at age of 30 so she had been with me a total of 25 years. An absolute star. Her ashes are buried under a cherry tree in my garden.
She's the dark bay with a star in the middle of my signature.

 

[bellgave]

my first pony was Rainbow, he is a very sweet little grey welsh gelding. I remeber going to try him in the dark after school and it was raining. I was instantly in love, he cost £600.00 inc all tack and rugs. He was mine, then my sisters and then went out on loan to some friends who have a string of little jockeys for him, we are thinking of having him back now as a companion for another older horse as his new familys kids are all grown up too!! He is 27 now and we bought him when he was 7!!!

 

[Blackhawk]

Rootbeer, a 14.2hh appaloosa. He was in his twenties and acted like a four year old! Got him when I was 14, swiftly followed by two others so ended up having three.

 

[maddielove]

i shared a horse for 2 years before i bought maddie..who is my first horse owned.

but baggins taught me so much, i love that horse so much.
he was 20 when i first stareted sharing him. we[or should i say he...i had no choice!] used to gallop round 3ft jumps.
he got arthiritis so we calmed down a bit..and then got lammi alot. he was amazing...i skipped him out every weekendp[when i looked after him] in the summer holidays when he was ill..he was my world.
when i bought maddie and he saw me in the stable with her..he did not like it!!!

he's been sold since...would love to catch up with him..he's still hacking and i hear this year he's gone without getting laminitis!!

but now i have maddie...she's a challange but so much blood sweat and tears have gone into her this past 18 months makes me never want to sell her.

 

[teapot]

Not my own but my first taste of having my own was Baron. Shared him for 2 months.

Was a very very green 13.2 welsh c. 9yrs old, gelded at 6 (hence his whopping neck) and didn't know how to trot properply. Was also a driving pony. Even in the 8 weeks I had him (had enough of the patronising owner so stopped having him) he went so well. What a 2 edged sword though - made me realise I could ride and bring on something. OTOH - the owner ruined all my confidence to the extent I was too scared to ride at my yard of 6yrs

But it was my first taste of having something to play with and gave me some of the best fun I've had for a long time. Looking back, I jumped at him as I had nothing to ride, but if I was buying a horse, he was everything I would not be looking for LOL

 

[WishfulThinker]

A 20yr old Anglo Arab ex sj mare who could get over 3ft + so smoothly you hardly even noticed it (even bareback). she could gallop like lightening then rodeo stop at the touch of the reins! We got her with my sisters pony as they had been together for years and she was to restore my confidence after a horrible instructior ovejumped me. We had her for 2 years before she went bac to her owners. Unfortunately she was not wintering well and I do not think she lasted the next winter