3Beasties
Well-Known Member
Take a seat, this may be long!
A year ago today Missi came into my life. After years of me just being a happy hacker I finally had my own transport and the ambition to compete. My older TB was ready for a steadier pace of life so the hunt for a horse to do more on began!
I bought Missi as a 5 year old, she'd hunted in Ireland before being brought over to the UK in April last year. She'd been XC schooling and done a couple of training shows which I thought was ideal for me as we could progress together. When I tried her she was very dead to the leg and the owner insisted that I wear spurs to ride her, she had a couple of little bucks but generally gave me a really nice feel so the deal was done and Missi was delivered two days later. I set myself the goal of competing within a year, easily achievable for some but a major thing for me having never really competed before!
I spent a few weeks getting to know her, gently hacking out in company and doing some very basic schooling. The first time I rode her in the school I realised that she was nappier then I expected but once I got her trotting she soon settled. She had her green, baby moments but that was to be expected.
This was during those first couple of weeks -
She got worse as time went on and became rather explosive and difficult, I put this down to lack of work as due to problems at work I wasn't able to exercise her as regularly as I'd wanted.
I thought we were over the worse after having a session of Bowen and then moving her home (she'd been living at my work with me initially).
She came home to a nice grassy field and one to one attention from me -
I was slightly worried as I now had no choice but to hack alone. She surprised me by being perfect. Brave, forward and sensible. No spurs needed. She seemed like the perfect horse.
Unfortunately after that 3 week honey moon period she turned into a completely different horse. Nothing had changed in her routine, she wasn't on any food and seemed to have no reason to misbehave but I was suddenly faced with a nappy, explosive nightmare
From November to April I struggled to ride her. My friend led me out as often as she could but even then the rides where incredibly difficult. If I put my leg on or touched her with a whip she would explode. Spinnning, bucking, broncing, reversing, leaping forward, kicking out. She tried everything in her power to make my (and my friends!) life difficult. The slightest thing would set her off; a bird flying out of the hedge, a car going past (despite not being worried by any traffic previously) or even just a rustle of leaves left me clinging on for dear life.
I had no motivation to ride her and have to say that there where days where I really regretted buying her. I didn't mind a challenge but she was way more then I was willing to deal with, I really felt like giving up.
A few pics from over the Winter -
Gradually, with the help of my friend she slowly began to improve, to the point where she didn't need to be led as long as my friend stayed ahead of her.
I realised that I needed to be able to go it alone though so began trying to take her out alone. I would lead her to the next village and then get on and ride her home. Some days this worked well, others it didn't, we would bounce, spook and leap our way home.
One day when I tried to lead her to the village she was a complete nightmare. I honestly thought she was going to either seriously injure or kill me. She'd never been so difficult on the ground before and I literally could do nothing with her. She was trying to hurt me and it made me so angry, how DARE she after all I had tried to do for her!! I turned for home after only making it half way to the village as I couldn't continue, it took all my strength to get her home (I was very tempted to dump her in the nearest field at this point!!) and I ached all over.
This however proved to be a turning point for us. I decided there and then that she was going to do some work. I'd previously avoided lunging her in the field as it was so muddy but I was at breaking point, it was do or die and she was either going to come right or she's be making a one way trip to pedigree chum!
I lunged her hard. She stropped, she bucked and she showed her disgust at being made to work but I kept her going forward. For the next 3 days she was lunged and I could instantly see a difference in her. Although she had never been awful to deal with on the yard she'd always been fidgety, would scrap the ground, swing from one way to the other. After lunging she was much calmer, stood nicely and became easier to be around.
The next time my friend came with me she was the best she'd ever been. No napping and no exploding. I finally felt like we were getting somewhere!
I continued to lunge her between rides and then finally braved a solo hack. I led her down the road before mounting and then asked her to move forward. Although she was still extremely nappy she had lost that explosive streak thanks to having been lunged before hand. When she wouldn't go forward I made her go back. As soon as she made the tiniest step forward she was praised. That first solo hack took me an hour and 40 minutes to do a ride that usually takes half an hour. It was painfully slow and she tested me every step of the way but I was determined not to get off. I was absolutely over the moon to make it home without any major drama, that was the start of the good times!
Our first 'solo' hack after the bad times -
From then on she continued to improve, a change of yards gave us more hacking routes and we both became more confident out hacking. I was now able to school her in the field and was pleased to find that she worked nicely on the flat -
Eventually I decided it was time to brave our first outing so we hired a local venue and boxed her out to it to see how she would behave. I was unbelievably nervous but needn't have been as she behaved like an old pro
We even braved our first jump
I didn't stop grinning all day!
Once home the schooling started to improve and the jumping began, it wasn't long before she was popping 90cm easily (felt very big for me having not jumped for a year!)
We then braved our first jumping outing, a clear round day at the same venue we'd been too before. I could hardly eat for the week leading up to this, I was horrendously nervous, not about the jumping but about how she would behave with other horses around her. Once again she was perfect although the venue was very quiet. We kept the jumps small and she popped round a few courses sweetly -
Two weeks later we were back there again for the same thing, thankfully I was nowhere near as nervous and was able to really enjoy myself. We jumped round the 70cm and 80cm course, not perfectly but well enough for me to be pleased with
Continued....
A year ago today Missi came into my life. After years of me just being a happy hacker I finally had my own transport and the ambition to compete. My older TB was ready for a steadier pace of life so the hunt for a horse to do more on began!
I bought Missi as a 5 year old, she'd hunted in Ireland before being brought over to the UK in April last year. She'd been XC schooling and done a couple of training shows which I thought was ideal for me as we could progress together. When I tried her she was very dead to the leg and the owner insisted that I wear spurs to ride her, she had a couple of little bucks but generally gave me a really nice feel so the deal was done and Missi was delivered two days later. I set myself the goal of competing within a year, easily achievable for some but a major thing for me having never really competed before!
I spent a few weeks getting to know her, gently hacking out in company and doing some very basic schooling. The first time I rode her in the school I realised that she was nappier then I expected but once I got her trotting she soon settled. She had her green, baby moments but that was to be expected.
This was during those first couple of weeks -
She got worse as time went on and became rather explosive and difficult, I put this down to lack of work as due to problems at work I wasn't able to exercise her as regularly as I'd wanted.
I thought we were over the worse after having a session of Bowen and then moving her home (she'd been living at my work with me initially).
She came home to a nice grassy field and one to one attention from me -
I was slightly worried as I now had no choice but to hack alone. She surprised me by being perfect. Brave, forward and sensible. No spurs needed. She seemed like the perfect horse.
Unfortunately after that 3 week honey moon period she turned into a completely different horse. Nothing had changed in her routine, she wasn't on any food and seemed to have no reason to misbehave but I was suddenly faced with a nappy, explosive nightmare
From November to April I struggled to ride her. My friend led me out as often as she could but even then the rides where incredibly difficult. If I put my leg on or touched her with a whip she would explode. Spinnning, bucking, broncing, reversing, leaping forward, kicking out. She tried everything in her power to make my (and my friends!) life difficult. The slightest thing would set her off; a bird flying out of the hedge, a car going past (despite not being worried by any traffic previously) or even just a rustle of leaves left me clinging on for dear life.
I had no motivation to ride her and have to say that there where days where I really regretted buying her. I didn't mind a challenge but she was way more then I was willing to deal with, I really felt like giving up.
A few pics from over the Winter -
Gradually, with the help of my friend she slowly began to improve, to the point where she didn't need to be led as long as my friend stayed ahead of her.
I realised that I needed to be able to go it alone though so began trying to take her out alone. I would lead her to the next village and then get on and ride her home. Some days this worked well, others it didn't, we would bounce, spook and leap our way home.
One day when I tried to lead her to the village she was a complete nightmare. I honestly thought she was going to either seriously injure or kill me. She'd never been so difficult on the ground before and I literally could do nothing with her. She was trying to hurt me and it made me so angry, how DARE she after all I had tried to do for her!! I turned for home after only making it half way to the village as I couldn't continue, it took all my strength to get her home (I was very tempted to dump her in the nearest field at this point!!) and I ached all over.
This however proved to be a turning point for us. I decided there and then that she was going to do some work. I'd previously avoided lunging her in the field as it was so muddy but I was at breaking point, it was do or die and she was either going to come right or she's be making a one way trip to pedigree chum!
I lunged her hard. She stropped, she bucked and she showed her disgust at being made to work but I kept her going forward. For the next 3 days she was lunged and I could instantly see a difference in her. Although she had never been awful to deal with on the yard she'd always been fidgety, would scrap the ground, swing from one way to the other. After lunging she was much calmer, stood nicely and became easier to be around.
The next time my friend came with me she was the best she'd ever been. No napping and no exploding. I finally felt like we were getting somewhere!
I continued to lunge her between rides and then finally braved a solo hack. I led her down the road before mounting and then asked her to move forward. Although she was still extremely nappy she had lost that explosive streak thanks to having been lunged before hand. When she wouldn't go forward I made her go back. As soon as she made the tiniest step forward she was praised. That first solo hack took me an hour and 40 minutes to do a ride that usually takes half an hour. It was painfully slow and she tested me every step of the way but I was determined not to get off. I was absolutely over the moon to make it home without any major drama, that was the start of the good times!
Our first 'solo' hack after the bad times -
From then on she continued to improve, a change of yards gave us more hacking routes and we both became more confident out hacking. I was now able to school her in the field and was pleased to find that she worked nicely on the flat -
Eventually I decided it was time to brave our first outing so we hired a local venue and boxed her out to it to see how she would behave. I was unbelievably nervous but needn't have been as she behaved like an old pro
We even braved our first jump
I didn't stop grinning all day!
Once home the schooling started to improve and the jumping began, it wasn't long before she was popping 90cm easily (felt very big for me having not jumped for a year!)
We then braved our first jumping outing, a clear round day at the same venue we'd been too before. I could hardly eat for the week leading up to this, I was horrendously nervous, not about the jumping but about how she would behave with other horses around her. Once again she was perfect although the venue was very quiet. We kept the jumps small and she popped round a few courses sweetly -
Two weeks later we were back there again for the same thing, thankfully I was nowhere near as nervous and was able to really enjoy myself. We jumped round the 70cm and 80cm course, not perfectly but well enough for me to be pleased with
Continued....
