Younger You?

[LeannePip]

*Positive sharing post!*

Do you ever think about what young you, would think about now you and what you've achieved?

I often think back to horseless 11,12,13year old me; I used to think that only the big dogs jumped BSJA (as it was), 2'9'' was just out of this world as i struggled round 2'3''/2'6'' on borrowed ponies, I didn't get my first horse until i was 16 and just felt i'd never catch up.

I jumped my first newcomers today on a horse I broke and produced my self; honestly, younger me would have dropped down at the thought that was even possible! So today is for younger me, who kept on keeping on!

What have you done, was their a specific day? that younger you would have thought unattainable?

This is a positive post for everyone - your pictures are essential!

13year old me

4year old Ruby

Her first Newcomers

 

[Bernster]

Gosh look at ruby! She looks fab. I remember your earlier posts with the very boingy jumping.

Think the younger me would be chuffed that I got back to horses and am very fortunate these days to be able to do lots of things. But reckon she’d (I would) also think I am a big old wuss and I should be bolder! Younger me would jump my teeny pony over 3ft 3 barrels and I’m sturggling to get beyond 70 these days!

 

[milliepops]

Aww lovely idea for a thread. i was a SJ mad kid too, I was in the Milton fan club and I just loved it.

Age 12 on my first pony, chin cup & all

i think younger me wouldn't be able to understand why older me hated SJ! I hate the fact that they knock down, it makes me ride like a spanner and try too hard. Quite liked a bit of this though

and both child me and young adult me would not quite see the appeal nor understand the possibilities in dressage, older me has well and truly got the bug though
All those years watching the top horses and riders doing what felt like the completely impossible, is starting to come into clearer focus now, quite a strange feeling.

 

[SpringArising]

I remember jumping 2'9 on my 12.2 when I was 12/13 and thinking it was HUGE. In my circle of friends if you could jump 2'9, that was it - you'd made it!

As a (not teen ), I'm not competitive at all, but a few weekends ago at my 4y/o's first SJ show, a man who told me he'd been teaching for 40 years pulled me aside as I was warming up over some fences to compliment my lower leg. As I came out the ring he found me and congratulated me for a decent first round. Truly made my day given I rocked up in a hired box, scruffy unclipped pony, and was riding the smallest horse there.

 

[oldie48]

Ha, younger me could only dream, old me is living the dream. I feel so very lucky. My only regret is that it all came so very late in my life but as someone told me only this morning, age is just a number and I have a lovely new horse to play with!

 

[Denbob]

i think younger me wouldn't be able to understand why older me hated SJ! I hate the fact that they knock down, it makes me ride like a spanner and try too hard. Quite liked a bit of this though

and both child me and young adult me would not quite see the appeal nor understand the possibilities in dressage, older me has well and truly got the bug though
All those years watching the top horses and riders doing what felt like the completely impossible, is starting to come into clearer focus now, quite a strange feeling.

MP is that Barbury?? If it is it's one of my favourite places to watch XC it's so beautiful.

I think if I went back and told younger me I wasn't already riding at Badminton or running my own yard she'd be mortified! Ambitious to a fault and a bit of a daydreamer I was convinced I was the next Mary King and read everything I could get my hands on about horses. Pictured at my riding school gymkhana musical ride on Teacup, aka the best Welsh pony to ever walk the earth <3 (note the matchy matchy hat cover, numnah and jods - you saw it here first! )


Having said that, I think if she knew how bloody expensive it all is and how many curveballs life can throw, she'd be pleased to know I've ended up with a beautiful baby pony who I hope to event and that I don't take myself (or him) too seriously! She'd be mortified to know I quite enjoy my dressage now though 😂

 

[milliepops]

MP is that Barbury?? If it is it's one of my favourite places to watch XC it's so beautiful.

yeah, I LOOOOVE barbury too. As an amateur it felt like we'd made the big time!

loving the ahead-of-your-time matchy

 

[LeannePip]

Ahh thanks for joining in guys! Love the matchy matchy DB - Such a trend setter!

Was reminded of this quote earlier and thought very apt for this thread;
Somewhere behind the athlete you've become, the hours of training, the sweat, the tears and the coaches who have pushed you...is a little girl who fell in love with a pony and never looked back...Do it for her

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I was very similar to you OP , I too didn't get a pony until I was 16 and in my case had to get a part time job to help pay for her.

I often think back to my school days and think if I could tell that person in 10 years you will have your own horse, in another 5 you will have your own horsebox and the ability to go out and compete. You will also then have 2 horses to ride and in another 5 years from there, you will have your very own baby horse to back and bring on. Younger me would have thought I was bonkers as it was just so far out of reach for me, my parents just didn't have the money for ponies and I worked every hour I could at my riding school for extra lessons beyond the one a week my parents could give me.

In a way I'm glad it has given me the passion and fire that if I want something then I will bloody well go and do it for myself as things do not just get handed to you and if you want it then fight for it .

It also made me love just being able to get the best out of my horses as I don't care what I want to do, actually just having my own horses and being able to be a partnership with them is everything, it means I have been happy to do whatever they have excelled in and enjoyed the most *sorry I am a soft sod *.

Doodle took me all over the country showing, rubbing shoulders with the best of the best and always bringing home a ribbon.

Topaz managed to be lift all my limitations I had about myself and my ability as just a 'riding school rider'.

Topaz inspired me so much I had the self belief to take this little raggamuffin on .

and what is so exciting is thinking where will I be in another 10 years, and what will I have achieved with Skylla then to look back on .

Lovely thread OP thank you and Merry Christmas xx

 

[DabDab]

Great idea for a thread. Congratulations with Ruby LP, she really is a credit to you. I have to say, I'm a little jealous of you showjumping, I'll have to get back into it a some point.

As for young me, well she'd think that me now is a sell out probably. She was going to be brilliant, and change the world, all from the back of a horse. She's still in there, deep down (hell, it was a spontaneous breakout of her that had me buy Pebbles), and I reckon she'd think my horses are pretty damn cool.

 

[LeannePip]

Ahh thats so lovely AH! Sounds like you have 3 very special ponies <3 Can't wait to see what Skylla can do as she grows up - all very exciting!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Ahh thats so lovely AH! Sounds like you have 3 very special ponies <3 Can't wait to see what Skylla can do as she grows up - all very exciting!

Think you have a very special one of your own too , Skylla hasn't decided what she wants to do when shes a grown up yet, other than eating I think she might like to follow Ruby's hoofsteps but not sure we'd be as graceful as you guys lol!

 

[Chippers1]

Younger me would just be amazed i have my own horse, and transport!! I didn't get my first until i was 20ish and then he was on loan (eventually gifted to me) but from 11 until 20 i spent so much time dreaming about having my own. Although younger me would probably tell me off for being such a wuss, i would jump anything in front of me those days!

 

[J_sarahd]

I love this thread idea!

Younger me would be very impressed with adult me (even if I’m not impressed with adult me...). I’ve ridden a wide range of ponies and horses, jumped up to 1.15m (child me found 75cm scary!), I’ve won tonnes of rosettes and two trophies.

But biggest thing child me would be impressed with is, after 24 years of dreaming of my own pony, I’m currently in the process of finding one.

 

[Pippity]

Younger me would be over the moon to know that, at some point, I got my own horse, even if it did take until I was 40+. (And, even better, it's the sensible cob that I dreamed of as a child! I was the one riding the dramatic Welsh stallion that got all the oohs and ahs, while I longed for my friend's sensible little pony.)

 

[Ambers Echo]

Fabulous thread. LP, Ruby is just gorgeous and I would love to jump those sorts of heights… Maybe one day…

MP love that pic. Woohoo. That’s more to Amber’s liking than stressage

DB love the matchy matchy and love how serious and focused you look! Don’t disturb me I'm competing!!

I'm another who had to wait till adulthood for my own pony. If young me could see me now she'd think she'd died and gone to heaven.

I grew up in HK and there was not much chance to ride and no chance at all of me having a pony. But we spent summers in Dorset and the local farmer let me ride his daughter's outgrown pony. Here is me at aged 13 on Rocky: I made that jump out of bricks, cardboard boxes, seaside pails and random spare bits of wood!



Young me longed and longed and longed for a pony. I had a stable full of fantasy ones - which funnily enough included a chestnut mare (inspired Shanti) and a grey connemara (iunspired by a book I had called Handbook of the Horse).

Sometimes dreams really do come true.

 

[ameeyal]

I would tell young me, your dreams will come true, I grew up very poor, no contact with horses, other than cycling miles just to stroke a horse in a field, my mother just didn't under stand, or care, I worked all hours , I saved for years, I now own, a lot of horses and ponys, and my own farm ( well 2 farms). Was it worth the sacrifice of not going out or going on holiday, Hell yes.

 

[Meredith]

I would tell my teenage self not to worry as it will all work out fine.
She would be amazed that through marriage and 2 kids I still managed always to have a horse for me and some for those kids. I rode for pleasure not having time for lessons etc and over 50 years on the enjoyment hasn’t diminished with my latest horse.

 

[JFTDWS]

As a child I mostly dreamed about cantering through fields and along tracks and jumping over things and having fun. To be fair, adult me does an awful lot of that!

Teenage me dreamed of jumping my (fairly unsuitable) horse at Hickstead, but mostly I dabbled at different games and dreamed of competing and doing all the stuff I couldn’t get out to do. Adult me does pretty much what I want. I compete, I play games and try different things. I think younger me would like that.

Younger me thought I’d have my old boy forever (well to the end of his life) and I did. Younger me thought I’d care more about the horse than the sport - and I do. I always put the horse before my ambitions, and younger me would be very relieved about that.

Younger me would think my horses are totally epic too.

 

[ycbm]

I would tell the seven year old me who 'jumped' an imaginary pony around a course with my friends on the green outside our houses in Wales that I would get to ride real ponies in my teens. I'd tell the teen me that it didn't matter that my dad would only pay for a half hour lesson once every two weeks, that I would have my own horse at twenty three. I'd tell the twenty three year old me who was scared to ride anything over fifteen hands that I would end up loving seventeen handers, break and train my own horses, and jump things taller than myself. I don't think I'd bother telling any of them that I would end up living in the place of my dreams, with the horses outside and a private arena, because I'm still not sure I believe it now, and I certainly wouldn't have done then!

 

[Michen]

I would have told younger me that I would eventually look at this photo of my beloved first veteran show pony and be happy. And that I’d lose many more horses in my lifetime and love them all just as much.

 

[DabDab]

My post was boring with no pics, so I dug one out...16yo me on her beloved but exceedingly uncooperative tb (6 months later I had to sell her to pay bills sadly - young me should know that one day I would buy a tb x knabstrupper that would fill that hole that this mare's personality left):

 

[MotherOfChickens]

lovely thread

Younger me liked hooning about the countryside on my native ponies and dreamed of being a stunt rider. I'd tell her that I am still doing that but now know actual stunt/trick riders and ride their horses and that I finally have my own horse transport, such as it is!

I'd tell 20 something me that my heart would eventually mend but that it would take a long time and I would eventually own another horse of a lifetime that noone could sell from under me.

I'd tell late 30s me to ditch the Klassikal nonsense and go out and enjoy said horse more before I lost him.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

What a lovely thread. No pictures from me but some boring text.

I was thinking about this the other day. About 11 years ago I starting being horse mad, from about 12 and often told I was born into the wrong family! I pretty much had a 'one off' lesson for my birthday and then became obsessed with horses. I started helping out on a local stables and had free lessons for helping, as I got older I was one of the leaders leading hacks out and running around the arena leading ponies with kids on, mucking out 16 horses a day, just to get a free hour ride if I was lucky. We use to have a right laugh, mud baths, camping on the yard, bareback racing on the little ponies. We must of got bucked off hundreds of times and laughed and got back on. I then had countless loan ponies, scraped dog walking money together to pay £10 a week when I was no more than 15 and got my heart broken time and time again.

I was so jealous of friends whos parents went out and bought them fancy ponies, thought it would never happen to me and i'd never have my own. I was so desperate for a coloured one day and admired friends horses and how they were out competing. I remember one girl had this 'amazing' bay a few years older than me and I use to think she evented and was so so amazing, now I look at her pictures and she was only doing local unaffiliated jumping.. nothing fancy but back then she was amazing.

I scraped savings together when I was 16 and behind my parents backs went and bought a £500 mare from a dealer. She really wasn't a nice mare, had me off countless times. I kept her at a close friends yard I went to regularly to help at (and on a bus route) and worked cleaning B&B rooms to pay for her every weekend as I was still at school. I didn't tell anyone else, my parents never found out about her and I managed to pay for her myself.

She passed on a couple of years later (very sad) and I now own 2 horses, both of them were unwanted and cheap. A gorgeous coloured cob I bought 5 years ago unbacked when I was 18. I backed and bought him on myself, we don't do anything 'really fancy' due to funds, but we've won a few 90/100cm hunter trials and had endless fun, hes a cracking chap. I then bought another youngster 4 years ago when I was 19 that I backed and produced him myself, hes done a fair few unaffiliated dressage competitions this year and placed every time proving to have good potential, aiming to go affiliated next year.

I didn't tell my parents I had a horse until 4 years ago, I lived at home and they had no idea and just thought I was riding a friends horses. They aren't 'horsey' and often try and tell me to sell up. I also have my own transport and 4x4 which would of been unimaginable 11 years ago! You can do anything you put your mind too..

To top it all off, me and my boyfriend now rent a cottage and my horses are kept at home. Something I dreamed about as a child!

 

[albeg]

Younger me would be thrilled that my dream of one day owning a horse had come me true.
I don't think she'd believe that a simple suggestion by a friend that I buy her mare (while at the RDS horse show admiring a horse that was for sale) would set that ball rolling. Even when she went home and mentioned it in passing to her parents, she didn't think it was really a possibility. And she definitely didn't think that even though that didn't work out, a year later there would a pony in a field on a livery yard that was hers.

I'd tell 16-year-old me, who sat in tears more than once, after spending another lesson being cantered off with, and thinking that she'd made a terrible decision, that the green 5-year-old would become easier, that she'd take him out jumping and realise how bloody brilliant he was (in my eyes), despite his quirks (or because of them). I don't think at that point she'd have believed that the little grey would turn out to be the horse of a lifetime and be part of the family 12.5 years later, that they'd have travelled all over Ireland to compete in various disciplines, and even to Wales for TREC. She definitely wouldn't believe that a friend would name him "The Saint"! (I'm still not sure about that one.) And even more surpsingly, we'd do dressage and enjoy it! 😂

 

[scats]

I think I went the wrong way! Super confident child and teen- showjumped successfully with my jumping pony and was well known in our area for winning everything. Assumed my life would be based around jumping in some way, I lived and breathed it. Couldn’t afford to buy a ready made horse for moving onto horses so backed and produced a young welsh x Tb and all was going swimmingly until he did catastrophic damage to a ligament in the field. He became a pet who stayed with me til he was PTS aged 18.

I’d purchased a little Dales pony called Jack off a friend to play on so he had to step up his game when Joe broke. Did a bit of local showjumping but he had a height limit and it just didn’t feel fun anymore. Took him in a showing class out of boredom and he won. Then he won the next few he did. To be honest, I hated showing, still do, but I did it for a few years with him and a few of my others. Then Jack had to have emergency colic surgery and had only 15% chance of survival. He survived and we just had fun after that- Farm rides, hunts, hacks. Fantastic. Sadly lost that chap to colic four years later and purchased the hooligan as I fancied getting back into jumping and possibly doing some eventing. Hooligan was fabulous, when he wasn’t injured. But it got ridiculous. He cost me £12,000 in vet fees alone in the first year for just constant injuries. Then he tore a DDFT and that was it, game over. We never even made it to a competition.
I’d had enough and gave up the thought of competing for a good few years. Purchase Diva for some fun after Hooligan broke, then ventured out on Diva to do a Dressage test and got hooked. I’d done it a few times when I was younger and it had bored me senseless... how things change!

If I’d have told my 12-year self I’d give up jumping for dressage, I can imagine what the response would be.

Unfortunately my jumping bottle has all but gone. If I get on something really buzzy who takes me into fences, I’m in my element and it’s like I’ve never been away, but I’ve not had much chance to ride anything like that for a while unfortunately.

 

[Cortez]

I'd tell young me to relax, it was all worth it; leaving school at 14 to apprentice would work out just fine (despite hysterical parents/portents of doom), and the subsequent adventures with horses all around the world and all across different horse cultures would indeed lead to the depth of experience I craved. No, I didn't ever get to the Olympics, but I did get the opportunity to try (and to realise I didn't actually want to do that to my horses, or myself), but I learned so much along the way and am enjoying giving all that to the horses I have now: the horses of my maturity and old age.

 

[ahml100]

For me, I would watch national velvet at every opportunity and dreamed of race riding. I would have happily have left school and worked in racing, my parents definitely did not approve and at the time I was very annoyed. So I will tell my younger self to have patience because if you want something, work hard and it will happen. As this year, despite having a full time office job I have had my first point to point ride! Plus I would not change my academic qualifications for the world!

 

[DabDab]

Not just you Scats! I had absolute balls of steel when I was younger, and I'd have a crack at jumping pretty much everything. Less so these days.

 

[Ambers Echo]

I am absolutely loving reading all these stories. There's a book in here somewhere with a 'work pays off in the end' 'never give up' and 'dreams come true' message. Also that we have plenty of time. I felt like waiting till I was an adult for a pony would take FOREVER but here am I with a field full of them!