Younger You?

What a lovely thread.
I would love to go to talk to 14 year old me. I was a Saturday helper at a local riding school when it shut down. We watched the much loved ponies leave the school over a few weeks and having those ponies taken away from us all in one go was heartbreaking. I dreamed that my parents would buy me one of them but alas they didn't. I dreamed of going round Badminton but I could barely jump 2ft on a well schooled pony. I used to go to big agricultural shows with my dad and watch the prince Philip cup and pony show jumping just imagining I could do it with a pony of my own. We would walk round the Oakley horsebox stalls and dream of not having one, but just having need of one.
Well the dream didn't just come true, I blew it out of the water!
I want to tell her about the day I went to a show (it was only a local riding club one) with my own first "pony" in my trailer, pulled by my 4x4 with my name on it. My parents came with me and I came away with 3 rosettes including a red one and a little wooden trophy. I was 28. It really was a dream come true for a child whose favourite book was Gill's Gymkhana. I probably wouldn't tell her that I was actually 8 weeks pregnant with twins that day and I was jumping round the 2'3" workers course!
I know she would not believe that the nervous novice from a riding school could have got so far and not just learnt moves but actually trained my horse from prelim level to working Medium and I did it myself. I've done an actual one day event, I've been drag hunting, I've even entered a HOYS qualifier. I'm 34 and I have a wall in my house filled with every rosette my first pony has won me (at last count we had about 70 and yes I do keep a rough count). She would be giddy that we get personal invites to turn up and showcase our riding at all sorts of places. I'm still a bumbling idiot and I'm scared of most horses but if people ask me to come and show off I endeavour to get there because I know that 14 year old wouldn't forgive me for missing out on genuine once in a lifetime, never could have imagined them opportunities.
I'd love to show her through my locker with its 2 saddles and 3 bridles, my navy dressage outfit and my tweed showing outfit. The cupboard of rugs and my wheelbarrow, all the things that I would lust after in the Robinsons catalogue. She wouldn't understand why so little of it is purple. I think she would be very impressed to see the grooming brushes I was given for Christmas when I was 8 and played with in my bedroom are now in regular use on my "pony".
I know she'd be in awe of Alfie but terrified of him because of his size but he's just everything I ever dreamed of in a first pony in one giant, furry wrapper!
 
Lovely idea for a thread. I often say I wish I could go back and tell younger me that all my dreams would come true in time.

Here I am sat at my kitchen table looking at my first pony grazing in our field. For a child who fantasised about having a horse 24/7, who was befriended by various parents at school whose children weren’t interested in their own ponies (unimaginable to me!), who begged for lessons and who used to build SJ courses in the garden, all your dreams will come true, you just have to wait until you reach age 30 first!

Now I have my daughter, IF she is interested as she grows up I can give her the horsey childhood I longed for. Let’s just hope she isn’t too ballsy or I’ll have to send her out riding with her dad (he was born on a horse and has no fear!)
 
What a wonderful idea for a thread, thank you!

I would tell my younger self that I was right to go my own way and follow my dreams. I would tell my younger self that ultimately nothing really matters apart from your own drive and determination, and I would tell my younger self to ignore my parents and teachers.

I was a horse obsessed child, with totally non horsey parents, and I lived in London, thank goodness for my wonderful Grandfather who insisted that I should have the riding lessons I begged for, and he paid for them. One of my biggest regrets was that he died when I was thirteen and he never saw what I achieved, he was the only member of my family who had a clue about horses, no one else knows or cares about horses, just him.

I wont bore you with all the details, its been a very long road, but now, as an adult, I have my own yard at home, my own horses, I have produced two horses from nothing (one from just backed, one from a foal) to competing Grand Prix (dressage), and I train with an Olympic medallist.

My younger self would have thought a self propelled flight to the moon would have been more achieveable!
 
Younger me was horse obsessed with very little opportunity to have horse time (other than a brief time at a riding school where I got to learn to canter!). Older me now rides once a week (and working towards owning one day) and teaches at a Therapeutic Riding Centre, I think younger me would most definitely not believe I would ever get to do that!
 
For me, it was a day. As a young child I remember walking round the "huge" XC jumps at Burgie International Horse Trials, never thinking Id ever do them myself. I competed at the horse trials in the CIC* three years running, with clears every time XC. I was absolutely delighted to just be there riding. Dream come true for me especially as Id brought the horse on completely on my own from a just backed, very cold backed and nutty youngster. That horse also took me round 1.20's BSJA which although not massive by other peoples standards, was a height I never really thought Id do. Horse can give you such amazing success stories that mean so much, and they're all so personal. Everyone has totally different goals and dreams.
 
Younger me was scared of the whole world, far too sensitive and took life far too seriously, liked nice quiet sensible horses. She would never have believed that from the age of 18 she would be travelling the world working with horses in Canada, the US, New Zealand and riding in Namibia, South Africa, Argentina and Chile amongst others. She wouldn’t have believed that she would work for Mark Todd, have lunch with Greg Best and dinner with Vaughn Jeffries, or look after blyth taits racehorses. She wouldn’t have believed that she would have gained the confidence to ride fit 4* eventers, climb mountains on endurance Arabs, and gallop through forests on quarter horses or that she would one day buy a beautiful feisty sensitive black Andalusian all of her own who didn’t hold any ambitions for competition. And that he would always always come first (well, she may well have believed this bit).

I would tell her that her life is going to be the most incredible adventure and to enjoy every second of it, because the only tragedy would be to not have appreciated how insanely lucky she is.
 
I would never ever dream that i am setting up my own yard. Literally attached to my garden. A child me would have dreamed of the hgv lorry!!
I love the old pictures on this thread. Really nice to see how we all managed without bling etc!
 
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I would actually love a pep talk from my younger self. I had everything I could have wished for with horses as a kid (we didn't have a lot of money but we were a horsey family) and was a very self-assured, confident teenager. I tried pretty much everything, mostly on my awesome cob Toffee.

I left horses behind for a good few years, only riding school/other people's horses on and off. I'm now back into horse ownership 20 years later, and 9 months in I can't say I'm finding it so easy yet. I wish I had that feeling of complete ease that I used to have around them and the ability to just try stuff out, and in the moment remember that they are unpredictable creatures and that it's not the end of the world when things don't go to plan. A major life event happened pretty much immediately after that picture that has made me a much less secure, confident person in general which is a little sad.

Having said that I haven't completely lost that pony-bombing mentality and once we're settled I think getting back into horses will be my saviour in the end, it feels like coming home somehow.

IMG_3387.jpg Louis canter.jpg
 
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I would tell the fat lonely younger me that horses bring friendship, love and joy in great measure and sorrow so deep the pain never leaves. That kid that used to stand staring over a field hoping a big old grey hunter would come near enough to spend a few moments with me that one day she would own her own beautiful event horse, that she would jump her own height and would race along a beach at 35mph on a race bred thoroughbred. The old me has a beautiful grey pony who has graced my life for over 20 years and is now content to just watch them graze over the fields knowing they have taught me more than anything else and continue to do so. Still fat and not very closely connected to people my ponies are second only to my family and sometimes even they take second place I cannot live without them I tried and failed
 
I think young me would be torn between happiness and despair.

I was lucky and had lots of ponies as a kid, including two who weren't part of my Mum's dealing and got to stay. But I could and did ride and jump anything, 1.10 tracks were an exciting challenge. I had no nerves, no brains and often rode 6+ different horses on a weekly basis.

Young me would be very cross with old me fretting about a 90 track on an old schoolmaster! And annoyed that I still scrub with my hands.

But young me would be super envious of the fact that I ended up with a heavy horse, and got to do decorated harness classes. There's a picture somewhere of 5 year old me standing on the fence at a county show watching in awe as a shire covered in brass and plumes comes by, and now I have a clydesdale with red and silver hearts across his harness.

And young me would be delighted to know I'd get to experience that bond they talk about in pony books - the horse who chooses you. His name was Robbie, I decided to buy him the instant he looked at me and he never failed to greet me with a neigh and come cantering away from the other horses to stand with me. She'd be sad that he wasn't the jumping super star he'd been as a young horse before I knew him, and delighted that I got to share 10 years of his life, including a 750 mile trail ride across Scotland and North England. And heartbroken to know he's not been replaced with another riding horse 8 years later.

She'd be disgusted that I only ride once or twice a week on borrowed horses, infuriated that I no longer work in the industry and sad that I never got to go hunting.

But on balance, if she'd known how much I loved that little yellow gelding Robbie, she'd have thought that it was all worthwhile.
 
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