hula
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,
I'm new and just thought I would post my idea up here to get some impartial advice, this is likely to be a long one so appologies in advance.
So from the start, I've ridden for 15 years, never having actually owned my own horse, but have loaned and ridden for other people and yards. I was into showjumping (unaff), riding problem horses and ponies and hacking. But had an accident 6 years ago in which I fell off got squashed between the horse and the school wall and then trampled leaving me with a broken nose, fractured cheek, dislocated right shoulder, broken collar bone, cracked ribs and muscular damage to my back (I do not blame the horse what so ever for this it was an accident). I was devostated and a week later hobbled back to the yard to see a couple of friends and the horse I fell from and to cheer myself up, at this point the yard owner came out, was rather rude and asked me why I was down. She then told me in no uncertain terms not to go down while I looked such a state and that it may put off customers from the school yard, then blamed my riding !!! As I was a bit deflated at the time I didn't stand up to her and didn't go down again, and lost all my confidence with riding and yards (silly I know).
A year later I started riding again at a riding school on a trusty confidence giving heavy cob (always had a soft spot for a big fluffy cob), I competed again on a small scale borrowing school horses/working liveries. However, my shoulder and back are never going to be the same.
Over the last year I havn't had any chance to ride at all as my life has been very busy, my partner however rides regularly at a hunting yard and has a very similar history to me, but has broken a couple of horses (with guidance). He has tried to encourage me for years to come out and ride with him on something quiet, but I just do not have the confidence, not only in my riding but with yards
I know I'm silly.
We have toyed with the idea of getting a youngster, a cob, aged 6-18months, that we can bring on ourselves. The yard owner has told us we can have free keep (everything but hard feed) if we ever wanted a youngster and they would help us break it. Its something that we have talked about for years, and the idea is that the youngster would mainly for me to ride, for hacking a small scale dressage and jumping competitions, possibley to trundle along at the back of a hunt. We have found an 18month cob x filly that we are seeing at the weekend which has a gorgeous temperament, and although I am excited I am a little nervous and wonder if this is a good idea?
I am very confident with my feet on the ground and I got back in the saddle again a couple of nights ago at another riding school (very sore at the moment!) and I am planning to train my shoulder and back slowly over 6 months until I can ride out comfortably with my partner on a more livelier horse and possibley go to some very small competitions and possible hunt next year.
However in regard to breaking in when the time comes, is it something we should consider doing professionally or could we do it ourselves with very experienced guidance? I would love to be involved in this, however I have never broken a horse myself or been directly, but have watched several different yards going through the process.
We have chosen a cob due to their temperament and because I have such a soft spot for them and I would love to get the rewards from producing my own cob and this would give me a great deal of confidence back. And as I am now starting to have time to ride again this feels like the right time.
I know this is long winded but any opinions would greatly appreciated. I'm just a little apprehensive that this might be too much of a project.
I'm new and just thought I would post my idea up here to get some impartial advice, this is likely to be a long one so appologies in advance.
So from the start, I've ridden for 15 years, never having actually owned my own horse, but have loaned and ridden for other people and yards. I was into showjumping (unaff), riding problem horses and ponies and hacking. But had an accident 6 years ago in which I fell off got squashed between the horse and the school wall and then trampled leaving me with a broken nose, fractured cheek, dislocated right shoulder, broken collar bone, cracked ribs and muscular damage to my back (I do not blame the horse what so ever for this it was an accident). I was devostated and a week later hobbled back to the yard to see a couple of friends and the horse I fell from and to cheer myself up, at this point the yard owner came out, was rather rude and asked me why I was down. She then told me in no uncertain terms not to go down while I looked such a state and that it may put off customers from the school yard, then blamed my riding !!! As I was a bit deflated at the time I didn't stand up to her and didn't go down again, and lost all my confidence with riding and yards (silly I know).
A year later I started riding again at a riding school on a trusty confidence giving heavy cob (always had a soft spot for a big fluffy cob), I competed again on a small scale borrowing school horses/working liveries. However, my shoulder and back are never going to be the same.
Over the last year I havn't had any chance to ride at all as my life has been very busy, my partner however rides regularly at a hunting yard and has a very similar history to me, but has broken a couple of horses (with guidance). He has tried to encourage me for years to come out and ride with him on something quiet, but I just do not have the confidence, not only in my riding but with yards
I know I'm silly.We have toyed with the idea of getting a youngster, a cob, aged 6-18months, that we can bring on ourselves. The yard owner has told us we can have free keep (everything but hard feed) if we ever wanted a youngster and they would help us break it. Its something that we have talked about for years, and the idea is that the youngster would mainly for me to ride, for hacking a small scale dressage and jumping competitions, possibley to trundle along at the back of a hunt. We have found an 18month cob x filly that we are seeing at the weekend which has a gorgeous temperament, and although I am excited I am a little nervous and wonder if this is a good idea?
I am very confident with my feet on the ground and I got back in the saddle again a couple of nights ago at another riding school (very sore at the moment!) and I am planning to train my shoulder and back slowly over 6 months until I can ride out comfortably with my partner on a more livelier horse and possibley go to some very small competitions and possible hunt next year.
However in regard to breaking in when the time comes, is it something we should consider doing professionally or could we do it ourselves with very experienced guidance? I would love to be involved in this, however I have never broken a horse myself or been directly, but have watched several different yards going through the process.
We have chosen a cob due to their temperament and because I have such a soft spot for them and I would love to get the rewards from producing my own cob and this would give me a great deal of confidence back. And as I am now starting to have time to ride again this feels like the right time.
I know this is long winded but any opinions would greatly appreciated. I'm just a little apprehensive that this might be too much of a project.
. Like I say, we're all sectionable in here