Your disaster to superstar stories please...

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abb123

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I had the most terrible day out competing yesterday
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Does anybody have some lovely stories of horses having disastrous starts and turning out to be complete superstars? please give me some hope for the future...
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Yup, my mare in my signature.

Bought her, all was fine for a while and then she went 'no' and began stopping. No reason, just taking the p*ss.
Went and had a few lessons with someone, which sorted us both out.
This year she is being a superstar for me, placed everytime out unaff, registered BSJA in March and she has had 2 wins and some more placings
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She has qualed for Scope, so we are going there too
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Just keep at it - what happened exactly?
 
i know i've harped on about her before, but...
chestnut in my siggy (far left pic iirc!) was homebred, and a right wimp as a youngster. pathetic at PN, for e.g. stopped dead and boggled when asked to go down a tiny slope into woodland (no fence near!). had quite a few stops at novice, including in the show-jumping, at a xc fence with a roof on, at a drop, etc etc. it took a while to get her confidence, we went very slowly round a lot of events (because if i tried to go quicker she was even more suspicious and wimpy), but eventually the penny dropped and she got more trust and belief in me, and braver. she went to Intermediate/2*, would have gone further but wasn't tough enough. she did quite a few seasons of Intermediate without a xc jumping penalty (the only one she got was on her very last run, when i deliberately and obviously took a long route because i'd mucked up my approach angle to the first part of the fence, and the dozy fence judge gave me a run out, gggrrr.)
we also did a few almost-impossible direct routes, including an upright to silly-angled brush at Henbury one year which i think only 1 or 2 others did all day. quite a turn-around from a total wimp!
my former trainer, the great Derrick Watts, said to me ages ago when i was moaning about another xc muck-up, that you have to make the mistakes at lower levels so the horse learns and knows how to cope, if it's perfect at lower levels and then the mistakes come when the fences get bigger (and mistakes/problems happen to everyone eventually, obviously), then the horse doesn't know what to do, the fences are bigger, and the consequences much worse.
hope that helps a bit.
 
My horse didn't have the greatest start:
Was sold as a 3 1/2 year old to a dressage home which blew his brain and he become quite dangerous - broke through fences, broke a girl's arm etc. Got sent back to dealer who then sent him to a SJ dealer who said he would never be a jumper.
I got hold of him cheap and this year have got placed BD Elementary, qualified two years on the trot for RC finals in dressage and SJ and aiming to jump Newcomers by the end of the year.
 
Lucera - 15.1hh Andy small pocket of dynamite! She was one of the hardest horses I had to back and school on as she used to rear right up when she didn't want to do something, and would bolt. First time I took her out SJing she went ballistic and bolted round the fences...this lasted a long while and I was ready to have her shot if I am honest. Then, as with kerilli's mare, she started to trust me and when I left her she was the most awesome speed horse, pretty unbeatable over 1.15m
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Quirky but talented summed her up well!
 
My first pony is a 12hh welsh A who i got when he was 5 and he had been badly treated. for the first 6 months i had him he was very well behaved as he thought he would still be beaten. However he soon learned that he woud not be beaten with me and turned into a little horror! I cant remember a time in the next 3.5 years when i rode him with out falling off! He refused to jump, he bolted, bucked and was generally very naughty (although he has always been a saint to handle!)

Eventually he started to come good, we won at county level showing but it was never my thing and he has a very nasty scare on his leg from his previous home (great sob story for judges at lower levels!
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) but prevented him going any further. So we did a lot of pony club and he would jump round a 3'3 course and his little legs even got over a 3'6 fence!
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I still own him now, and he is on loan to Elle123s family where he is still throughly spoilt and although he has his moments i think most will agree he is a saint most of the time!
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Thankyou!

It all helps. errm horse has show jumped with no problems so thought I would have a go at some dressage as she has really come on recently. So I took her out for her first test with my other horse who does quite a bit of dressage... big mistake. We had cantering sideways into the judges car, jumping out of the arena, galloping around when we should have been trotting.. I dont think I have ever had 1's in a test before. Then to top it off she broke her head collar and golloped off across the very busy car park with my poor OH running after her.. it's a good job I never leave them tied up alone
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They are never going out together again. Would you believe me if I said she was going beautifully at home?
 
Yes I would believe you - I made the mistake last year of taking P out with her boyfriend - warming up was OK but as soon as I rode away from the boyfriend the calling started, she wouldn't listen to me at all, her head was in the air and the whole thing was a complete disaster - you have my sympathies!
 
Pips first 2 events with us we got askedto leave as he was so badly behaved. We got elimited too
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. As a pair he bolted at almost every event he went to.
We are about 2.5 hours away from arriving at the U18 world champs now.
(Some pics showing the change in the PG)
 
Hattie spent her first 7months with us as a 4yr old flatly refusing to go XC, even over 1'9'' fences (she was the master at "planting" 6 strides out, spent 3hours at a small water complex and she just stood at the edge just staring into space, only way we got in was mum standing in middle of water jump with a hay net and i had to lead her in! March of the next year she won 3 intro BE events on the trot, and went to intro champs. then was 2nd at South of England PN and was only beaten because someone else was just a few seconds closer to the optimum time! Although she's been lame for the start of this season. Have high hopes that she'll come out for the last few events of this season having a ball and then hopefully JRN/Novice her next season!
 
I'm going to keep the test sheet so that when she's out there winning classes we can have a good laugh about it
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If she comes on half as much as some of the stories here I'll be over the moon!

I'm pretty sure it was just the other horse being there as after she'd galloped across the car park my OH bought her up to the warm up where she could see the other one and she just stood sweetly with a butter wouldn't melt face. I'm going to try her again - on her own ! - so hopefully I should have a disaster to superstar update soon
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Ohh yes.....my little arab was a MONSTER when I got him, didn't do trot at all, we had 3 paces, which were jog, canter sideways, or canter flat out/verging on gallop. We had many tests sub 50%, and the first SJ round I did was 6 inches high, and my instructor at the time said she has never been so convinced someone was coming out through the ring tape! XC I fell off every time as he had the evilest sliding stop EVER
3 years on, we were 4th at the MK unaffiliated 3 day, confidently SJ 1m, getting 65% at novice and aiming to move up to elem over the winter, and heve just entered our first BE. Not bad for a monster arab!
THere is ALWAYS hope, and agree about taking them on their own, they concentrate much better by themselves!
 
my old pony - at his previous home before me he was trained on the bungee. i got him home (came from gatcombe) and as soon as the bungee came off, his head went up. giraffe mode!!
he was so bad 3 instructors (one FEI trainer) didn't think that we would EVER get him on the bit. it took me all summer to get him on the bit, and took another 6 months to get it consistently on the bit. he was also a wimp xc, and had a stop - if he did not like the look of a fence he would stop at it and have a look, then jump it the next time. we spent a whole year of doing pony club events at 2f9 to 3f3, and we basically got eliminated at every one. seriously. at one ode i think we got around 400 penalties xc. was not a good day!!
then the next season suddenly everything clicked - he won every event we entered
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and we started doing tetrathlon where he started to get braver xc. he also trusted me completely and i was unbeatable in a speed round! we won the area eventing, individual and as a team, 2nd individual and 1st team in the area dressage, and 2nd in the area tetrathlon. he went clear at sansaw, and at thirlstane in scotland where we were competing in tetrathlon. not bad for a pony who got 400 jumping penalites at one ode!! he finally came good
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- there were at times though ,it has to be said, when all i wanted to do was sell him!! he is now pony eventing with a new owner and doing quite well!

he taught me to persevere - and that the talented ones are always difficult! keep going and you will get there one day!
 
I first got my boy as a very scrawny immature 5 year old in Ireland - I'd gone to look at two horses that had started their jumping careers already but didn't like them and fell for this poor looking little thing that my coach was bringing home for the riding school and to sell on. He told me I was mental but if I wanted a project for 6 months to school and sell on to raise extra funds for the jumping horse I was supposed to get then he'd help me with him. A month after I got him he was jumping well over little fences at home but took him to his first clear round jumping and he refused point blank to do doubles - it took us 20 mins to get over a double of 6" crosspoles. We worked at it and at his first BSJA a few weeks later he just about coped, had a run out at a double but this became a big problem - fences close together clearly very very scary! By the start of his 6 year old year he's got over the double issue but was bigger and stronger and decided that planting halfway round a track in the most convenient corner and doing what I can only describe as 'tiggers' - bounding off all fours - hysterical to watch, not so much fun to sit to... We had major issues with this sticking in corners for a while but got over this only to develop an irrational fear of water trays - could have jacked it all in (we'd also moved to my coach's yard and the first two weeks he wouldn't jump a stick) but we seem to have turned a corner from the end of last summer - he jumped well in a BIG ring with scary fences at the inter area teams at Blair and he's never really looked back (we'll ignore the odd blip). We had a quiet spring (too busy with the pointers to do a lot of SJ) but other than a not so successful local county show he's jumped like a star, loves his job now. We've been placed at most shows we've done over the past 8 weeks and if we haven't it has been purely pilot error, and I'm hoping to do my first Fox with him this weekend. He's gone from a stubborn spooky unpredicatable brat to just...unpredictable at times (he's still a demon for spooking and whipping round, all thoroughbred owners will doubtless sypathise ha ha). It's hard when you struggle but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel - keep plodding away and one day you'll laugh at your slightly more 'interesting' scores (the first time I took my old boy to do stressage as his jumping had gone a bit sour he spent the whole test jumping over those lovely little white jumps at the edges (that would be boards Monty) and spooking at the judge. Luckily she had a sense of humour
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My 6yo was nothing short of a nightmare when I got him (I should have known this as he was sold as 'difficult'!). He was a 3 yo with severe attitude! After 6months of ground work to stop him walking all over me (literally!) I backed him and spent the next few months feeling like Id changed career to a stunt rider! First time out doing dressage he bucked all the way through the test and then went on two legs at the final halt! One year and some blood sweat and tears later (mine not his) he went out to win our local dressage league, come second in novice 27 at area, won some workers and is now eventing! Major turnaround and all I can say is something seemed to just click with him. He's still sharp as a tack and can get a bit buzzy but not more major tantrums.
Stick with it, it may not seem great just now but its well worth the effort in the end
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