Dnav
30th Jul 2006, 05:43 PM
Well, it hasn't worked out with Polly, the 10 year old Arab xTB I was riding. You may recall I advertised offering to help with a horse in return for rides. The owner of Polly replied and she is a lovely horse but she hasn't been nutured. She was very fat after having not been ridden for months but I was doing ok with her and making some slow progress in the school but then her hoof cracked up the front due to her shoe. I mentioned it to the owner who said Polly was prone to cracked hooves and that she was fine. I've been having stable management lessons and knew potentially it could mean I couldn't ride her if it got worse. I tried riding her a couple of times and she became very difficult. HEr saddle wasn't fitting great due to her weight which I rasied with the owner who said it was my fault for not attaching it to the numnah! Nothing to do with the fact that the last time the horse was ridden she was good few pounds lighter! Well, it got worse and I made the decision that Polly couldn't be ridden, she was being very difficult and I nearly came off twice so took it she was uncomfortable and mentioned it to her owner again. She just said it was my fault and I shoud ride her when she was present - even though everyt time I asked to see her ride Polly she refused or found some excuse not to! 6 weeks later I'm still waiting for her to be seen by the farrier! So she's fatter still and the owner is just carrying on as before, turning her out and bringing her in. She has ridden her for years. I haven't been going up to see polly while I haven't been able to ride her - basically the owner won't let me do anything anyway - I've offered to clean the tack etc. and she just says no so going up without being able to ride has seemed like a bit of a wasted journey. Only now she's started having a go at me for losing interest. I've explained that I think shes a lovely horse but is not in a very rideable condition at the moment so it's difficult when there's not really anything in it for me - afterall I offered help in return for rides. Still, I'm feeling quite upset about it - I tried to sort the situation at the earliest opportunity even offering to pay for the shoes if that would have helped. I've just had a text message asking me to return the key to the tack locker asap - so I'm feeling rather deflated and wondering what I did so wrong! The situation with polly was good because I didn't have to pay anything just ride, but I guess if you don't pay anything you dodn't really get a say in how they're kept etc. I guess its back to the drawing board and I'll have to start looking for a horse thats suitable for a novice again and cheap!! I've gone from feeling so happy to be up with a horse most nights of the week to feeling really low about it all again in the space of 6 weeks!! So if anyone knows of anyone wanting some help with their horse in return for rides - let me know!!