Not sure if this is the right place for this, but... A couple of NR people wanted a short history of my horse Bea and my time so far with her.
Well, I tok up horse riding in 2005 at the age of 32, and enjoyed it more than I expected. So the logical progression was to get my own horse. Lots of people had advice, mostly "get an old safe coloured cob for your first horse". I looked at quite a few horses but none of them were right. Then my soon to become yard manager told me to go and see this unbacked 4yo. This was not my plan, having only ridden for two and a half years.
I went to see the horse and she was a stunningly pretty grey connamara X mare. I went away wondering what to do, I could afford her, but... So I went back for a second visit and that was it, her owner called her and she cantered over to me, it was like she chose me at that moment - I have often describled this in terms of a quote from harry potter about it not being he wizard that chooses the wand but the wand that chooses the wizard.
She passed her vetting and soon she was mine
my very first horse. I decided to back her my self (again alot of people told me not to, now those people tend to reluctantly say I was lucky to get this far). It was a great learning curve and an experience that has brought me and Bea closer then we prehaps might have been. My basic ethos for backing was to take it slowly, so some days I would lead her in to the school and sit on her for 5 minuites and then get off and that was it, some days we would walk or trot.
With alot of help from my yard manager we were with in a few months hacking out. Cantering proved to be very awkward for her to get, but again we just took our time. I would say it was nearly a year before I was happy with the basic three paces, but because I had time and I wasn't paying someone else (so there was not pressure to meet targets and expectations) this was not a problem - although I had to aquire polite selective deafness when people started conversations like "by this time you sould be..." or "I see you still cant do X, Y or Z".
We started doing some local dressage tests, but she did tend to get very excited by the other horses, but we have now scored 62% at prelim and 54% in a novice test.
I got alot of help from my RI, and she got us jumping and slowly she began to enjoy this, and now I would say showjumping is her favorite thing, when she locks on to a jump you can see her ears show her attention is focused, and some one once said it was almost like she smiles when she knows which jump we are going for.
Then in spring 2010 she came in from the field with a really bad cut, 4" long just above her fetlock, and so started 2 months of box rest, followed by in some ways starting again, I'd sat it was 4 or 5 months before I was totaly happy with her fitness again.
in August we entered a local showjumping competiton and won the 65cm class, and then got 6th in the 75cm showjumping and 75cm working hunters. This felt like a good sign that things were back on track for us.
Snow and work have got in the way recently, but I am looking forwards to this year so much, we have been challeneged by a pro-showjumping friend to compete at Arena UK festival of showjumping in september in the BN class (90cm) so that is out main target for this year.
I'll put a few photos up in a moment.
If anyone has questions about her please ask on this thread and I will answer.
Well, I tok up horse riding in 2005 at the age of 32, and enjoyed it more than I expected. So the logical progression was to get my own horse. Lots of people had advice, mostly "get an old safe coloured cob for your first horse". I looked at quite a few horses but none of them were right. Then my soon to become yard manager told me to go and see this unbacked 4yo. This was not my plan, having only ridden for two and a half years.
I went to see the horse and she was a stunningly pretty grey connamara X mare. I went away wondering what to do, I could afford her, but... So I went back for a second visit and that was it, her owner called her and she cantered over to me, it was like she chose me at that moment - I have often describled this in terms of a quote from harry potter about it not being he wizard that chooses the wand but the wand that chooses the wizard.
She passed her vetting and soon she was mine
my very first horse. I decided to back her my self (again alot of people told me not to, now those people tend to reluctantly say I was lucky to get this far). It was a great learning curve and an experience that has brought me and Bea closer then we prehaps might have been. My basic ethos for backing was to take it slowly, so some days I would lead her in to the school and sit on her for 5 minuites and then get off and that was it, some days we would walk or trot.With alot of help from my yard manager we were with in a few months hacking out. Cantering proved to be very awkward for her to get, but again we just took our time. I would say it was nearly a year before I was happy with the basic three paces, but because I had time and I wasn't paying someone else (so there was not pressure to meet targets and expectations) this was not a problem - although I had to aquire polite selective deafness when people started conversations like "by this time you sould be..." or "I see you still cant do X, Y or Z".
We started doing some local dressage tests, but she did tend to get very excited by the other horses, but we have now scored 62% at prelim and 54% in a novice test.
I got alot of help from my RI, and she got us jumping and slowly she began to enjoy this, and now I would say showjumping is her favorite thing, when she locks on to a jump you can see her ears show her attention is focused, and some one once said it was almost like she smiles when she knows which jump we are going for.
Then in spring 2010 she came in from the field with a really bad cut, 4" long just above her fetlock, and so started 2 months of box rest, followed by in some ways starting again, I'd sat it was 4 or 5 months before I was totaly happy with her fitness again.
in August we entered a local showjumping competiton and won the 65cm class, and then got 6th in the 75cm showjumping and 75cm working hunters. This felt like a good sign that things were back on track for us.
Snow and work have got in the way recently, but I am looking forwards to this year so much, we have been challeneged by a pro-showjumping friend to compete at Arena UK festival of showjumping in september in the BN class (90cm) so that is out main target for this year.
I'll put a few photos up in a moment.
If anyone has questions about her please ask on this thread and I will answer.
