Ten years with Chunky [lots of photos],

Dina

Active Member
Feb 21, 2004
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Northland,New Zealand
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Its been ten years since my Grandad gave me Chunky for my tenth birthday,I got him in October 1998,I forget the exact date but I know it was the same weekend as Calf Club at my school which is always in early October.
Chunky was ten and had been bought my Grandad as a two/three year old at the yearling sales,he then raced him and he retired from racing he was broken in and became mine.
In 1998 when I first got him,
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It was great,I used to hack him out over the farm by myself and he was awesome but then about a year or so later he started acting up a bit and I lost a lot of confidence on him. We got the vet out who diagnosed him as being deficient in selenium so we started to supplement him with it and his behaviour improved again.However I still had no confidence with him and so for a year I stopped riding him,my Mum then decided that it would be best if he was given to one of her friends for her to ride so she took him for about six months and did lots of hacking with him.
That was in 2001,also in that year my sister got Dargi and as he was a bit too old and slow for my sister I took over him and either my sister or my mate would ride Chunky,I still had little confidence with him at that stage.
2002/2003 was great,we used to all go for massive hacks and kept all our horses at our house or my mates,
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My mate and Chunky,
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In 2003 we had a "camp" where some of my mates got together with our horses and we stayed at each others house and hacked everyday.
My sister and Chunky,I was riding Timba as I had just had a massive fight with Chunky and didn't feel like riding him,I rode him back from the lakes though,
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We went to the beach as well,
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Random photo from around that time,
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From when me and my sister rode to the beach,
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After that though in about 2004 my sister and mate lost interest in riding so I was left to ride on my own,I had gained a lot of my confidence with Chunky back and started to teach him how to jump,which he loved!
With my sister,I still lacked the confidence to jump him high,
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With me riding,
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Looking very orange,
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Our last ride to the beach for quite a while,
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I pretty much had full confidence on him at the time and started to get him hacking by himself,he had never been good at leaving other horses so it was something I really had to work on as he naps quite badly when hes in the mood.So over the summer of 2004/2005 I got hacking by himself,I think the best hack that I can remember from that time was when I took him to round up the cows and take them to the milking shed,that was so fun.
Look rather fat...
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I look odd...but he looks so cute,
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So 2005 was going great,I was hacking him out heaps and jumping and just having heaps of fun until April the 2nd...I went to go and get him from the paddock to take him for a hack,there was a botfly bothering him so I let him into the front paddock where he galloped around trying to get rid of it and ended up standing next to the fence,he then kicked out with his back leg and got it stuck in the wire,he panicked and ripped it out and came cantering up to me on three legs :( I saw a massive chunk of his leg missing and a huge flap of skin missing and just turned and ran to get my Dad who called the vet,he had cut his leg down to the bone and the vet wasn't sure if it would heal and if he would make it,so he bandaged it up and we just hoped for the best.Those few weeks not knowing if it would heal or not were so hard,I cried myself to sleep every night,but Chunky was great,it didn't really seem to bother him at all and it started to heal.
On the day he did it,
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In July,
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so his leg was kept in bandage for about six months until he refused to let the vet rebandage it so it was left to heal and its still healing now but its really close to being fully healed and he has no soundness issues with that leg or anything.
 
He got very fat not doing anything(this was December)
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In January 2006 I got back on him for the first time,he was so good,he just stood still,I was so nervous though that I was shaking,
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I rode him a few times over the next few months,never doing anything more than just walking around the paddock for a few minutes,
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I started taking him for walks along the road as well,
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That June I got Joe so I started to ride him and didn't ride Chunky much for the rest of the year,
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He loved having Joe to play with though,
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The summer of 2007 was when I really started to ride and work with him more again,
With my mate,
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And in January I rode him out of the paddock for the first time since April 2005,again he was awesome and refused to turn around and go back to the paddock he was having too much fun,
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So I got him shod so I could start hacking him again,my mate came and stayed again and we took Chunky and Timba out hacking,
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And to the beach for the first time since 2004,
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Then I went away to Palmerston North for uni,so didn't really do much with him until the summer.
When we did more long-reining,
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I didn't ride him over summer as his saddle didn't fit.
I took him to the beach inhand for the first time by himself and he was so awesome about it,
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We went to the beach a few more times in January,
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And then I got a new saddle and was able to ride him again,
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He did some more free-jumping as well,
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Then I tried him out bitless,
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Most recent riding photos from June/July,
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And the most recent photo from August,
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So that was ten years of Chunky,its been awesome and I can't wait until the summer holidays in a month when I'll be able to ride him again.
 
wow i loved your story so far. I can remember you and chunky from my first time around on NR, he is looking great, you two have grown together so much.xxx
 
Oh my god,How fantastic,i bet not many people could do a 10 year photo album of their horses,you are very lucky!
And the places where you ride,....i want.....i need to come and live with you.....NOW!!!!!!!!:D
 
Wow, 10 years! you guys have been through loads together!
Love the photos, especially the last one! :eek: Jealous! :mad::D
xx
 
Fantastic post!
It's really lovely to see you growing up together.
Chunky is a gorgeous chap isn't he?!

Some of your pics are absolutely stunning and some are just so cute... thank you so much for posting them all, you've really made me smile and feel good on this horrible and bleak Friday morning.
 
Wow! What an absolutly amazing story.

You and Chunky are obviously made for each other. He is absolutly georgus. The last picture is simply stunning!

I hope you have many more happy years together :) xx
 
Wow

What a wonderful story told in pictures! Brought a tear to my eye :eek:.

He is a stunningly beautiful horse too and so glad he was given the chance to get over that leg wound, which was very nasty.

Here is to another ten years! :)
 
wow wow wow what a stunning place to live- those photos are absolutely amazing and chunky is gorgeous. I love the beach photos and the one of him and Joey- excellent. :D
 
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