Hey everyone! This is my first blog post so I felt it would be best to introduce you all to my horses and me. I’m nineteen and live in Scotland with my four horses. My journey with horses began at a very early age but I had my first proper riding lesson at the age of seven at a local riding school. A few years later my first pony was bought, I was ten when I first got him and still have him. Since then I’ve always had horses and couldn’t imagine life without them! Like many other fellow riders I was a member of the Pony Club which gave me a fantastic start in good horsemanship and a good foundation to progress on. After school I went onto study Equine at Newton Rigg College. I found this to be an amazing experience getting to learn more about the animals I love along with like-minded people. After graduating in 2017 with a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Equine I found a job on a local private event yard where I do all daily activities as well as traveling to events which has been a real learning curve as before this I had no background in eventing.
My own competitive life with horses has mostly been in showjumping though I competed in a variety of disciplines, working hunter being the other main one.
My first pony was Basil a 12.2 hh Welsh Section B who was turning four when I got him. He’d only just been broken and hardly cantered until I got him. He went from not ding a lot to completing a whole week at Pony Club camp. He was amazing as he was only young and unexperienced but done all the activities including lessons with other horses, showjumping, handy pony, games and even some small cross-country jumps. He has been a pony in a million and such a good starting point for me teaching me loads and achiveing so much together! He took me from competeing at cross poles to jumping 75cm courses and winning! Some of our best achivments include:
- Winning a working hunter points series (winning me my first sash)
- Getting me to a championship where we weren’t placed but it was such an achivment for us as we had always been quite unsucessful in showing
- Winning a 55cm class at a local Pony Club show where we won our first Cup!
- And all the other rosettes hes won me there are just so many to list!
Millie soon followed after Basil. She is a 13,2hh cob x trotter who was only four when I first got her on loan. I had her on loan for a number of years until we decided o buy her. She was an amazing pony as well who could bairly turn but was so honest and always tried her best for me. Like Basil we worked our way up from 55cm classes up to 85cm classes which we won a few times. Her best achivment was coming fith over all in a local showjumping points series, just one point behind the fourth placed combination. Before coming to us Millie was broken to drive and we have even driven her a couple of times. Now that I don’t ride her as much we are going to try more driving with her to keep her active.
Maisie came a few years later as an unbroken three year old who I started to work with starting with grooming and gaining her trust and bonding to eventually starting to back and break her. She is a 14.3hh Welsh cob. After breaking her we began working on basics and getting her to jump. In her first season of jumping she went from being green around a wobbly Showjumping course to jumping quite confidently round a 75cm class with fillers. We have recently just got transport agian and got back into competing but I have a few things planned for over the winter including trying a arena event and some working hunter competitions as well as Showjumping.
My greatest achievement with Maisie so far has been finishing fifth in a Showjumping points series in her first season of competition.
Placing 1st in 75cm
Photos from our most recent show
Finally we come to Dino. Dino is a 6 year old thoroughbred who I have owned since he was three. I bought him as a project horse as I thought I wasn’t a fan of thoroughbreds but he has proved me wrong! I have worked away with him getting him to work in a good rythem especially in canter. He has been to willing to learn and such a quick learner. We are quietly working away with him with his jumping so far working up to 85cm. We are yet to complete in our first show but hope to achieve this by the end of this year or early 2019.
I hope you have enjoyed reading out us! Expect to see product reviews, training exercises, and other discussions in future blogs. Please feel free to contact me if there’s anything you like me to cover or have any questions about any of my blog posts 🤗
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