A tribute to my greatest supporter

When I was 5 and I completed a course of swimming lessons, my parents made a fatal mistake of asking what hobby I would like to pursue next.

Horses. My dad wasn't keen. Too expensive, too dangerous, the riding school was too far away. But my mum agreed. She found a riding school which was cheaper; it wasn't accredited and after learning how to rise to the trot in a field, you were let loose out hacking, progressively put on ponies trickier and trickier.

I ended up spending seven happy years there. Saturdays became Riding School day where my sister and I were turfed out the car at 8am and picked up again at 5.30pm. We poo picked and mucked out and hayed and fed and rode ponies bareback down to the fields.

Then my sister bought a horse, and my mum decided to get me a pony; Willow, on loan. My mum was terrified of horses. She could just about (and not without shaking) hold the end of a leadrope whilst my gentle pony nibbled on some grass. The moment I set foot in the show ring I caught the bug, and instantly our lives transformed.

We started competing every weekend. If I hadn't arranged something, my mum would ask where we were going. I simply left entry forms on the kitchen table with a postcode, and each Sunday my mum would pack the car and off we went.

I had horrendous nerves. I used to stress, snap and bitch most of the time before entering the ring and if it went wrong; woe betide anyone who crossed my path. I grew up (in time!) with more patience and my mum learnt that if I bit her head off within 15 minutes of warming up not to take it personally.

When Willow went lame, she happily bought me another pony. When that pony had problems, she threw time and money into it, determined to find out what was wrong. When I planned to go to university, she was more devastated at the loss of competitions than at me moving five hours away.

When  I decided to get a horse on loan that summer to compete before I moved, she was thrilled to once again take on the role of driver, supporter, biscuit feeder, cameraman and financer. When  I decided to not go to university and pursue horses instead, she couldn't of been happier for me.

When  I moved to work on a professional yard, she thought nothing of driving the lorry an hour to that yard the night before an event, treat us to a takeaway, camp in the lorry then get up at the crack of dawn to take me to an event.

An event 200 miles away?  No problem. A £500 entry for a three day I had no hope of winning? No problem. Camping in the lorry in sub zero temperatures the first weekend of March?  No problem. Twelve hours in the pouring rain and howling wind for a 3 minute cross country round? No problem. The horse needed physio/chiro/new saddle/vet treatment/more equipment (delete as applicable). No problem.

Nothing was too much effort or too expensive when it came to horses and my dreams. She spent hours preparing for events, helping me jump the horses, and gradually even plucked up the courage for the odd ride.

When I fell off, she kept her distance until I wasn't angry at myself anymore, then smiled and said nevermind and feed me cookies. When I won, she would embarrass me by cheering. If I wanted to buy a professional photo, she would get carried away and buy three.

It was a way of life for her, and one she wouldn't swap for the world.

In the middle of August 2014, she was diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer. On the 21st October, my amazing mum passed away.

It's been a tough time. I had to have my two retired ponies put to sleep as financially and timewise I couldn't cope. We've picked up the pieces, and both horses are on great form, and Squirrel is entered for Aston-le-Walls on the 7th March.

I will update on our comings and goings soon, but this is a well deserved tribute to the most amazing groom, chauffer, financer, photographer and supporter any young rider could wish to have.


Thank you mum, thanks for everything.

My absence and two new faces

I apologise for neglecting my blog especially as although not eventing, plenty has been going on behind the scenes at Team One Eye.

Back in October, life as I knew it fell apart within a week. Firstly learning of Squirrel's ligament issue, and a week later, my fiancée left me. Heart broken and devastated doesn't cover it. I was broken. It took me a very long time to pull myself together. I've come back better for it, and life is looking very good for me now.

The other reason it's taken me so long to update is that I've had some serious trouble playing videos on my laptop but I think I've managed to fix that now.

So we'll start with the new faces.

I have a fantastic new client who is hopefully going to be a key part in the progression of my career as an event rider and producer. I've backed two horses for him and am currently riding them away. One may shortly be coming home with me to compete and sell on, the other is staying with him for now as a potential eventer.

So I'd firstly like to introduce Poppet.

 

Sorry for the shocking photo of what is actually a very pretty pony! Apparently I don't have any decent photos of her yet.

 

Poppet is a 14hh New Forest x Thoroughbred. She was home bred by my client but unfortunately popped out far too small for him. Throughout the backing process she has been utterly fantastic. She hasn't put a foot wrong and very quickly progressed to walk/trot/canter and hacking out alone/in company. She's very plucky and forward going but most importantly, very safe.

 

We're currently working on her accepting the contact better as she's a bit fidgety in it, and also just slowing her down as she has a tendency to rush. She's improving day by day though, and hopefully she'll be coming home with me in the next week or so for me to continue her education, get her out competing and then sell on.

 

Secondly, we have Flash.



Flash is a 15.2hh sports horse by Spirit Freedom who is by Jumbo, out of an eventing mare. Despite being a lovely, sweet boy, the backing process with him wasn't quite so easy. He was fantastic during ground work/long reining/introducing tack and me initially sitting on him. However the first time I sat on him and was led round, he panicked, reared and threw himself over backwards!

Luckily I leapt out the way in time, but we had to spend a good few weeks just being led around in walk as he was very tense and worried. Eventually he started to relax and now we're making strides. He's schooling nicely in walk, trot and canter and has lovely paces. He took a little longer to get his confidence hacking out alone but has never shown any inclination to rear again and is bombproof in traffic.

He has beautiful movement and is built like a little compact power house so it will be exciting to start jumping him! Dean, his owner, also bred him and is going to hold on to him for now to see whether he will event.

I'm feeling extremely fortunate to have this opportunity as Dean is a keen event horse owner - used to own a 3 star horse but sold it to fund building a house  - and wants to get back into owning, but keeping the horses at home. He doesn't like to jump and once he has built some more equestrian facilities, is keen to buy some young horses to produce through the rankings BE and sell on. I'm sitting tight and hoping I'll be offered the rides!

Squirrel is back!

Expect a mammoth post soon once I figure out how to get video stills off my camera on windows 8 because we are back in business, and Lexi is turning into a fantastic little horse.

I've got a lot to catch up on and will crack on with that soon!

Lexi coming on well

Very pleased with Lexi.

She's been doing big girl hacks on her own and in company; going in puddles, seeing lots of traffic, alpacas, sheep, cows ect without batting an eyelid! She's having front shoes on Tuesday - I can't wait as her feet are wearing down chronically, especially on her boxy foot so might need to reign in the riding for a few days.

I also schooled her yesterday for the first time since her holiday. No bucking in canter whoop! Still need to sort out the left lead but that's okay for now. She was giving me a contact in walk and even offered it in trot which is fabulous.

I'm going to put her on a hack school hack day off schedule for the minute.  I want to do a bit of schooling but not too much yet as she needs to get fit and do lots of hill work to build up her bottom!

She is being a cowbag in the field though. I've had to split her up from Squirrel as she kept kicking him, so put her in with Lacey to teach her manners. Unfortunately Lacey is petrified of her?!?! Lacey is Mrs Queen Bee! I'm giving it a few more days and otherwise it looks like Lexi will have to go out on her ownsome. I'm not keen on individual turnout but I can't have her hurting or scaring the others either.

I'll try and put some photos up soon.

Ponies were really well behaved for the photoshoot too, Lexi was especially photogenic and an incredible poser, so might check out some equine modelling for her. I might be biased but I do think she is incredibly pretty when she isn't pulling her gormless face!

So that's that then.

Squirrel has damaged his collateral ligament.

Kind of feel that's all I have to say. He needs 4 months off, a minimum of 4 months flatwork, and if or how much or how high he will jump again, we don't know.

I was numb for a long time and now its hit me like a tonne of bricks. He'll be 16 by the time I'm riding again. And somehow, in my heart of hearts, although we won't know for sure until the scan in 4 months time, I don't think I can ask him to do more than a bit of riding club again.

He's given me so much and I don't know if I can risk him reinjuring it again.

Oh horse.

So yeah...

Things are pretty depressing here at Team One Eye.

Squirrel has been flying back and forth to the vets...he had a bone scan on Thursday which highlighted issues in both hocks and the sacroiliac. They x-rayed the hocks which showed old changes, so he's home now and going back on Tuesday for more nerve blocks...Just wish we would get to the bottom of it! It's so hard being in limbo.

Lexi is back in work. She's (mainly) being an angel although she did kick Jason the other day - oops! I went for a hack with someone on the yard, and apparently Lexi hates her gelding. She kicked him when she was first backed, and was pulling awful faces all the way round. What a mare! Luckily as a general rule she is very sweet to handle, but she will certainly get a red ribbon when we're competing!!

We're doing the photoshoot on Monday, that we won back at Hall-Place, although I dare say Squirrel will be the centre of attention.

We also went to look at a yard to rent today, although sadly I don't think it will work.

Pros are

- Lovely indoor stables, old brick ones so very cool in summer and very smart
- Lots of storeage
- Excellent turnout (4 acres, opportunity to use more if need to rest them) with p+r fencing, automatic water, field shelter - not a weed in sight!)
- Fantastic hacking
-  They do all the field maintenance and muck removal

Cons

- Have to hire a school a good 15min hack away. Hm. Need to speak to them properly about it, find out the cost but the lady said they might not want me there all the time. Which is a massive problem.
- No electric tape in fields - makes it harder to rest and restrict
- Field gate directly to road, can't tape a bit off
- Its all a bit...finicky, as in needs to be kept spotless ect. Which is fine, but I'm not sure whether I'll feel as if I'm tip toeing around all the time.

Any thoughts?

I love the grazing and the stables and the hacking. Big issues are concerns re resting fields and mainly the school. If there was a school on site it would be zero issue.


Ugh. So feel pretty pants about everything right now.

Things might not be too tragic just yet

Well Squirrel is home now. I'm so pleased, even though I was visiting him daily at the vets, it broke my heart leaving him there.

He is having a bone scan next Wednesday. They think its sacroiliac, probably arthritis. So I guess its a good thing as we haven't medicated this yet. However I'm struggling a little. I'm wondering if it's getting to the point now where I should say enough is enough, no more serious competing for us.

At one point I need to make that decision. At one point it won't be fair to keep pumping drugs into him to keep competing, but when do you know? I mean obviously he will be treated either way - I won't leave him in pain! But at one point I need to say, ok, lets just play a little at a lower level. Then at one point I need to say, ok lets just hack around a bit. Then at one point, I need to say, ok, you've done enough, lets retire you. And eventually I will have to make the decision to let him go. I don't know how I will cope when that day comes. I really don't.

Sorry, got a bit side tracked!

So how DO you know? Any thoughts? Apart from this issue, he seems really well. He looks absolutely fantastic, not a day over 8 (although obviously 15 isn't that old). His coat gleams, he's very bright. He's turning into a hooligan (seriously need to be stricter with him...) and certainly doesn't look like he is feeling past his peak. Nor does he feel it to be ridden.

But I don't want to compete him seriously for longer than I should in his best interests. He usually loves it, although lately obviously not, and he hasn't been too keen to load either which I suppose is either it hurts to go up the ramp or he knows wherever he will go, he'll hurt, or he's saying he's had enough. I guess I'll have to see.

I hope we get another season. It's too soon. I wish I got him 10 years ago; there will never be another horse like him.

One of my clients asked me what he was like the other day. She was very surprised when I said "Oh he's an angel!"

I mean, how many horses are really like him??

He can be ridden by a novice. He will do gymkhana games, beach rides, sponsored rides without getting silly (just a little strong). He is an absolute dope to handle. Generally unflappable. Would never dream of rearing or spinning or putting you on the floor. He is genuine, kind, honest. He's got a sense of humour and will give you cuddles all day long. Yet he will jump 1.30 courses, can make novice XC feel as easy as breathing. Taken me from barely getting round 2 foot 3 to novice BE in 2 years. Made so many dreams come true - competing BSJA, competing BE, competing Novice, winning at Cricklands championships, not only winning their big derby show but winning it in 6 inches of mud with a clear all the way. All with one eye too. He's shown me horses are fun again. He's led me to change my life completely. I was headed for university when he came into my life. It all changed because of him. He's my guardian angel.

I'm sorry. This week has really intensified how much he means to me. I'm a bit of a sap! He's a real once in a lifetime horse, and I would give ANYTHING to make our working lives longer. Obviously I will treasure and enjoy every moment regardless. I just want longer to fulfil my dreams with him.

I wanted to compete him internationally. I wanted to complete an intermediate. Still do. But where do I cap it? Do I try and do a season consistently at novice then say, right that's it, lets stop. Or if he gets as consistent at novice as he is at BE100 (which I fully believe could happen if he stays physically sound), do I have a stab at intermediate? He is generally VERY consistent. Once he gets it, that's it. Onwards from there.

I don't know.

But here's a few photos of times where I knew, not thought, but knew, that I'm the luckiest person alive to have him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are so many more..

 

Lacey has been doing well. I'm asking a bit more of her out hacking. She is very stiff to the right at the moment, so doing lots of leg yielding whilst we're out. Today I asked her to think about an outline when we were trotting. Unfortunately now we're back in a snaffle she is rather strong, but its important I don't hang on to her mouth so we have very little rhythm as I have to take a massive half halt, let her go and she speeds up very quickly, then another half halt ect. Only started that today so hopefully she'll catch onto the idea that its easier to just trot nicely quite soon lol...