Part 2 of my story with horses

So my previous blog told my story up until the point where I was to become a first time horse owner. It started with me refusing to ride the Shettie, called Pie, at a lady called Lyn's stables, Reblyn. And now I continue part two with me contacting Lyn to start taking lessons with her.

I went for a few lessons with Lyn, riding various horses and ponies she had for her riding school. After a few lessons I got stuck on one horse, Double Corona, an 8 year old OTTB imported from Austrailia. A horse that she had bought for herself but that she couldn't ride due to her own health problems. So i rode him a few times and we really connected.

Although it didn't always look that way, me having a hot seat and him having flashbacks of his racing days our canter transitions were quite, um, forward to say the least. But I started loving him and I trusted him from the word go. I could do anything on his back. Lyn then decided to sell him and I told my dad that this was to be my first horse.

That was it. I looked no further. We bought him from Lyn but kept him stabled with her and I continued my lessons with her. This is where I started doing dressage. And where I absolutely fell in love with owning a horse and everything that goes with it.

He was the most kind horse. He was so easy to work with and I could do anything with him. He taught me absolute trust in horses and that with trust you can go further than you imagined. I had my first dressage show on him and learnt the art of washing and braiding and boxing and stressing with him.

He was far from perfect considering he was a wind sucker and he had sarcoids but none of that mattered because we had an unbreakable bond and we were a fantastic team.

To this day my heart breaks when I look at pictures of this beautiful boy. I shared many firsts with D.C and all but one are some of the best memories of my horsey life. I also shared with him the first loss of a horse. The first heartbreaking, gut wrenching death that shatters your world for a while. He had a blockage in his intestines and had to be put down. I cried for weeks on end but I remained adamant that I will not quit. He had taught me too much to give up on riding I had said when my father told me the bad news.

One of the most difficult shows I've had to do was the one a week after D.C's death. He and I were entered into a show at Riverleigh and I decided that if I could find a horse to ride, I would do the show in his honor. 

Now, bare in mind I had only ridden him for the past two years and I only had 5 days to prepare for this show, and this was only my second dressage show ever. I found a lovely lady that lent me her Arab gelding, Kadal, for the show. 

Kadal also had a great impact on my riding life as, I swear, he felt the loss that I did (they had been stabled next to each other and they were great friends) and this brought us together to make a fantastic team. He was quite a fresh, high strung horse usually but since the four days before the show that I got on his back he was a super star! We received a first and a second place for our two classes respectively and apart from not wanting to walk through a gate he didn't set a food wrong.

I rode him in the weeks to follow while I looked for a new horse for me to buy. He was such a great horse and showed me the compassionate side that horses poses and that they are so in tune with our feelings.

I tried about a million horses, well it felt like that, but none came close to the feeling I had gotten when I was on D.C. After many disappointed outings we found a horse that I actually wanted to see for a second time, Beau Lapaz, a beautiful 16.3hh Andalusian thoroughbred cross with stunning movement.

I felt like a pea on his back but I felt somehow at home and I went to see him a second time and decided to take him. So on the day we had to fetch him, Lyn could not join us but her husband came along. We parked the box and the previous owner said that he will box him and this probably should have been my first warning sign, because as soon as he was in the box he tried to barge through the front (no one knows what his plan was as there was nothing at the front of the box except a window and a door for people, which had been closed) and he broke the box and shot out the back and we had a great struggle to get him loaded.

Once we had him back at the stables he wasn't exactly the same horse he had been when I had tried him out. But Beau taught me to have a good seat when it comes to spooking and bolting and spinning. He also taught me what it was like to ride a horse, and work with a horse from the ground, that you don't get a long with.

He had been a fantastic show horse though, apart from spooking and being nearly impossible to box, we never came home from a show without a rosette. I also started my schools horse riding team with him and along with another friend of mine.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad and we had great times but for most part he slowly started chipping away at my confidence and everything with him became a mission. And the day he backed me into the corner was the day my parents finally said that it was enough and that we had to sell him. My confidence had also completely been shattered and even just riding him for people who came to view him was terrifying. I was always honest to potential buyers about his fears and vices and we eventually sold him to a lady that he just clicked with, he was still scared and spooky and crazy but she was looking for that.

I will do another blog on rider confidence and how horrible it is losing your confidence, and how I am getting mine back.

But I decided that I wanted to carry on riding and that I wanted to get a horse with no vices so I came to the conclusion that I wanted a foal that I could raise and back and train myself (with the help of professional trainers of course) and I set out to find one that I liked.

I saw a photo of the most stunning baba Appaloosa colt and organized to see him.

I ended up buying Spotted Eagle, one and a half years old and the sweetest little thing. He probably taught me the most about riding and training and horses and myself. With him I learned how to back a horse, I learned all about Natural Horsemanship and joining up, I learned about how horses needs differs from baby to full grown and how their minds develop. I don't think that I could have gotten a better or easer horse to do this with. He had an amazing temperament and was so easy to work with.

I spent 5 years with my beloved Eagie before personal circumstances forced me to sell him. I sold him to a friend of mine and he is at the best home a horse could ask for. Being loved as much as I loved him. He is such a fantastic lad! And he grew into a handsome 16hh man with a sound mind and a streak of playfulness.

Eventhough I did a lot with him, he didn't bring my confidence back, I was confident with him but I think it is because I had him from when he was a baby and I watched him grow. After I sold him and started taking up lessons at a yard in Cape Town (where I had moved to) I realized how broken my confidence still was.

Every horse I have owned has been very special. Each of them still have a place in my heart and each of them taught me so much about myself, about riding and about life in general. I am thankful for each one of them and wouldn't change anything that had happened because each experience has shaped me into the rider I am today and has prepared me for meeting Island.

Love,
Lawquii

Lawquii's life with horses Part 1

Hello Horse Lovers,

I was re-reading my posts and I realized that I don't really give much background information on who I am and where I came from before I found Island! So, here is the first part of my story:

My riding life started in very unusual circumstances. I started riding when I was 9 (I am now 23). Well I tried to start earlier, I think when I was about age 6 or 7, I told my parents that I loved horses more than the world and that I wanted to ride! (bare in mind I'd only ever seen pictures of them at this stage) And so my mom organized with a lady called Lyn (she played an extremely big role in my riding life later on) and I went for a lesson. Well lets say I showed up for a lesson.

I got there, super excited, and she brought out this adorable skewbald Shettie called Pie. I saw the pony and blatantly refused to get on. Scared to death. Who would have thought haha so Lyn tried to make me feel guilty about Pie having to go back to the paddock by himself while all his friends got to work in the arena, but I had no sympathy and cried my eyes out for fear of having to get on.

So about a year later we went on a holiday to a Malaysian Island where the hotel offered horseback rides on the beach. Being a little older, and still loving horses more than the world, I decided that maybe I was ready to face my fears. My mom and I went to book a ride, but I was too young to do the horse outride and they had a donkey outride for the smaller kids. So I agreed and off we went. I was on a lovely donkey called Percy. And dear old Percy sparked an equine love in me that will never die. I even tried convincing my dad to buy poor Percy and have him exported to South Africa hahaha

So I returned home, determined and not afraid anymore! I moved to a new school and made friends with another girl that rides. She invited me to a riding camp and so I went on my first camp and started my official HORSE riding life ;)

The camp was a week long and you got a horse to look after for the whole week. You had to catch it from the field, tack up, untack, feed, groom and take back to the paddock. But oh my gosh it was fun. We did two lessons a day, one morning and one afternoon, and some theory on horses in-between. We also did outrides and we had a horse washing competition and we played around the horses all day long. It was like heaven! Here is me on Duet, a highly pregnant, dead broke, fantastic school mistress that endured my horrible first riding style:

But she taught me how to stay on and how to enjoy horses and she helped me to start to get a feel for horses and that you could trust them.

Here I also learnt the joys of gymkhana and how much fun looking after horses is. I had my first night outride and horseback treasure hunt and I was taught how to look after a foal (as one mare I had for a camp had a foal) and how to groom and feed horses. It was also here where I experienced my first death of a horse and the immense sadness that goes with it (a horse had died in the field from eating a poisonous plant). And where I experienced my first show and the absolute joy there is to be found in receiving a rosette and taking a victory canter past all the spectators!

I went on a few more camps at this farm, and learnt so much about these amazing creatures! It was also here that I had my first big fall. I had gotten more experienced (each camp you move up a level if you show adequate improvement) and so I was riding a younger horse, Skim, and a friend and I were waiting for our level's group to do our jumping round so we decided to play a round of touchers on the horses. My horse slipped and we both fell and he slid right on top of me. I broke my wrist and my ego. But I did get back on the next day and finished the rest of the camp (the 5 days that were left) broken wrist and all!

Shortly after my first camp, I also started taking weekly lessons at a very big jumping yard in Johannesburg and attended several pony camps with them as well. I rode once a week and I really enjoyed it. At these stables I learned the finer art of riding, correct seat and hands and all that. What it is to work with stabled horses as opposed to horses living out by the hundreds. I also learnt how to ride bareback and it was here that I experienced my first foal being born, Brandenburg Ursula she had been dubbed and she was beautiful.

I remember the older kids and teenagers that rode and stabled their own horses here and how I always wished to one day be like them. I had such admiration of them, and of course jealousy at their beautiful big horses!

This is me on a mare, Caramello, that taught me the very basics of riding:

So in 2005 I had to live in Iran with my parents and there I continued to ride , which was an incredible experience as their ways of teaching and just the lessons as a whole was completely different than what I was use to. Here I got taught a lot about myself as a rider, as they focus on seat and balance. This is a photo of me riding in Iran, just to give you an idea of what it was like (this is also the first horse that broke my toe by standing on it):

The great thing about living in Iran during my first year of high school was that my dad promised me my very own horse once we returned to South Africa! And this is the first part of my story, on how I from being dead scared to being an horse owner :) the rest of my story (of me actually being a horse owner and all the joys and sorrows that come with that) will be in my next blog!!

There have been many other horses and ponies in between these that I have failed to mention, not because they had no impact on my riding or that I didn't like them but just because these really stand out and if I had to mention them all I would probably be writing a book and not a blog.

Love,
Lawquii