Never look a gift horse in the mouth

So a very exciting thing happened at the weekend, Sofie’s owners offered me Sofie – for free! This is exceptionally generous of them and I am really touched. Of course I would be delighted to be Sofie’s official mum – but I will be honest I am a little nervous of the commitment.

I realise, I have never actively chosen or sought to buy a horse, except for when I was 11 and campaigned for Frodo – but I’m not sure that counts. Now I am older I am well aware of the commitment I am making.

To me horses are like marriage – better for worse, for richer or poorer (inevitably poorer), in sickness and in health, till death do us part. If I accept this kind offer, I will be paying for Sofie for the rest of her life (the next 16/20 years most likely). I will forsake the bigger house, the nicer clothes, the better car. I will not be able to stop work or work part time because I will have livery to pay. I will always have the responsibility of her welfare, getting cover when I am away, paying extortionate vet fees, being at the yard in dark winter nights freezing my tits off to ensure she is warm and comfortable. Sneaking out at Christmass dinner to give her a carrot.

The timing is a bit pants, wedding next year, lodger moving out, mortgage needing re-negotiating, kids in the near future. Loaning is far more practical and low risk for my current circumstances. I had always planned on loaning after Tonto because of the freedom it affords you.

And yet…

 

 

Look at her, she is my little princess, I can’t just let her go. If I do not take her, her owners will sell her on. She just is not the right horse for them and it does not make sense to keep paying for a horse that you are not using. They are reluctant to do this as they do not want her to continue passing hands – she isn’t for everyone – but they have practical considerations of their own.

Sofie seems to be a bit unlucky with owners. She has been passed from Belgium to the UK, to the RSPCA, to a girl in Manchester, to Adrian and then to me. She is only 9! I’d hate for her to continue this nomadic existence.

But most of all I just want her. If I were to describe my next dream horse after Mr T it would be:

·         Just enough spark to be interesting but not dangerous in any way

·         Cute and cuddly but more independent than Mr T

·         Tough as old boots and happy out in the field so cheap to keep

·         Loves to jump and nice and straight forward comfortable ride

·         Good bone but pretty to look at

That is Sofie! I really could not find a better horse. If I let her go I will be back to riding free horses – who tend to be free for a reason - or paying for shares that I don’t really like. If I wanted to buy later down the line you never really know what you are getting. And lets face it, I would not be me without my horses. Tonto is not going to last forever, having Sofie would make that whole awful process much easier to bare.

Of course I have to think of when I have kids. But Sofie would be easy to put out on full loan should I need to. And if she went permanently lame she would still have value as a brood mare. And basically, I want her to be part of my family.

So I am off to re-mortgage the house, I got livery to pay.

Slipping saddles and soundness issues

Sof and her wonky saddle

Today we had Louise out the check Sofs saddle. Amazingly her back is very similar to her February measurements, but her GP rides all wrong. The saddle constantly slips to the left, it always has, and when I ride in it I get a sore back. Experience tells me that if my back is sore most likely my horses back is as well. I just don't think it is comfortable for us.

I brought Sofie out to show Louise and she was fairly horrified to see how much it sat to the left. After checking the tree and the flocking Louise felt that Sofie was the one causing it to go left. I really respect Louise's opinion, she was the first to spot Tonto's arthritis in his hocks and has always given sound advice. She said she didn't want to alarm me but often saddle slips are caused by underlying mild lameness.

This makes a lot of sense.  Sof takes forever to warm up, does not like to bend or extend, and spent last summer notify uneven. Her right shoulder is much bigger than her left and she holds tension in her neck. I think the problem is in her left hind. Louise pointed out that she tends to stand with it tucked under her body, and thinking about it she is more snatch with her right hind, as if she does not want to stand on the left hind.

So what to do? Well of course I will let her owners know, but I think it is so slight it would not come up on a vet check. She seems fine at the level of work I am asking of her at but might limit what do in the future. Still we were never planning on eventing so probably not really an issue. I guess all I can do is monitor her. Most horses are ever-so-slightly lame, I don't think this is a massive problem but worth being aware of.

Louise is going to see what she can do with the flocking and straps to counter the saddle slip. Just as well we have her flexed in the mean time.

On a different note I was very touched to see Sof refused to be lead away from me today. Yay she does love me after all 😊

Sofie strop on video

A film of Sofie stropping last march, makes me realise how much calmer she now is

Escape and lead tour of the estate

Little Video of my freind Sarah having a try on Sofie

Summer Update

Been a while since I last posted so thought I would do a quick update. Things have been a bit quite on the horse front of late, pesky work has been getting in the way of pony time.

Net result is I have a fat pony. I feel a bit deflated that Sofie has once again returned to sofa status. All that dieting for nothing but I am determined to get her slim again. I suppose the only real positive is that she has not turned lamanitic as I had feared, though she does seem more footy that she did over the winter months. 

Her feet are expanding as fast as her waist line. I have bought her yet another pair of shoes, 2WW but she is already growing out of these. Next stop is the floating boots. She is going to cost me a fortune in foot wear. Still every lady needs a shoe collection.

Her behaviour on the yard is near perfect now. She will happily wait in stables and on the yard with minimal protest. I can leave her untied for short periods and she stays put. A million times better than last summer. Riding wise she is better, less spinning and tantrums but still not perfect. June saw a very overexcited Haffy, with her pulling my arms out of their sockets if we even suggested canter. As soon as she sees a jump she is nearly beside herself with excitement. I’ve been working on the canter in the school since, and the training alongside the extra weight has slowed her down a little. I don’t think we will go drag hunting anytime soon though.

Future plans; well I plan on continuing with the EE lessons, they are going really well, we are getting a lot of nice comments from people at the yard and she feels so much more responsive now that I am stiller. I’m getting her GP saddle re-fitted to fat mode on Monday in the hope that we can then start jumping properly. If I can get some jump lessons over August then we should be ready for some rounds in early September. There is also a team chase and some sponsored rides in September that I would like to have a crack at. I dream of us jumping the big fences.

Tonto seems to be OK, though not very sure of his feet downhill. I find it very difficult to assess how much pain he is in. I’m worried because he is not fat as he normally is in the summer which makes me paranoid something is wrong. Still he strides out up the hills on walks with Sofie (having failed at ride and lead we now opt for the escape and follow method) and seems relatively happy when raising his feet for them to be picked out.

 

So generally very happy with princess Sofie. I fall in love with her a little more each day.

Fat pony in the world of stressage

So apparently it is not acceptable to turn up to a dressage competition in wellies, a rucksack, high vis, primarny jacket, horse trainers of shame, and half a tree in your hair. Also chatting like a lunatic to the horse as you desperately try and negotiate corners is also frowned upon. Still the nice folk at Newlands Riding Club took pity and let us compete anyway.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting to see a field full of fat ponies and kiddy riders when I had signed up for the dressage comp. It is a local club, and the calibre of horses and riders has been suitably low on all the other events I have turned up to. I thought Sof and I would blend in nicely.

Oh how wrong I was. We turn up, un-platted (cause I couldn’t be arsed), sweaty and covered in mud and shrubbery from the ride up - only to find a field full of high quality horses and riders dressed immaculately. Bugger.

Big warmbloods were prancing around the warm up arena fully collected doing half pass. I glanced over at someone doing the test I had signed up for – really bloody well. Oh shit, I haven’t even learnt the test let alone practiced it. I had been a bit ambitious when I signed Sof and I up for Prelim 4. Our canter thus far involves going increasingly fast and doing wall of death around the corners. Sometimes we go in an outline, but most of the time Sofie defiantly sticks her nose in the air in protest of my unsteady hands.

It was also raining, making the wet grass rather treacherous.

I did a quick warm up to try and get Sofie’s attention. Moments of brilliance undispersed with her being nosey/trying to tank off. I studied the sheet stuffed in my pocket and watched a few rounds to try and learn it. Time to line up to go in.

I came across a girl I knew from when I was at another yard with Tonto. She was on her big impressive chestnut horse which was going beautifully. I said hello and she looked down at me on my scruffy fat pony in ridiculous trainers with some distain. She was polite, but clearly disapproving. I think you are meant to take this dressage stuff seriously.

Realising I may have made a slight error with our attire I asked one of the organisers about the hoof boots. Absolutely not. So I hastily removed them. He then also pointed out that wellies were a no-no. White gloves must be worn. The bit can only be a plain snaffle, so our hanging snaffle was out. And I should be wearing a tie. Failure to adhere to the dress code will get you eliminated. He saw the deflated look on my face, then said ‘have a go anyway, just know for next time’, which was kind of him.

We entered the ring, had a brief look at the flowers, and then circled waiting for the bell. Please god let me not embarrass ourselves further. The bell rang and it was on. Thank god for Sofie. I might be an amateur at all this but at least she knows what she is doing. With the bell she transformed into a listening dressage diva. She pranced down the centre line and did a beautiful 20 meter circle for me. We slipped when we changed the reign which through my concentration. After this the contact was less constant, but I think I have myself to blame. Canter was miraculously controlled. I did my best to sit back and chatted steady to her and she listened. I was later told by my friend that talking to your horse is not allowed by mercifully the judges were in a car with the windows wound up so they couldn’t hear me. It wasn’t a brilliant dressage test, but it wasn’t embarrassingly bad either.

Lowest mark was 6 (satisfactory) and highest was a 7 (fairly good). Overall score 61.59. Our feedback was as follows:

Much to like with regular paces. Tends to tilt head to outside at times and needs more suppleness through the poll and needs to constantly accept a soft contact for the higher marks.

 Not bad for an underprepared first attempt.

I think with some lessons and practice we could get good at this. Thing is I’m not sure I want to. I can’t see me enjoying the dressage world. It seems to be a bit overly pompous. Why the hell can’t I wear my wellies! They give me no strategic advantage (in fact they are a disadvantage). Surely we should be judged on our riding not our turn out? Thing is I am also slightly inclined to really get into it to try to beat the snobby warmbloods on my fat pony in my wellies. Time will tell if reason or stubbornness will out.