Story of Flo - Part 1

Just a bit of her history first, to give you some understanding of this lovely 16 year old mare.

Her original owner John had had her for quite some time and she had lived happily on approx 50 acres of his quiet and peaceful farmland. She gave him 3 lovely foals and then he decided that he was prepared to sell her to a good home - this was where things went slightly awry.

He sold her to someone who said they would care for her lovingly and in the way she was used to, but he had other ideas once he had purchased her. He had moved her to South London in stables under the railway arches!!!! John found out that he had beaten her in order to get her in her stable.

Once John discovered this, he immediately went there and took her away from the man and paid him back his money. John took Flo back home and turned her out to try and calm her back down. At that point John had said he would never sell her again and he put her in foal again to see if that too would help her. About 8 months after her foaling, my friends (who were also good friends of John) convince him that I was a potential good owner for her. After having been up to see her, she chose me...... she put her nose under my armpit and just nuzzled into me - how could I resist!!!!!

Althouth she has been the most spooky horse I've ever known, plus was certainly not the convidence-giver I was looking for, she has been an absolute star to own. She is so loving and such a character, she brightens the darkest of days and is so easy to keep.

I've owned her now for 5 years and 18 months ago I tried to have her put in foal with the aim of keeping them both. Unfortunately she lost the foal very earlier due to a bad infection of endometritis. This took about 6 weeks to clear up and I decided if things weren't going to happen naturally then I would leave it for the time being.

Flo has recovered well and has been enjoying a casual life ever since. She is ridden occassionally, groomed constantly, loved all the time, treated well and shows you all the affection you could wish for. On the 29th of August 2006, she will be going to a yard in Scotland that some relatives own, where we are going to try putting her in foal again. Hopefully it will take this year but if not, she will stay up there and try again early next year. She will also be ridden regularly by some competent riders, which I'm sure she will love.

Watch this space and I'll let you know how thing go.

Story of Sky - Part 1

Sky has been on loan now for 5 weeks in Haslemere, Surrey to a lady called Tish. The aim of this loan is to bring Sky's ability and training on in the Jumping, X-Country, Dressage & Eventing arenas.

To-date her training has mainly consisted of lunge work and she is using an Event Trainer by the name of Lisa Hamilton-Smith.

Take a look at the Blog that Tish has set up (by clicking on the Title above 'Story of Sky - Part 1' or by navigating via my 'Links' section on my Home Page) and give me your views within the comments section of my blog please. I'll keep you posted as to his progress, so watch this space!

Story of Lady - Part 1

Lady is now 6 years old and enjoying life to the full. I have owned her for 2.5 years and she has gone from strength to strength. Although she's a cheeky little madam, she's a willing learner and enjoys her work provided it's varied.
As you can see from this picture, she's a little 'angel'
She has had an excellent little rider for the past year who part loans her. Her name is Lizzie. Lizzie spent 3 years at a local riding school and then came along to see if she liked Lady enough to loan her. They bonded very quickly although her riding school experience was a far cry from loaning a livery pony!

They have worked really hard over the year to not only gain each other's trust and affection but also to improve Lizzie's riding skills. From starting out feeling like she had trouble riding (despite her riding school experience) she is now confident in not only riding but also hacking out, schooling, free-schooling, lunging, bare-back riding and jumping - what a way they have come!!!!

Just a little jump to start with!
Lizzie takes her ownership of a pony very seriously when it comes to work and mucks out and lays a perfect bed for Lady. She prepares her feeds and haynets, grooms and cleans her tack plus spends lots of time showing Lady how much she's loved. At Xmas 2005 we took them to the local Xmas Riding Show at Longwood in Essex. This was a 'first' for both of them and Lizzie was placed 3rd in the 'First Ridden' class and came 4th in the 'Fancy Dress' (she went as the Xmas Fairy & Lady as the Xmas Lucky Lottery Pony).

Earlier this year, they joined Pony Club but have yet to actually attend as Lizzie has had a couple of holidays and my lorry has been off the road. Hopefully we will soon put that to rights!

My Horse Family

Well here we go with my baby Sky (showname Sky's the Limit). He's 6 years old, born 27th April 2000 and an absolute star!

He's a New Forest/Percheron X who was never supposed to get bigger than 15hh and he's now 16.2hh and still growing!!!! The picture here shows my trainer riding him in our field in the summer. He's a gentle giant who loves lots of kisses.

Basically everything that's been chucked at him, he's taken in his stride ie. broken to harness, long-reining, lunging, backing and now he's schooling nicely and got a huge jump (already clearing 3'6" no problem). He's currently on loan in Surrey learning X-country & Eventing with a lady named Tish who will hopefully affilliate him later this year.

Next is Flo (showname Mascal Flora). Although she's 16 years old and 15.2hh now, I bought her the year after Sky supposedly to be my 'confidence-giver' and riding horse whilst waiting for Sky to grow up and be backed.

She's a beautiful black Welsh Section D (out of Nebo bloodlines) but she's a complete woos!!!! She's frightened of her own shadow and constantly looks to me for confidence but I wouldn't part with her for the world. She tends to be a very spooky ride so you need to be very alert for her but give her an Extra-Strong Mint and you'll be her friend for life!

She adores being groomed and her coat absolutely gleams - she also loves her bum being scratched. Before I bought her she had had 3 foals all of which were stunning - if all goes well, I hope to put her in foal for next year and keep the foal but I'll keep you posted on that one.

Over her time with me, she's proved to be excellent in a crisis (despite being a woos). She's been to the recue of 3 horses so far. One with a broken leg in the field, who she protected from all the other horses while waiting for the vet to arrive. Another who got hurt in her field and again she stood guard and wouldn't let anything hurt it and finally galloping with 2 riders on her to the rescue of a horse & rider on the bridle paths who had both been injured - she's one in a million!!!!!!

Then along came Dipi (showname Diamond Geezer - stupid name but Dipi by name, Dipi by nature) . He's currently 9 years old and an Irish Cob. I bought him when he was 14.2hh and he was turned away earler this year for 9 months - when I got him back he was 15.2hh!!!!

He's a real little chunker but was an absolute treasure for my step grand-daughter for three years. I sold him the middle of this year to a family in Scotland and they love him to bits. I still go to see him every so often and he's been a good boy and is jumping well.

Last but not least, here's little Lady (showname Little Tonkel Lady). She's 6 years old (same as Sky) and only 11.2hh. She's a little Welsh Section A and a total 'little madam'. I originally took her on for a friend, purely to break for his grandson.

She had had absolutely nothing done with her at 4 years old and only had 6 chickens for company and to play with but might I add, they all loved to be with her.

After spending 8 weeks with me, not only had she socialised with horses 16hh and over (who really adored her), she had met the farrier, the vet, been lunged and walked in hand on the road, been backed and had small children on her but had also just started jumping!!! Unfortunately the friend's grandson had decided he preferred mechanical toys to live pets and I decided to buy her rather than send her back to the 6 chickens! She has brightened my life no end, squeals every morning when I arrive at the yard and constantly makes me chuckle with her cheek. A 10 year old girl called Lizzie part loans her and they have bonded terrifically. She's now jumping 2'6" with ease and still has plenty to give.

Here's a pic of them to prove it! Lizzie's best friend Zoe wants to loan her as well, so it looks like Lady's going to be busier than ever..... I'll post some more pics as they progress.

Who am I?

Hi - I'm Irene and have a few horses of my own.

I've set up this Blog so that I can share them with you and give you an understanding of my 'ups' and 'downs' of owning horses. I had ridden from the age of 9 years and always dreamed of owning my own - living in the East End of London at the time, didn't make that an easy task - so I settled for riding school lessons once a week and supplemented that by working at the stables for another lesson each week.

Unfortunately although I loved riding, life took over into my teens (+ boys, music, work and general survival) so my riding stopped and I moved on. Then at 48 years old I realised that if I wasn't careful, I'd miss the opportunity of my dream and be too old to enjoy it - so here I am now 54 yrs and owning 3 horses (previously 6!!!!).

As I learn to manage this Blog, I'll fill you in on them some more