What is it about girls and horses? Once upon a time I was a carefully groomed young lady, with manicures, ironed clothes, sleek hair and a copy of Vogue pressed to my bosom. Now I PAY lots of money to have a hairy smelly animal drool on me, step on my feet with all its ½ ton of weight and embarrass me by pooing at inopportune moments. And don't get me started on helmet hair! I could have a wardrobe full of Prada clothes, or a sports car, for the amount that brute costs me, but would I be happy??? Perhaps its best not to think about that question too much!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, horses have been part of my life for a long time. For some reason, when I didn't have one I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way i could afford it, both financially and time wise. Then I just said 'sod it' and decided that I'm sure it will be very character building to have 2pence in my bank account at the end of a month and the time I spend looking after the horse will just keep me out of trouble. Won't it???

Dunno why i though that. When I was a teenager I shared two horses with my mate Sandra and they got me in a LOT of trouble, not to mention hospitalised!

Sandras uncle was a horse dealer and if he came across a decent one we could keep it for a few months for training. For some reason we embarked on pony owning with Blaze, a stallion. Yes, a stallion. Those animals that are big and strong and unpredictable. If that wasn't proof enough that I was dropped on my head as a baby, I definitely developed head injuries after falling off Blaze hundreds of times. Blaze had two paces - fast and speed of light! Although he was as Stallion he was mostly well behaved but like all men he had an overinflated idea of his own importance! He also had such weird muscle growth that we barely could get a saddle to fit him so we rode bare back most times. I was told it would improve my balance. It didn't. I still fall off a lot.

Then along came Tara a 14.2hh, Connemara mare. She was a great club type pony and we had great fun on her. I fell off her a lot as well..

 

 

Now I have Finn.

He's a 16.2hh Chestnut Gelding and he's 7 this year. Hasn't done much up to now except hunting and hacking. I bought him in August 2002 and we've been doing a lot of schooling which is a shock to his system. I'm aiming to compete in a British Eventing Intro One Day Event next season. The livery yard I'm on is run by a professional eventer who competes at all the top competitions like Badminton and Burgley so I have lots of expert tuition. I'll probably still fall off a lot though.