K: Lia

Today I realised Lia has been with us 13 months. 

She’s given me a new lease of life recently and I even though she was meant to be sold I believe she’s still here for a reason. When we set about selling her the feedback was often she’s too small or under developed. She’s not now. 

Lia is by Zhivago (Krack C x Jazz) out of a Gribaldi mare. She’s the Topshop model of the herd. But that’s not what matters - what matters is who she is. She has the most amazing personality, she’s kind and she always wants to please. She has an inate ability to know when I’m not ok and she loves my mum which has firmly rooted her a solidified spot in the family. 

She’s been easy to break and has taken everything in her stride - she broncs like a cow pony on the lunge. We’ll forgive her for that. 

I’m so excited in what lies ahead. My main mission is to not hold her back and allow her to reach her potential. 

‘Think big, you control the end goal.’ 

H: Breaking the beasts

So as you’ve seen in previous posts, we kept the girls. Joli is firmly a member of the family and much as she was everything I didn’t want/need, I’m totally in love with her.

So of course we had to start her off. Now I was a bit lazy with Joli, did absolutely no bridlework on the ground, just some follow up and Liberty work! So I started backing her over winter, in the barn, just getting her used to my weight over her back and getting on and off and she was a star. We got to the stage of walking her round the yard and I even took her for a spin in storm Brian. It was going perfectly!

So we decided to take her out for her first hack with Kate on the ground and she shot off in trot straight down the track and I had absolutely NO brakes!! I had to steer her into the neighbours hedge to stop which I was a bit nervous she might jump thanks to her past history! So back to the groundwork to establish some brakes and then we went off on our first few hacks with Drift and she was extremely sharp, very spooky and so clumsy but all in all pretty darn good. We mainly did walk with a small amount of trot before giving her the rest of winter off to chill!

Upon bringing her back into work Jol was again rather sharp, she sent me flying through the air on one occasion and shot off down the lanes a couple of times but I have to say she has mainly been pretty straightforward! 

So I thought I’d make a comparison chart for a bit of fun, as we all know Drift is Mr quirky and gave me a rough ride...

APPY vs WARMBLOOD- the Naughty league

First time Drift had a saddle on: Bronced and bronced and bronced and then bronced a bit more

First time Jol had a saddle on: Good as gold.

Appy 1 : Warmblood 0

First time I sat on Drift in stable: Terrified but nothing bad

First time I sat on Jol in stable: Also scared but no problem

Draw

First trot on Jol: pretty straightforward, just very wobbly

First trot on Drift: Bronced me off... twice

Appy 2 : Warmblood 0

First hack on Jol: shot off into a hedge 

First hack on Drift: threw me off into a hedge and ripped all my nice coat

She’s getting closer but Appy 3 : Warmblood 0 

First canter for Jol a little jump+hump and then a few strides of super canter

First canter for Drift: Bronced me off again and again for the first 6 months

Appy 4 : Warmblood 0

First fall pain off Drift, a shock but not too much.

First fall of Jol= extremely sore human, at least a hand bigger 

Appy 4 : Warmblood 1

First Trailer ride: Drift took over an hour to load and came off dripping.

Jol walked straight on... and then came over the partition.

Warmblood wins hands down.

Appy 4 : Warmblood 2

First time in the school : Jol jumped out.

Drift blind bolted through 100m of electric tape and took it back to the stable with him and had a burn scar for 6 months.

Close call.

But I think the Drift takes it.

Appy 5 : Warmblood 2

Looking forward to more of Joli’s firsts over the next few months... those of you with Appys, I feel your pain!!!!!!

Hold on to what makes you happy... and if it tries to buck you off, just hold on even tighter....

KH: The plan changed.

We had all the best intentions, Joli and Lia had arrived and we wasted no time in planning how we would sell them. 

Hayley worked hard to handle Joli and I put my business head on and started advertising. And Lia? We just let her eat some food! It started well and we had a line of potential buyers for both. 

‘We need to get a video of Joli jumping’ 

‘Okay, she was easy in Holland let’s get this done.’ 

*we watched in complete horror as our precious mare walked up to the arena gate and jumped it, from walk* 😱

‘SH*T!! we’ve already broken her’ 

‘She’s got scope!’ 

 She was totally fine, but now we know why everyone used electric fencing at 6ft around the arena. 

Anyway, our dreams had come true she was selected to go to Brightwells Elite Sale - we were doing this. 💪 Then Joli got an abscess and we had to postpone. 

Lia had some viewings, but realistically people only seemed to want a ready made 3 year old even if she was Krack C x Jazz x Gribaldi, she did look under condition and it wasn’t to be. She now looks amazing and I’m sure there will be some regrets with those who come across her path in the future. 

As the weeks went by we started to have a few conversations...

‘Hayl Joli is better now, let’s get her broken?’

‘Erm, ok I’ll start to ask around’ 

‘Did you find anyone? Xxx might be ok?’ 

‘Erm not quite, but I’ve sat on her and she’s really good.’ 

‘HAYL!!!’ 

Two weeks later...

‘You know we really should do something about selling that mare’ 

‘I know, I know, but I really do love her...’

Then this happened ⬇️

Hayley and I have known each other for too many years and it was clear that my business partner, and best friend had fallen for Joli, hard. What was I to do? It was going to break her heart if I made her sell her...

So I didn’t. 

Joli is now Hayley’s SJ prospect and Lia lives with me, being aimed at the BD Young Horse qualifiers. We adore them, they are incredible and they have become part of the family. 

2017 we burned some money, got ourselves into a lot of trouble, added two new Horses to the herd and had one hell of a laugh along the way. 

‘Ambition will create the path to success, the journey won’t be straight, but persistence will determine how to navigate it’ 

H: Never measure progress using someone else’s ruler

So it’s easy in the horse world to compare yourself to others, and to the norm... break at 3/4, riding away by 5, established by 6 and doing a proper job for certain by 7! Now as you’ve probably gathered from my previous posts, Drift hasn’t been the most straightforward horse.

So I desperately wanted to event, but I had bought Drifter because I found his terror of life so endearing! So I think I’d accepted at an early age that perhaps this was a bit of a pipe dream- far from being bold, Drift would shy at changes in the colour of grass! So we started my crazy appy and to all of our surprise he had a beautiful jumping technique, so since dressage was out the window (we are both rubbish because I’m not patient enough) I decided to give show jumping a shot with him.

Drift jumping 1m20 at home no problem!! 

Nope, it didn’t go entirely to plan. I would hire places and Drift would be fantastic, but at a show he was so terrified of the other horses, the speakers, the people, the timers, just the atmosphere. I have attempted to get Drift competing show jumping several times a year from when he was about 7-12 and although I would hire places regularly he genuinely got stage freight. He would jump the fences at 1m10 if we’d hired somewhere, and the same fences come show day he would stop at every one at 65cm and would refuse to canter!!! 

And I used to hear - “maybe it’s because you’re nervous, he’s feeding off you” etc. We’ve all heard it!! Now a course of 65cm jumps does not frighten me- competition or not, and competing didn’t matter enough for me to get anxious over it. So one day in March last year I decided to take Drift to the local show- we’d hired it the week previous and he’d jumped like a stag! We arrived and he was an absolute nightmare, the point Kate couldn’t even hold in the working in whilst I was walking the course! She could feel my pain!!!

The week previous to the show- jumping the same fences but much bigger!!

It went badly, he stopped at nearly every fence and refused to go out of trot and into canter! I was so deflated, again I just thought what’s the point, I can’t put him through this and it’s just too embarrassing. 

And then. Jol came. And she changed our world. Now I can’t explain it and I wouldn’t even begin to try. Maybe it’s the herd environment, maybe it’s because he’s so content at home, and maybe it’s because he’s a jealous nut and can’t bear for anyone else to be number one! 

But I took him to the exact same show 3 months later- nothing else in his training regime changed. And he went in the 65cm and jumped double clear! I was absolutely dumbfounded! Never have I been so proud of him, the work in was hard for him, but in the arena away from the other Horses he found his mojo and got into gear. And that was the start, he’d finally overcome his stage freight!

Since then Kate and I have taken him to several unaffiliated shows and he’s jumped from 75cm to 85cm, then fences and the height had never been his problem. He’s brought home four first rosettes and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

I’m so excited for this year and what the future holds.  He is finally able to use his talent and step up the ring! And guess what, he’s going to be 13 in August. Who cares that it’s taken me all of 10 years to get him to where he is now. He’s here and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, or how far you are from you’re goal- you’re still further than someone who isn’t even trying! 

KH:: Holland; The final countdown....

We were homeward bound.

Now, who to choose?

The roulette mare we saw: a very correct mare, beautiful, but such a standard movement, we came to the conclusion she wasn’t right.

“What about the zhirocco? He had so much heart”

“Hayl, he was a cart horse”

“But he loved jumping”

“Hayl, he was a cart horse”

“He had quite a bit of scope”

“Hayls.... he was a cart horse”

“True. Imagine him on the gallops, you’d never have anyone in front of you, it would sound like bombs dropping if he was galloping up behind you” *laughing away*

“Hayl.”

“Yeah”

“You just said bomb on a plane”

“Shit, I did, I just said dropping bombs”

“Omg, we need to stop saying bombs!”

The poor girl crying in the seat who was terrified of flying didn’t see the funny side of it!!

So what about the black mare. “She was incredible.”

 “I agree.” 

“She’s a definite?”

“100%” 

“Movement to die for a such a lovely temperament”

“So we’re bringing her home”

“Looks like it!”

We both adored her and knew she was right!

And then there was the baloubet. 

“Kate, we can’t come home without her”

“Hayl, she’s huge, and unhandled”

“She’ll come round”

“But she may kill us the process”

“True..”

Now, because she was so terrified and quite intimidating when she was tearing round the arena, of course we saw a challenge. And because Hayls is a sucker for punishment, she was the one that gave the butterflies!!

“Kate. We can’t leave the most talented sj we saw there and bring back something half hearted, we’ll get her right and someone will buy her”

“I know... okay let’s do this!”

And so our two Dutch babies were heading to the UK.

Our head shy black mare, with a hind leg and movement to die for, who desperately needed some food and some love; to us she’s known as Lia. And our unhandled, terrified, but powerful bay mare; Joli! 

 

KH:: So we went to Holland... need we say anymore!!! Part 1

As you may have noticed from our numerous blog posts Kate and I spend A LOT of time together and A LOT of time with the four leggeds. During these times we chat about a myriad of subjects, Horses, life, Horses, gin, Horses, politics, Horses, work. You get the idea. Being out the house for 12 hours a day when you have 4 beautiful neds in the barn is no easy feat. So one day, we got this amazingly bright idea...

Wait for it...

Famous last words...

Let’s make money out of Horses!!!!!

So we had this thought that since we’re both obsessed with Horses maybe we should go and buy two from Holland, that had all the breeding that just ain’t around in the UK and then... sell them. 

So we had this conversation whilst having a walk break in between the galloping bits at somerford farm ride and afterwards when we got back we made a catastrophic decision. To have a gin. So of course we booked the flights to Holland for the following Friday and off we went.

Now. I’d love to say it was like clockwork, but when you’re travelling with calamity Jane, it was never going to be a walk in the park!

First off. GET THERE. 

I booked the flights and made a folder with all the locations and horse details. Kate did everything else; the hotel, the car, the contacts, the euros etc. It started well, up at 5, car parked, shuttle to the airport... and so began the comedy of errors.

European flight, we left 45 mins for security. On arrival at the airport,we were of course asked to present our boarding passes. Smugly, I reached inside my bag to reveal the folder (of which I was pretty impressed with...I made a folder :o ) 

Crap. “Where’s the folder, have you got it?”

“No, Hayls you have the folder, you were just looking at it a second ago on the shuttle”

“It’s not here”

“Sorry, what?”

“It’s not here”

“Serious”

“Ye”

“Sort it out!”

*quickly scoots off to ring the shuttle company who said not to worry, the folder was on the bus and he’d bring it back round on his next shuttle, only 20 mins there and back, he’d be with us in 40 mins.

“Noooooo. I need it NOW. Our flight will have taken off. Please, please, please” (commence amateur dramatics, turn on seriously stressed teary/ I will kill you if you don’t come back voice) “PLEASE!!!!!” 

He arrived in about 15 mins, 30 mins for security. Perfect. Phew!  “Sorry doll, bad start, but no worries now, we’ll fly through security, I was in the states a couple of weeks ago, this will be easy.”

And onto the conveyors our bags go. And out Hayls came and was quickly escorted to the search desk by the man wearing gloves. “Crap, what’s in them?” “FFS, mine hasn’t even been put through.”

So commenced the did you pack your bag yourself? The searching revealed several inhalers. Those need to be in a plastic, see through bag. They were removed and back the bag went to be scanned again. At which point Kate’s bag is finally put through, and popped onto the ‘Needs searching desk!’ “Oh dear, I gave you one of my inhalers in case my bag was lost.”

So both are sorted and heading back through, at which point my bag comes out and head back to the ‘Needs searching’ desk again. “WTF” I start wetting myself: “They think I’m a terrorist!” 

“Hayl, you just said the T word!!!!”

It turned out to be a pot of Vaseline in a side pocket I’d missed. We were on our way with about 5 mins to grab a quick coffee and make the flight! An hour later and we landed in Holland, thank god!! So we picked the car up and then we had to start driving on the right hand side of the road.

Now, trotting around Holland, we weren’t completely alone. We had Jane. Our trusty sat nav from 2002, that hadn’t seen an update in her life. Turns out, in Holland, they have changed several of their roads in the last 15 years. 

“Jane, where are you taking us?”

“Jane, this is a field not a road”

“Jane no”

“Where are you taking us Jane”

“Jane?”

“Omg Jane”

“Shut up Jane”

“FFS Jane”

“Jane we will kill you”

Anyway we made it to the first dealer. We were there to see a dressage mare who just wasn’t anything special. But in the stable next to her, stood a jet black mare, with a kind eye, who was nothing but a bag of bones. She’d just come in apparently and we were welcome to have a look at her. We were tentative, she had no neck and looked so thin, but I handed Kate the papers and she said “We simply have to see this mare”. And so we did. The girl let her loose in the school, and we were blown away. This dot of a horse, with a serious lack of condition floated through the air, with an elegance that was simply mesmerising.

Safe to say we left there, with the little black Zhivago/Krack C mare as a firm favourite and a serious contender. We then drove straight to the first jumper we had lined up. This mare, as the dealer told us was pretty green. When Kate first sent me her details she said “this is your kinda horse”. And boy she was right. She was in far better condition when they brought her out he stable, but absolutely terrified. We tried to walk round her to take a look and she was literally sh**ing herself! The whites of her eyes showing, her ears flicking like crazy. We didn’t get close and dealer said it was probably best just to let her loose in the school. And so he did. She was so powerful, Baloubet shining through. When she stood, snorting, tall as she could make herself, she was pretty intimidating. But we watched her jump, and I looked at Kate, “this is a serious horse!”

We then saw a couple of others, a nice sj with a temperament to die for and some gorgeous dressage Horses. No world beaters, but lovely, quality Horses. Our last meeting was with a dealer who got his first horse out and handed Kate a schooling whip and within 30 secs of the horse being in a tiny round pen type arena said “Let’s start the jumping”

We were mortified and he Horses were topping out at the huge heights. But then he brought out a sunning Zhiroccho blue. I had high hopes for this horse. He was shod in front which was weird as an unbroken 3yo. He started to trot and he looked like a cart horse! “Aha, they’ve been driving this, what is going on?”

Bewildered, Kate and I watched in astonishment as this horse with about as much style, as us pair after one too many gin & prosecco cocktails, began to run itself to the jumps, flying them with an almighty power. When trying to change the fences he was still coming and everyone had to take cover! That horse had so much heart, but was not going to be an easy sell at home. After seeing a couple more and nearly being mowed down by an insane stallion, we were shattered and heading back to the hotel!

We ate, drank, chatted and slept. 

We were on the plane home discussing which Horses stood out...TBC

H: Let it all go... and see what stays

Each year with Drifter I liked to set myself goals. When we first started it was simple: This year I'd like to get on Drifter at least once without falling off.. A slight exaggeration but hey, that kind of thing. This year I want to jump a course away from home, stop him freaking out over rugs, overcome his fear of different shades of grass. 

Then the more I began to learn about how horses think, the more I began to question what we did. I wanted Drift to feel happy with what we were doing, not to just do it because he had to. So my goal that year, I wanted to ride Drifter without a bridle. Now it seems so simple. You just take the bridle off and ride. But then it didn't. I was going to offer Drifter ultimate control, and a choice... if you don't want to, you don't have to. And if you don't want me up here, there aint nothing I can do to stop you hitting the eject button, with that classic rodeo bronc you have polished to perfection. 

But then one day, we just did it. And no Drift didn't tank off like I imagined, or do anything silly. He just stood there and waited for his cue. Now he wasn't very responsive to start with, he got confused and wasn't sure, so we worked on it, and we still work on it now. But he was letting me be there, and offering me the chance to work with him, as partners, not a leader and follower. The two most important things I've found with riding at liberty is respect and trust. He must respect and trust you and you must respect and trust him. With these two I think anything is possible.

The first job, was to get Drift to listen completely to my seat, so that when I stopped riding he stopped moving. Essentially our emergency stop! 

The second slightly harder job, was to get Drifter to turn when I moved my body weight. Now, I'd been practising with my bridle on, so he knew what I wanted. But he also had a choice, so I had to ask... and keep asking nicely until he cooperated, and then reward him!

 The goals in subsequent years then became to ride at liberty in an open field, to jump, to stand up!

Riding at liberty has taught me so much about myself and Drifter. There is no place for losing your temper in the saddle and when you have no bridle- it has to be 100% teamwork. And if they say no to something, then you have to accept this, and respect their choice, and you know what, that's okay. 

We have two more on the bucket list... cross country and beach riding. I can't wait!

Without communication there is no relationship, without respect there is no love, without trust, there is no reason to continue...