Sad to say but I have come to the end of the road with Santana. I thought he was my forever horse, but I was wrong and it was not to be.
To cut a long story short Santana started bolting which knocked my confidence and he clearly knew that he was stronger than me. I tried schooling, lunging, in hand work, using voice commands, lessons, but things went from bad to worse until he bolted in the ménage 15 minutes into a lesson and I went flying through the fence. This was the result:
I was very lucky to only suffer bruising, although it went from my hip all the way to my toes. That was summer 2014 and it was the last time I sat on him.
I can hardly believe that the previous summer I had done this:
Santana went on Project Horses website and I was completely honest about everything. A lovely young lady came to buy him. She didn't have much money but I could see that she would care for him and love him. I let him go for next to nothing because a wanted a good home for him.
I know that I was not good for him and I was doing his confidence no favours so I know that I did the right thing letting him go. As you can imagine, I was devastated to lose him. I've not heard how he is getting on.
Since then I have taken on my daughter's horse, Red Sonia (aka Sonny), because she no longer rides. Sonny is a warmblood and not what I would choose but she is an absolute sweetie and does not have a bad bone in her body, she is just a little more lively than I would choose. I have built up my confidence gradually and have got to the stage where I can canter in the ménage - my biggest fear at the moment.
