The End of The Road

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: 

I so much wanted to get back to that but it wasn't to be. I knew that it was time to call it a day before I got seriously hurt. 

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. 

I'm hoping that we'll get there together, Sonny and I

Southill Sponsored Ride

 The morning of the sponsored ride dawned misty and murky.  Spot the horse in the misty distance!

In from the field and luckily Santana hasn't rolled overnight also, unbelievably, he's kept his socks relatively white too!

We loaded up and went to my friend's yard to load her mare, Mysti.  Mysti is not keen on travelling so we anticipated some time to get her on the lorry.  However, lunge whip with a rustly Tesco bag tied to the end strategically waved behind her worked wonders and Mysti loaded with only minor hesitation.

We stopped at a layby to await Debbie with her trailer and we were off.

We thought we would arrive early, but obviously many others had a similar idea and the parking field was already buzzing by the time we got there.  We registered, handed over our sponsorship, and collected our bibs and off we went to tack up.

Debbie and Baby with me and Santana

Angie and Mysti

 

I think we should go thataway!

Finally we were off and the horses caught the excitement, eager to get going.  Santana was really up for it today and started jogging soon after the start.

We're off!

We did the 10 mile ride and we hardly walked a step.  We trotted a lot and jogged even more.  I don't think he walked a single step!.  When we cantered he pulled like a train.  I thought he would run out of energy after a few miles but I was wrong - he pulled the whole time!  Where did he get so much energy from? I had been worried that he wouldn't be fit enough!  We all had a turn at the front and I found that Santana was much better in front, not to mention giving my arms a rest from pulling him back.  The estate was beautiful, particularly around the lake, but unfortunately  I had my hands full and couldn't get my phone out to take any photos.

We had a fabulous gallop on the last stretch up to the big house which was absolutely exhilarating and then we were back at the lorry, all in one piece and safe and sound.

Santana was still buzzing while we chilled out with a burger and a cup of tea.  Even when we got home, I put him in his stable and gave him a small feed while I cleaned the lorry, but he was still wired up.  I took him out to his field and he went charging off as though he'd been cooped up indoors for a couple of days.  I bet he isn't aching as much as I am today though!

We all had an absolutely wonderful day and I managed to raise £90 for the East Anglian Air Ambulance and the British Horse Society.

Loading ...or not

Sunday 2nd September was the day of the Beds South Pony Club show.  As this is just around the corner from our yard we were definately going.  I decided Santana would sit this one out and Jasmine would take Sonny.  With a space on the lorry we offered to take our yard mate's horse, Baby, as well.  We allowed plenty of time to load Sonny onto the lorry.

Sonny, of course, had other ideas and stubbornly refused to go anywhere near the ramp, rearing wildly if there was any threat of force being used.  We tried food, we tried gentle encouragement and we tried individually moving one foot at a time.  After about an hour and a half of prancing about like a lunatic in front of the ramp a front shoe was loose and Sonny was hopping lame.  That put paid to any idea of her jumping.  Our best effort was to get both front feet on the ramp and then we called it a day.  Sonny was left in her stable in disgrace and Baby went to the show with the lorry all to himself.  

Baby's owner delightedly said that Jasmine could jump Baby as that would let her off the hook and she could sit back and watch!  

We arrived only just in time to enter the 2'3" Jasmine quickly warmed up, learnt the course and off she went getting a lovely clear round.  Bearing in mind that this was only the second time she had ridden him, and he's not the most straight forward of rides, this was excellent work.  Another clear round in the jump off and Jasmine came in fourth!  Fabulous!  

We then found a friend to enter the 2'3" pairs with and they both jumped brilliant rounds to win the class!  Jasmine came out with a huge grin all over her face the like of which I haven't seen for months.  If only she could achieve this buzz with Sonny.

Unfortunately I have no pictures because in the palaver in the morning I forgot the camera - typical!