Hello from Cumbria :-)

[mrsart]

Hello - have been meaning to introduce myself properly for the last few days..........

I live in the Eden Valley, Cumbria and have two horses;

Abbey 21yr old TBxID





& Harri, a Welsh D who is rising 3.





I also have a beautiful 15 month old daughter - Emily Grace, a Border Collie & 3 cats & a very tolerant husband! Since I found out I was pregnant I wasn't able to do too much horse wise, and fitting them in with baby has been difficult, but am starting to get back into my stride now!

I am just starting to bring Abbey back into light work as she has more or less had winter off. I will have had her 8 years this spring and she has taught me a lot, being the most difficult horse I have ever had! She featured in one of Kelly Marks demos when I first got her as she was a complete nightmare. We have come a fair way since then, but we have never conquered her fear of poles.

Harri will be started properly later this year, but am enjoying doing all the basics with him & he is such fun. He was my eternity ring - far more useful! I am hoping to ride & drive him.

So thats me! ;D

[megnum]

welcome your horses are lovely and I like the name Emily Grace ;D

[mrsart]

Didn't want to hijack another thread so I thought I would put Abbeys story here.





I've had Abbey nearly 9 years now & she'll be 22 in the new year.

I was looking for a horse & she was the 1st I went to see. Promised myself I wouldn't buy the 1st I saw, but she was in such a sorry state I couldn't help myself! She looked straight through me, but I could just tell that there was a really sweet horse in their somewhere.

The people were obviously small scale dealers, and they had had her about a month. I was told she had belonged to a young girl who had been 'out horsed' by her, so she was used to getting her own way. When I tried her she was a push button ride and I thought with a bit of tlc she would be a lovely horse. However I knew she was going to have issues when I agreed to pay £950 for her....

After a few days Abbey was lovely with just me in the stable, but handling & riding her were a different story. She was bad tempered when you groomed her, kicked when you picked her feet out and was really aggressive if more than 1 person was around her when she was tied up. She wouldn't stand to be mounted, napped really badly, bucked going into canter - very different to the horse I'd tried which makes me wonder what they'd been giving her.

Anyway, I got her checked out & we ended up taking her to Leahurst for gamma scintigraphy. She took 2 hours to load & kicked her hind shoes off in the process.

The scan showed that she had arthritic changes in the lumbar thorasic region & I was told that she would probably become un-rideable within the next couple of years. It was probably injury related so they said she would be fine as a brood mare, but they wouldn't recommend it due to her temprement.

I was advised to put her on bute for a week then try riding her again. This resulted in Abbey throwing me off onto the road just outside home & breaking my elbow. (Which is the most painful thing bar childbirth!!!)

Someone recommended a local back man, and much to my amazement he worked wonders with her. Once the pain was gone, she was different horse; the nice natured horse I'd seen in her eye. However then I started to find out how screwed up she really was. Some one at some point has really messed with her head, I can only guess at how, but she is always on the defensive. We have an understanding, but anyone new has to win her over.

I traced a previous owner through her freeze mark. She told me Abbey (or Tiffany Dancing Bay as she had been called!) had been sold the previous year when she fell on hard times & had gone to a showing home. They had sold her on within a few months to a chap who showjumped & then she'd lost track of her. From what the dealers had also told me this meant Abbey would have had at least 5 different homes in one year.

In this year she also developed a loathing of jump poles. I'm convinced that she has been rapped. She still hates them - it's the one thing we still haven't conquered.

I learnt a lot from dealing with Abbey in those early days & it was her behaviour towards traditional methods that led me towards IH.

Abbey went to meet Kelly in October 2000 at Osbaldeston as a bad loader. She put up quite a spectacular performance, but Kelly worked her magic & she was happily loading by the end of the night & still is 8 years on!

She will always be a challenge but we have achieved so much & I hope we continue to improve. I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to improve under a solution treeless saddle (wish I'd got one ages ago!) Unfortunatly we haven't had much chance to use it due to an attack of laminitis this autumn (possibly signalling the onset of cushings ) but she has made a remarkable recovery & seems happy to be back in action.

[K8]

Lovely story... i think it deserves to go on the main board... not many people come on here and i'm sure everyone would love to read this. What a lucky horse and i hope you have many many happy years together. I might be coming to you for advice in the next few months!
Pleased to hear solution saddles are good too... just brought 2!

[micki]

What a moving story. I'm glad she was lucky enough to find you as an owner.