Saturday 27 October 2007

A post I hoped I would never have to make...

...but looks like I do.

Today I have lost my ride on Wilastra - a lovely mare I have been riding since August. The full story is on here - The End.
As she is stabled on the same yard as Bobby, I also lost a ride on him.

I learnt about it this morning so I don't have a good plan as to what to do next just yet. I came up with a few ideas but I will write about it in a due course. I noticed that whenever I praise something up front then everything goes upside down!
I don't think I will take on another young horse this year. I get attached too much to the horses I ride and I need time now to find an arrangement of which I will be as sure as possible.

Sad,sad day.

On a cheerful side:
It's my Name Day (a funny name celebration day; traditional in some countries but not in the UK) on Monday but since I was far from a happy bunny in the morning Ricky gave me prezzies today. First, he gave me flowers - second time in about three years. I just had to make a note about it! They are lovely, purple colour. I don't even have a proper vase for them (since I barely ever get any flowers). I moved all the books, papers, notes etc from my desk to celebrate the presence of them. Ricky said that maybe he should give me flowers more often if that made me tidy up my desk...;)
Second, he gave me a lovely neck support pillow - I woke up today with the most horrid neck muscles pain (I do get it sometimes as I seem to sleep in some weird fashion).

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I shall do some serious 'back up plan' thinking over the weekend and will be back with some updates soon.
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2 comments

Suzie said...

I was really sad to hear this - you were doing so well with her! I think it is a little naive of the owner to punish you for something that happened when she was riding the horse. However, I know from personal experience how heart-breaking it can be riding and schooling someone else's horse. I hope that her owner does well with her, and that she doesn't have to come to terms with the fact that it might be something in her riding, rather than yours.

Horses do change: in horse and hound this week is a big photo of a very talented young girl, who won the talent spotting junior title, on one of my old boss's horses, Rolex. Now, I rode Rolex a few times a few years ago and he was incredibly naughty and he scared me a lot. He would only behave when David was on him, becase David is much tougher than me! However, now I see that a 16 year old girl has managed to take Rolex to a show and ride a winning test on him, and I know for a fact that she isn't the bravest rider in the world. Nappy, naughty horses will not always be that way, and it is a shame Wilastra's owner has made such rash decisions.

Wilastra is probably going through a teenage stage, and will almost certainly come out of it. I am very sad that you have lost the ride, but am sure that you will find another talented horse to learn on soon.

Unknown said...

Hi Echo,
I am very sad too. I must say, both owner and I agreed that it is hard to say what caused the evasion. I think she is a good flatwork rider and wish her all the best sorting this out with the trainer. I was very sad though to hear that they were considering my way of riding was most probable cause and that the dominant way to ride her is the way to go. I disagree with this and thank you so much for the Rolex story as I was starting to feel paranoid about all those 'ride strongly' advice!

I could have promised that I will keep coming back on if I get bucked off and I am sure the owner would be happy for me to continue. I simply didn't want to take that responsibility though which I guess made it as much my decision as theirs.
However, I felt it was not quite fair to ask for such a thing as when horses get dangerous you just decide there and then, not when you are cosy at home and think you are invincible.

Fingers crossed for another horse coming along. Meanwhile, I will be cheering myself up by reading about Echo!
x

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