Eventing Nation’s UK connection, aka lec, recently adopted a rescue horse and generously offered to take us on a multi-part tour of the horse’s development. Today she writes about how she came to find the “ginger giraffe” and their first few weeks together. Thanks for writing this lec and thank you for reading.
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From Lec:
I have always had a joke with my trainer that as soon as I get to the 2* level I can give up horses. It’s a good enough level that you are above average but its also a level that I believe is achievable to an amateur who works full time. I have not gotten close enough to this target so I am still riding!
Rodney was supposed to be my steed in this quest. I had such a feeling that he was going to be an awesome horse. He was great in the dressage, ok in the show jumping depending on how spooky he was being, and brave on the cross country. Unfortunately things started to unravel especially in the show jumping and in 2009 Rodney was diagnosed with chronic hock arthritis. Two lots of injections failed and I was left with a lame horse who was only 11 years old. Roll on to 2010 and Rodney is now thankfully sound and I have loaned him to a friend who wants to do low level stuff with him and just have fun.
Rodney before the problems!
So I was left horseless with very little money to spend on another horse. I went to see some problem horses who had the right breeding and were cheap but had an issue like a mean buck in them. None of these really appealed to me and so I was debating going to Ascot horse sales and buying an ex racer.
Then my mother (who is horsey) went to a dinner party with an old family friend and after quaffing a few alcoholic beverages went out and looked at the friends new horses and told her that I was looking for a new horse. The next day my mother told me to ring the friend and tell her if I was interested in having the horse that she had looked at. I asked my mom for details but all she could remember was that he had a nice head. My mother said to go and see the horse but I trusted our friend and so I said I would have him. This was 4 weeks ago and the horse known as the ginger giraffe is still with me and I rather like him!
Arthur is a 17.1hh gelding who is 7 years old. He is a Danish Warmblood with Weltmeyer dressage lines and a lot of trotter in him (I keep telling myself not to worry about this as the French use a lot of trotter in their show jumpers) and he was only broke just recently. The family friend bought Arthur in march to save him from being sold as meat. At that time, he was covered in encrusted muck and had his head collar engrained into his face. He could not be turned out in public when he was finally bought because the welfare charities would have justifiably gone crazy. Even though you might be able to explain having one horse like this, my friend had bought two from the same place to give them a chance of life, so we had to be careful. Arthur spent a few months with my friend being bought back to health and being taught the basics about life. He was very clingy to other horses and very funny about his mouth and having a headcollar on (not surprisingly). There was a lot of muck encrusted into his elbows and he unfortunately got septicaemia in his leg but he managed to survive this and now has baggy elbows.
Arthur was sent away to be broken by a very good horseman and after a couple of weeks he came to me. So far he seems to have a really chilled personality apart from when it comes to picking up his hind legs. Having been flung across the yard once, I am a little wary about this now. Slowly he is getting better with picking up his hind legs and he is now able to be shod. I may have lost a battle but I will win the war!! So far he has been out hacking lots and will now ride on all the roads by himself and go over motorway bridges. We went to my trainer’s for a lesson and they liked him and gave me some things to work. It was a group lesson and Arthur was in fact better than Rodney, who should know better. I have also taken Arthur to a local horse show and ridden him around just to get used to the atmosphere and lots of horses and people. Finally, yesterday I jumped him for the first time. Each time I rider him, I have been working on getting his neck longer and helping him to stretch forward into the contact. At the moment he is more ginger giraffe than long and low but it will come. He has no canter at the moment and has this horrid habit of kicking out on the transition. He did not do it jumping or following another horse so I am hoping it’s a “forwards” and “youngster with handbrake on” issue. I am very lucky and live only 15 minutes from 6 miles of flat beach so he can learn to follow another horse in canter easily to get him going forwards.
One person said to me the other day he will be a struggle because he was only broken at 7 years old and they said horses are too set in their ways at that age. But so far Arthur has not proven that and he is actually mentally and physically like lots of 4 year olds I have ridden. I thought it would be interesting for everyone to see the way we do things in the UK and the opportunities that we have. I will make a lot of mistakes along the way so bare with me and there is the possibility if someone offered us mega money he would be sold or if I decide he is not going to be up to scratch he will go back to his owner but until it ends, I hope you will enjoy this journey!
