Bex's Page

This is random news

The latest news with Rusty is that we've had him now for 2 weeks and 2 days and already he neighs for me with or without food, comes to me in the field and is being really good. We jumped the local cross country course incredibly well and he totally looked after me and didn't stop or run out at all. I've also had a dressage lesson with a lady who worked at the Spanish riding school called Annie and she helped me to make him go SOOOO nicely for me!!! My mum said she was nearly in tears watching how nicely he went (I think that's a bit too emotional, but that's mums for you!) Anyway, he was on the bit the whole time and we got a good canter transition which I have been struggling a bit with. He also halted much better and actually stood still with no taking just one more step... and another step... and just one more...! To top it all off Annie commented that he was a nice little chap and he moved nicely. I just think he's amazing and so sweet-I love him to bits!!!

Rusty is finally mine! This morning we left the house at 8:30 to get Rusty ready to load into the box. He loaded fine and mum and I drove ahead of the box and made his stable ready to him to arrive into. He came out of the box looking all worried but as soon as he realised there was a haynet in his stable he settled in fine. I also rode him today and he was just as good as before.

Today we went to see another pony, a slim dappled grey jumping pony called Misty. I didn't really like her and she wouldn't canter for me but can jump amazingly high. As I said, I didn't really like her and neither did my mum so we both decided that Rusty was the pony to buy. I've texted all my friends to tell them the good news but now I have to wait for the vet to confirm that he's sound and fit for purpose and for my parents to insure, arrange transport and pay for him. I'm so exited! :-)

School has finally finished now and I've just had my party-the High Wires at Carroty Wood and a hack at Bedgebury with two of my friends. That was really fun and I'm recommend hacking out as a party to anyone with horsy friends. Also, some more major news is that since a week ago we have started looking for a pony to buy...

I had just got home from a school week away in Oswestry when I came home and my parents told me they were going to buy me a pony. Me and my mum went the next day to see a chestnut dressage pony who measured 14.1hh and was called Rusty. He was in Chessington so it was a fair drive to get there but worth it, as he was so sweet for me even though I had never ridden him! He went on the bit in trot, cantered sweetly, jumping some jumps without rushing and handled the cross country jumps very nicely. He was really sweet and I loved him immediately, but mum and dad want to see another pony to compare.

Since my last update, I have moved on from riding Foggy and moved to a nearby stables where I loaned an extremely scared and super fast piebald from Ireland. He was 13hh and called Apache and could jump 4ft, but was very worried by people and wouldn't let anyone touch his legs or head and was petrified by men (as well as being exceptionally spooky and fast!). I thought that he had been mistreated before which is why he is so worried, but I don't know. I worked with Apache but as he got fitter, he also got faster and became really quite scary to ride as he wouldn't stop. I kept loaning him thinking it would get better as he started to trust me, but as I didn't ride him enough that didn't happen and he was eventually sold to a nice caring home where he has settled down and is doing very well.

After finishing with Apache I moved back to Bedgebury again where I progressed from Foggy to Polly Silver. I had learnt a great deal on Foggy and had learnt to ride various dressage moves and on a very nice, sweet dressage pony -Polly Silver- I could try them all out. We rode turns on the forehand and haunches very successfully as well as rein back and leg yielding in walk, trot... and canter!!! Polly Silver was SUCH a good girl and we also did some very impressive transitions: walk straight to canter and vice versa, halt to canter and... rein back straight to canter! :-O Polly Silver was my favourite mount at Bedgebury for many months and I rode her frequently until my instructor decided that I should start trying out their new ponies to see what they were like. SO the next week I was put on Polly Anna.

Polly Anna was the complete opposite of Polly Silver. Polly Anna was fat, bay, hairy and a bit of a monster really. Ok, that's a bit mean seeing as she was great in walk and trot and circling with the exception of some napping towards the gate. She was generally fine until I asked for canter... my inside leg pressed on the girth and as my outside leg went behind the girth, instead of a transition to canter there was a buck. I tried on the other rein and the same happened. Then I trotted over some poles, rode a few circles and tried again and another buck. To cut a long story short I never got a canter - just lots of bucks and I got off her after being bucked fiercely by an angry pony who really wanted to get me off. This happened twice, so then Tamara (my instructor) thought it was best if I got off. It was then that I was told that they knew Polly Anna bucked but they were seeing whether she would do it with me. That had been quite a scary ride so I was pleased to get off!

But, now we're in England and I normally ride a grey gelding named Foggy. We are currently looking for a loan pony for me, hopefully we'll find one soon...

I have quite a bit to say here. We have moved from Norway where I loaned a 13.2hh quality chestnut jumping pony called Valentino/Tino. If you look at my photos, there are a lot of pictures of him! While I was in Norway I rode a very sweet Norwegian fjord pony called Knatten. He loved jumping and used to buck gently after some jumps. I also rode King, who was quite lazy but when faced with a jump would accelerate! There's a picture of me and King heading towards a jump in my photos.

Before we lived in Norway, I loaned a absolutely lovely chestnut 13.1hh jumping pony called Surprise. Surprise was very good at jumping and would happily carry me over 1m high spreads!! Surprise taught me how to canter, jump, catch a pony from a field and ride bareback without a bridle! I currently don't have any pictures of him yet but I will soon.