Sports Archives - Conversations through the middle

A bit of childhood history and a bit about horses

February 7, 2010

Considering I didn’t ride when I was a child and nobody in my family has much to do with horses, I was wondering how and why I ended up hooked.

This could be the answer – found on YouTube. I loved this programme when I was little and it’s still one of my favourite ever songs. There’s a better clip on YouTube, the actual starting sequence from the show, but I can’t work out how to get it from there to here.

Another great TV series for horse-mad girls was Follyfoot. I wasn’t into this programme so much but loved the song, I still do.

What a day!

September 21, 2009

John and I passed a crucial milestone today. We hacked out – properly – for the first time. I am so proud of him, he was perfect, in fact I was more nervous than he was.

We rode out with a friend from the yard and her horse, Croppie, choosing the ’short block’ (around 35 minutes) for our first time. Passing other horses, cows and dogs made my heart jump more than a few times but John took it all in his stride; yes he looked around, he was interested, but he did nothing more. What a superstar.

Just six months at our new yard and we have come so far already. This was the first time we’d hacked out in the nearly four years we’ve been together and an occasion that, many times in the past, I never thought I’d see. Absolutely wonderful.

Horsing around…

March 1, 2009

At last, I’ve got round to starting my blog – and about time too. As a novice horse rider and first-time horse owner, I’ve been meaning to write about my wonderful and not-so-wonderful escapades with a thoroughly lovely Thoroughbred called John. Me! A girl from Windy Nook who never rode as a child, never even patted a horse, discovered a whole new life when I went for my first riding lesson five years ago. I’ve never looked back – I’ve looked up (from the ground), down (headed towards the ground), but never back…

John came into my life around four years ago and I’ve been his proud owner for more than three of those. Not the best horse for a nervous new starter, he is a prime example of his breed – spooky! Now I know that all horses can be spooky, but John well, he can suddenly take a dislike to a blade of grass blowing the wrong way and shoot off with me. Or the quad bike on the yard where he lives – he sees it every day, day in day out, sometimes several times a day, but that hasn’t stopped him from freaking out when he hears it in the distance, two fields away, when the mood takes him.

At one time his sudden darting off at high speed would also have me darting off at high speed – into the fence or onto the floor. Lately though, I’m happy to say I’m hanging on. I don’t have a velcro bum yet, far from it, but I am managing to stick on and ride the spook, even sometimes riding him through it and out the other end into an (almost) controlled canter.

Today we worked in the school, walk and trot. Though we did do some canter, accidentally, when he tripped over his foot and gave himself a fright. Oh well. Sometimes the best way to get over your canter nerves is for your horse to get over them for you and just take off with you. It wasn’t an all out spook this time though, he hardly picked up any speed and contented himself with his impression of a rocking horse.

Our aim for this summer is to trust each other enough to be able to hack out. He, I know, will be fine – his previous owner said he loved to hack out. The problem lies with me and my lack of confidence, I need to trust him more. Lucky for me he is a patient teacher and though I sometimes infuriate him with my lack of skill, I know that he knows that I will get there in the end…