Rio (Silverio) AKA Rio boy – 2001
I purchased Rio (my horse of a lifetime) back in 2008, this is where my real journey started, I thought I had bought myself a been there done it horse to guide me back to where I needed to be, little did I know I had myself an OTTB that was nappy, a bit of a twat lol as he wouldn’t leave the yard, spun, spooked at everything (Probably to do with his kissing spine) but with a lot of help from a few different people I gained my confidence so much so that we started eventing in 2010 BE90, this was such an achievement for me (and for him considering what I know now) as I had no previous experience of eventing but it was short lived unfortunately as in 2011 at Howick ODE Rio didn’t seem himself, we had most of the fences down in the Show jumping, he went clear XC but stopped as soon as we got the finish line, this was very unlike him, at our next training lesson, we were doing grid work at West Wilts and to begin with Rio seemed happy to jump but unfortunately after about 20 minutes into the lesson at the end of the grid Rio bronked and I landed almost on my feet but not quite, I ended up in an ambulance going to the RUH with suspected broken ankle, I found out 10 months later I had broken my ankle as well as torn the ligament and ruptured the tendon so this pretty much ended our eventing career as although Rio did come back from Kissing Spine surgery by my methods for rehabbing him and we did go on to do some UA events he was never sound enough and I had lost my confidence, I decided to retire Rio back in 2021, that horse did so much for me even when he would have been in a lot of pain, it just goes to show how honest horses are, his spine was fused and I was jumping 90-100cm regularly and 120cm grids, I wish I could do it all again as I would do it so differently but he was one of my greatest teachers and now he lives his best life bossing the rest of the herd around.
Cruise (Zippery Zap) AKA Cruisey - 2004
Another great teacher was Cruise; he was going to be put to sleep in 2014 as had become dangerous, I knew Cruise when he was a 4-year-old, he was one of those horses that had so much presence, I remember watching him at training with his white bandages looking so smart as he was black but as a 5-year-old had lots of issues with lameness, he was eventually was diagnosed with Impar ligament and claimed loss of use as the vet said he wouldn’t be able to return to the level of work required, a few year later he was sold and it was a few months after that I rescued him paying meat money for the risk that he may never be totally sound, this was my next level of the journey, I went through all the vet reports, physio reports and contacted the lady that referred him to a vet at the age of 5, she was very surprised that he was still alive because he had so much going on and agreed to come and see him even though it was out of her area just because she remember what a sweet horse he was, the only way I can explain Cruise is like peeling the layers of an onion, mechanically he wasn’t sound but he was so hard to see where it was actually coming from, even the vets couldn’t see it so I opted for a full bone scan and this revealed kissing spine and sacroiliac disease, I had already started with Straightness Training and was going to became a Mastery student so wanted to rehab him used this technique, I loved the concept of balancing the mind and body spiritually and mentally and my horses seem to like it as well although Cruise being stubborn would often try and jump on my making out there were monsters in the hedge as we came down the long side, I stuck with it and he became my mastery horse eventually, it took years of ground work, rehab to get Cruise where he is today and at 19 years old he is still out, jumping, doing dressage and fun rides and loves it all.
Hallingham AKA Hally boy – 2011
I bought Hallingham from the field in summer 2020, he is one of the soundest horses I have had I knew that I wanted a horse to just have some fun with, I had spent years rehabbing Rio and Cruise which I loved but it was my turn now to have some fun, we haven’t done as much as I would have liked as a year after I got him we sold our yard with facilities so training has been limited, Hal loves the ST although he thinks you want more than you do so gets himself all worked up until I ground myself and say it ok and try this way and he is like oh that’s all you want me to do, he is such a character I quite often find myself laughing at him by his facial expressions or funny lamb leaps, I would love to get out and do some competing again with him, we have done some dressage and he does a lovely test hopefully eventing as he definitely has the potential.
Tana AKA Miss Tan - 2000
Miss Tana is another horse that will be with me until her last days the same as my boys, I have known her since 2014 and evented her unaffiliated and even got placed, she loves jumping not so good at the dressage but she loved the ST as well and quickly learned the groundwork exercises.
Loan horses
Along the way I also loaned 3 other horses, the first was Tarka, he was fab and did my first BE90 with him, he was only like 15’2” but as long as I had my leg on the support he would jump everything but unfortunately went lame after a few events and went to have a quieter life.
I also loaned a horse called Dream, this was after my fall and broken ankle, he was a beautiful black ex racer and I had a lot of fun but he needed me to support him in the jumping and I just didn’t have the confidence so we had to part ways and he went back to his lovely owner. More recently I had a horse called Honour she was only young and very understood, she would threaten you if you went in the stable but I was firm and grounded and we developed a lovely relationship, she had lots of issues and in the end bullied Rio and injured him by kicking him, very weird as I watched him just stand there and that was unlike him so I was unable to keep her.
Horses I lost
RIP to Annelko AKA Nelksynoo Shadow AKA Miss Shad Pants and Murphy AKA Murphy Moo – You all taught me so much and I was blessed to be a part of your life.
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