Here's a Guest Blog post I did for @fortheherdstories (on Instagram) back in April 2021 - a further insight into my journey as a horse owner and my horses.
This is not a tale of one single horse, but a tale of three…
I first met my - now Old Faithful - cob Franny at the age of 11 at my local riding stable where I had learnt to ride. She was just one of the many horses that passed through the yard; young, scrawny and covered in bald patches of ringworm and from itching (she has sweet itch which had clearly been ignored up until then). I don’t know what happened that evening but she was tied up on the yard, tacked up, in the moonlight… I remember she turned round to look at me as if to say “well get on then! Everyone else has!”
We went on to do EVERYTHING together. Hours out hacking through the local woods jumping everything in sight, local shows… broken bones… the difficulties of school… my parents divorce when I was 13… family deaths… throughout all of it, she was there for me. At the age of 16 and no longer able to compete on ponies, I needed a bigger mount. With A-Levels and University looming it was time to find Franny a suitable loan home for the years ahead. She landed at a riding school about 2 hours away but it looked lovely and the people seemed nice. We’ll finish Franny’s story later…
We all have our idea of the ideal horse when we are young riders. Mine was a big black thoroughbred. I found her rearing in the stable at the Sales, straight off the racetrack as a rising 5 year old in January 2010 when I was 16. Maz was the best risk I ever took. I was young but by then I had experience with every shape and size of horse you can possibly imagine form the aforementioned “Riding School”. In the 8 years we spent learning together I experienced some of my highest highs and lowest lows aboard her back. There was literal blood sweat and tears from both of us! She taught me so much… patience, courage, bravery, strength in every sense of the word. She was a tricky mare - quirky isn’t the right word but you get the picture… I spent the next couple of years re-training her, trying to gain some harmony and understanding. One of the proudest moments of my life and a day I’ll never forget was being presented with the Horsemanship and Equitation Trophy in a local Riding Horse class. To receive recognition for all the hard work I had put into our partnership was an incredibly rewarding feeling.
September 2011 and we packed our bags heading off to Uni. I couldn’t afford to keep her on livery so she was to be used by the college for students. Deemed “unsuitable” to be used in any jumping lessons she stuck to other activities. Everyday I went to see her, groom her, give her some polos… just to let her know I was still there. I went on to complete my degree in 2014 and I can say if I knew in the beginning what I learnt through my studies we would have probably had a far less turbulent journey.
During that time, Maz and I went on summer vacation to the riding school where Franny was for work experience. All was not quite as it seemed and we returned as a trio after only a week. Franny went on to make many other girls (and grown women!) happy repeating all the things that we had done together some years before.
Another fond memory I have with Maz was our one and only Hunter Trial in 2016. As mentioned she’d never been an easy horse to jump but boy could she fly. She was powerful, but never felt confident. Walking the course with ever supportive Dad, I was terrified. These fences looked HUGE. She’d been pleasantly calm standing on the box beforehand and we had a long warm up after another rider came a cropper and had to be airlifted off to hospital (not helping my nerves!). I needn’t have worried. She carried me round that course, I don’t think I even really woke up until about fence 5 when I realised she was jumping really well! She didn’t bat an eyelid at a single fence. We galloped over that finish line and I burst into tears of utter joy. I was so proud, so humbled, so relieved!
It was 2015 when this beautiful little spotty filly popped up on my Facebook timeline. I jokingly tagged my Dad in the comments saying “my next event prospect!”. I was actually also looking at a horse box at the time and he rang me and asked where she was and said it was close enough we could make a double trip! I was shocked! It was an expensive trip in the end! Nutmeg fit in perfectly with my timeline; Franny would be 20 (ish) and ready for a slower lease of life when Nutmeg turned 5, Maz would have been heading towards her late Teens and I don’t know many exracers that are still in good working order by that age so Nutmeg would be ready to take up the bridle. Everything felt right.
New Years’ Day 2018, Maz sustained what turned out to be a catastrophic injury in the stable (I believe due to panicking at fireworks). She never came quite right again. Between myself, the Chiropractor and the Vet we came to the conclusion that she had sustained a serious injury to the sacroiliac joint and I made the hardest decision of my life to let her go. She would never have coped mentally with the recovery process of box rest etc. She’d never been particularly strong muscularly but I’d been able to manage her comfortably to that point. It felt like a piece of my soul left with her that day. I stayed with her right until the very end.
Franny and I spent another year re-living our youth until age began to betray her enthusiasm. She is now living the happy life of retirement getting fat and hairy in a field at one of my friends’ farms, I love visiting and you never know, we might still return to saddle one day! It was all I ever wanted for her; she owes me nothing and yet I owe her everything. Then it fell to Nutmeg to take up the bridle, raise me high above the ground once more and remind me that I can conquer the world from the back of a horse.
Nutmeg now rising 6 and is proving everything I’d ever hoped for. She’s sassy but very well rounded mentally and so balanced physically too. I always said I wanted a horse with Franny’s brain but Maz’s ability and I really feel like I found it with her. I’m not a competitive person and it’s not about the ribbons for me, it’s the process. To be able to turn our hand/hoof to anything is for me the ultimate achievement. I fully believe she will be just that horse.
2/3/22 - UPDATE
Nutmeg will be 7 this June and still has her sass ;-) The plans are to get out and about more this year for lessons and some small unaffiliated events.
Franny continues to live a happy, healthy life of relaxation in her retirement
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