Wow @missy @rambo and @lyxzen this this bring back soo many memories for me :D so a bugg thankyou for this @bloghomework :3
Well this is going back 12years.... to when i was 12years old!!! Obviously legally i couldn't "work work" but when i moved to Devon i straight away got a ride booked at the village stables (before i started my new school :P) and asked if i could help out on Saturdays and in the holidays... so i did :D I loved it!!! I spent every Saturday, school holidays and eventually most days after school down there, bringing the horses in, grooming them, getting them ready for rides, then cleaning all their tack and putting them all to bed..... in exchange for a lesson... eventually i was riding 2/3 times a day in lessons and helping escort out rides in the forest :D at the end of the holidays Celia would always give me an envelope of cash to say a thankyou for my work :3 I always remember the day she turned to me and said i needed to choose my Classes i wanted to enter... i was so confused! She then just replied with "well unless you don't want to take Hancock to Chulmleigh Horse Show *smiling at me*" OMFG i was over the moon!!! :D My FIRST show?!? And on one of my favourite horses?!? He was Ginger and 24!(old for a horse) but we had a fantastic time and got some rosettes. She would regularly drop this on me... Like taking Sid showjumping.... NO ONE jumped Sid!!! Because he was her daughters (my instructors) competition pony! So i only quickly jumped him 2days before the show :O but we did so well coming 6th out of 56 people!!! :D
I lived and breathed horses those years, when i wasn't at the yard i was with my friends Tasha or Michelle's.... both had horses :') so i wasn't far from a horse or a farm those days.
Sadly i had to move back to Eastbourne at the age of 14 :( i started riding at a yard called Hylands... and got a Sunday job... for £5 a day!!! I hated it there, the horses were over worked and under fed... safe to say i left!
Eventually ending up at Jevington Stables where i kept my beautiful Melody
Finally on an actual wage! And once i finished my exams i started here full time. Every penny i earned paid for Melodys livery bill and other costs so i ended up having to take up an evening job in the village pub in the kitchens... so i was working 8am-5.30 at the stables then 6-10pm at the pub to help pay for this gorgeous talented girl!
She was trained and competed as a Showjumper, qualifying at 1.10meters :3 but sadly it turns out it was the ruining of her and just after a year of owning her we discovered she had broken Suspensory ligaments in her left hind leg which had been treated and failed..... as well as kissing spines which is were parts of the spinal colum have fused together... this we could have fixed but her leg would always cause her lameness and pain. So we gave her away as a companion/in hand showing horse.... not my decision but my mum refused to keep a horse as a pet.... despite the fact i owned 3/4 of her.
After a few years i came back to Jevington Stables and once again started working for Yvonne :D i got to ride Brownie 3times a week, and he was hugeeeee at 17.1hh.... the biggest horse i have ever ridden yet was nothing but a true sweetie under his grumpy shell :')
But my life path changed and i ended up in Hertfordshire at Linces Farm :D and wow! By far the best yard i have ever worked at :D and not only that my boss and supervisor shared a horse which neither of them had time for due to work and my supervisor was pregnant, so Basil was given to me to help re school and keep his fitness up so once his owner had her baby she could come ride him :)
And my god what a challenge Baz was! The poor boy was exceptionally head shy from previous owners ear twitching him :'( and he jumped at his own shadow! It took 6months before he would tolerate me brushing his face, moral of the story... don't roll in mud then horse!
And 6months of nothing but walking and trotting under saddle with a few out of control steps of canter to help build his muscle, loose weight, teach him to hold himself and how to use his muscles properly and most importantly.... trust me!
wow by 9months he was a different horse!!!!!! Every commented on how he much he had grown in his personality. He was alert, friendly, approached people instead of running away and my god did that horse shine :D
It was the most rewarding thing i have ever done in my life was to see me teach him to not only trust me.... but others :)
Altho he did learn that if he made me laugh i would give him some form of edible treat (cheeky Baz)
This is his usual side ways face he'd pull ^^^ or he'd rub his top lip on my leg or arm to get my attention... i'd turn around and then he'd do this :3 GOD HE IS THE CUTEST!!!
I bought him a bat man mask to help keep mud off lol ^^^^
Cuddles on my 22nd birthday as my ex made me cry so Basil made it all better :)
Our first proper lesson together but he always looked soooo much bigger under saddle :)
Okay working with horses is not all awww look at the pony, riding the ponies, brushing the ponies.....
It's FUCKING hard work.... It's exausting.... you get soaking wet when it rains... you boil in the sun..... you freeze in the winter.... you get crushed into walls..... ropes ripped through your hands.... sooooo much walking..... mud!.... but my god if the pay was better i would still be doing it!!! Plus Baz is now 100miles away from me :(
Here's proof on how muddy you can get..... FYI horses have a habbit of splatting mud as they walk....
It's cold and it is wet! lol
But it is a career i am now qualified in thanks to Karen at Linces Farm for hiring me as an apprentice so i can always start working with horses whenever i want to again :)
I know many of you will have found this boring but horses are a MASSIVE part of who i am... my mum rode while she was pregnant with me for a few months so technically i had ridden a horse before i was even born :P
And it will forever be apart of me, even though i havnt ridden in over a year now i look forward to the day i get to again... i'll be sweaty and out of breath... but it'll be worth it :D