Adrienne
So I've been in pony club for several years now and a few years back I began riding this horse named Ben. He is a chestnut appendix quarter horse. He had some bucking problems and I was the only one allowed to ride him. So I retrained him and he became a school horse. This year, I wanted to take my C2 rating, which required me to jump 3ft, which is not very big but my trainer, the horses owner, and even his previous owner told me that Ben couldn't jump that high. So I changed trainers and took lessons from her once a month. I signed up to take my C2, which was a big risk because of how much money it would waste if I failed. I just took my C2 rating in August and passed! It took so much work but in the end it was worth it to prove to everyone and myself that Ben could do it.
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Sierra
My name is Sierra and I am 15 years old. It is hard for me to pick my biggest accomplishment with my horse, Norma Jean, from this year because I have had so many. I have been working with Norma Jean, who is a 10 year old standardbred, for two years. When she first came to the barn, no one could go near her. She was mean, nasty, and hateful. If you tried to put a saddle on her, she would practically drop to the ground. She had no pain so we were not sure what was wrong. With time and a lot of ground work, she began to trust me and I began to trust her. I was finally able to put the saddle on with minimal fussing. She would be fussy with everyone else except for me. It did not take long for me to fall in love with her. She didn't know very much, but neither did I seeing as I was a beginner rider.
We have done all of our 'firsts' together. Our first show, first hunter pace, first canter, first fair...everything. This year, you could really tell what an amazing horse she really is. I took Norma Jean to Equine Affaire in April, many shows, and a fair. We got our first 1st place ribbon/trophy together. With her being an ex-racehorse, she did not know how to canter. She is still pretty rusty, but we are getting there. When I get on Norma Jean I feel free and all of my worries disappear. There is no way that I could imagine myself having another horse. This year, I would say that my biggest accomplishment would be the bond that we have built and that I have with no other horse.
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Bailey
My name is Bailey. This spring, I finally was able to convince my parents to let me get a horse. To make a long story short, I ended up getting a horse that wasn't the right age, hadn't been worked with much for 4 years, out of our price range, and wasn't even trained in the discipline that I wanted to show in. In the end I fell in love with the shy 7 year old gelding, Benner.
Within the first few weeks that I was riding him, we were loping along in our back woods and he stopped dead in his tracks and popped his hind end up. I went flying and landed on my shoulder/head. If I wasn't wearing my helmet, I would have had a serious concussion. In the next few days, I could barely move my neck so I went to the doctor and had some x-rays taken. I was lucky I didn't break anything.
A week or so passed, and my parents and I did a lot of talking. We had the trainer out and she told us that he might have been drugged. It was devastating. We were on the verge of selling him but we didn't want to give up. We sent him to the trainer's for 2 weeks, and he came back changed. All of this time, I was laid up with physical therapy. I tried to ride my mom's horse, but I hurt my neck and back too much.
Once my back and neck healed up, I was able to start working with Benner. We started with ground work, and worked our way up to riding. We are now able to read each other and we work as a team. We have been working to be able to go bitless and bridleless!! We still have our little fights but they are almost always resolved right away. I love Benner and I know 2014 will bring lots of new and exciting memories for both of us!
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Christine
I am currently riding a horse named Girlfriend. She is a retired polo horse. Girlfriend is a thoroughbred and she is 23 years old.
Girlfriend is a tough one; she has bad separation anxiety and can be hard to work with sometimes. But I will never give up on her .Girlfriend has a best friend named Tara. If Girlfriend does not see Tara she freaks out and has melt downs.
I started working with Girlfriend during the summer. She was really hard to groom, lead and even ride her. When I first started to ride her it was super hard. She would think that she was in a Polo Match and it was hard to control her at times. But now she is a completely different horse, and I am so proud of her. Working with her was really a BIG challenge.
After months of working with her and bonding she became a different horse.She does not mind being away from Tara, she is independent when we ride, and she is a normal horse when I walk her. I am so proud of her, she has truly changed.
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Samantha
My name is Samantha. I have had my horse for a little over a year. His name is Pistol and when I first got him, he sure knew how to live up to his name! I bought him as a three year old who had never been handled, not even had a halter on him. I was in a tough spot myself, so I figured we could both help each other learn and grow from our experiences.
The first two weeks I just groomed him and let him eat all the green grass he could get to. We still didn't really have a connection. He was rude, always stepped on my feet, pushed me around and didn't know anything. I was forgiving because I knew he had never been taught to know better. Then we started ground work. Simple things like walking outside of my bubble, responding to "whoa" and backing up. He wouldn't have it. He would run from me, most of the time dragging me with him. I worked at it every day, until he finally learned that I wouldn't hurt him and that he would get cookies if he did good.
Ground work is essential to me, so before I even thought about getting on him, he would walk, trot, back up, and he knew what whoa meant. Then we started riding. This horse pleases me in so many ways. Before he even hit 20 rides, we were trotting through all four nights of the grand entry in our local rodeo, and he even did a few parades with no fuss. He is only turning five this year and there is no doubt that he is the best horse I have ever worked with. Now, no matter how long he has been out of work for, I can grab him out of his pen and hop on. No halter, no bridle, not even a rope. He will do whatever I ask him to!
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Brooke
My biggest accomplishment with my horse this year is finally getting his back to be healthy and relatively pain free. Ever since I bought my horse his back has been terrible, spasming horribly all day every day. We tried everything. We injected him with muscle relaxers, legend HA, adequan and pentosan. On top of injections I gave him daily massages to the best of my ability - I am not a equine massage therapist by any means. He also got liniment everyday on his back. It was a real roller coaster, he had some good days and some bad days. One day everything finally clicked. After all the exercises and all the stress we went through to relieve him from his pain it finally worked. He is no longer perpetually back sore. He still has his days as he is an older horse, but he has come miles. Getting him comfortable, pain free and finally able to use his back when riding was/is definitely my biggest accomplishment with my horse.
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Marissa
Just over a year ago I broke my humerus in three places while xc schooling before my second training level event. It has been a long recovery physically and mentally. In fact I'm still not 100%. I have been to physical therapy twice but my shoulder just isn't how it used to be. However, what has been more challenging is the mental recovery. The fall that broke my shoulder wasn't bad at all actually. But for some reason my horse and I lost all our confidence xc. Xc has always been our weakest phase but we were making tons of progress until the fall. Since the accident both my horse and I doubt ourselves coming into something scary. Despite my fear I have continued to compete him at training level. We have yet to go clear xc but we are keeping at it. I have been a working student for Doug Payne and he is helping both my horse and I get over this hump. This is a battle we continue to fight but we are keeping at it and hope to finally go clear at training level xc this show season!
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Sadie
My name is Sadie Edwards. I'm 17 and I live in Santa Ynez, Ca. My story is about my horse Finn. Finnykins/ Finny/ Finnibooboo is a 2008, 17.1hh ottb that I bought off the track in July of this year to be my prelim+ eventer. Like many little girls, I've begged and pleaded for a horse ever since I can remember! My parents eventually said yes but I had to raise the money on my own! I did (eventually) raise the money myself ($2,500) doing odd jobs like babysitting, clipping, feeding for people. . . I had all the money I needed in December of the previous year but waited until I met my dream pony, who, admittedly, was a little bit above my skill level. However, I did have a great trainer who reassured me that he was too good of a horse to pass up and that she would be there to help me! I would not be anywhere without her!
After about 3 months, things were great! He had gone to pony club lessons with me, did a mock rally, did a few logs in XC and even jumped a course of 'giant horse-eating' cross rails! He was not like anything I expected. He definitely started out being like an OTTB but once he settled down he turned to probably be the most laid back dude I have ever met. He's just a big goofball. However, in late October, we found OCD in his left stifle. I got mad at myself for x-raying almost everything but the stifle. I was crushed. I may have bought a superstar eventer that couldn't event!!! Surgery was the only option, an endeavor I am still paying my parents back for! Luckily the amazing vets at Alamo Pintado went in and found the spur with thankfully NO RESIDUAL JOINT DAMAGE!!! I was so relieved!! Now we are almost at the end of his two month rehab which included various supplements, hand walking for 20 minutes twice a day, daily turnout, and just the normal daily care. I didn't care about all the early mornings before school or the lack of a social life (who needs one!) My boy was going to be OK! As per his discharge paper, Finn can come back to work January 8th! That's my horse story, though not very exciting!
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Savannah
So this year my OTTB and I completed our first training level cross country derby. Our real achievement however was making the decision to officially move up to training level next season. He is 17 years young and the most incredible horse I've known. We have struggled with our dressage for years and gave up on eventing all together for a while and stuck to jumpers where he has excelled. Finally this season we have come to a point of real trust and understanding. This was our real achievement. Even after 10 years of ownership we learn more about each other every ride. Although we still find the dressage ring challenging we are finally at a place that we can trust one another enough to learn and work our way through the difficulties with minimal TB meltdowns! A beautiful halter for our next show season would be the good luck we need!
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