Aww, Toppy, I get this. So much. I feel the same way about leasing. People just casually throw around the word 'lease'. 'Oh, I'm going to lease Silver!' 'I want to lease Odin', without any idea of the commitment that it takes to do so. I waited until I'd been riding for four or five years before I leased. It irks me.
Tiny, that's awesome! Just be careful! Jumping can be dangerous, and it's so easy to teach a horse bad habits. I would know D:
Eh, why not?
2. I lease/half lease a horse3. I ride a lesson horse (every now and again)5. I ride English8. I am a dressage rider10. I ride casually (do not show, not one certain event)11. I own my own grooming bag13. I own my own bridle15. I own my own halter and lead rope20. I have jumped 3 feet and higher (plus all the others above too, of course)21. I board my horse at a barn (well, Dee's boarded at the yard)23. I take lessons from a certified instructor26. I love a certain horse with all of my heart27. I know how to groom a horse28. I know how to bathe/horse down a horse29. I know how to tack up a horse30. I know how to handle/lead horses40. I have been riding for nine years and up42. My horse is a purebred44. My horse has an unusual background (kinda)46. I love my horse!Registered Name: Zenzele Diesel and Dust
Barn Name: Diesel, Dee, Weasel, but usually 'your horse' XD
Gender: Gelding
Breed: South African Warmblood
Color: Bright bay
Height: He measures at 14'3 because he broke his wither. If his wither hadn't been broken, he'd measure at about 15'1 or 15'2
Age: Ten years
Markings: Diesel has a white star and a white sock on his near hind.
Discipline: Dressage (although he loves to jump, and will happily do anything you tell him to, as long as you don't simply assume that he will do it).
Background: My instructor bred Diesel out of her mare, Africa, and quite a well-known dressage stallion (who Diesel is the miniature of, apparently). He was born in our big paddock in the middle of the day, and J, my instructor, carried him down to a stall when he was only a few minutes old. Diesel grew up at our yard. My instructor trained him, and he went under the care of my instructor's very good friend, who trained him for dressage. Somewhere in that period, he broke his wither, and when he was about seven years old, the woman bought him permanently and boarded him at her house.
When Diesel was eight years old, the woman got very sick and couldn't ride him any more. I think that she had cancer, but I'm not sure. She died when he was nine, and Diesel was left out in a field, because her husband was also sick.
When Diesel turned ten, the husband called up my instructor and begged her to stable and use Diesel so that he didn't go to waste. Literally three days later, I asked my instructor had any school masters for me to lease, as I was sick to the teeth of breaking in babies.
The rest is history.
Do you own/half-lease/lease, etc. this horse?: I full-lease Diesel. I wish I could share the lease, but I'm not allowed to and nobody wants to because he can be obnoxious as anything.
Picture Link:
HereDressed upGoofingIn other news, I had a very interesting riding day on Saturday. J was at a dressage seminar, so her very scary husband, E, took our lessons. E is actually a really nice guy, as long as you listen to him and do what he tells you to. Anyway, he decided to work on three things on Saturday: Balance, direction and pace. First he had us going over eight raised trotting poles (Diesel tried to jump them all, of course, until he worked out what to do with them) and then weaving through three rows of barrels straight afterwards. Then it got harder. We had to trot the poles, canter as we left them, weave at the canter through the barrels (with fly changes in every bend, urgh) then trot before we reached the poles and trot over them. After Dee did two lessons like that, he was finished, both mentally and physically, so I gave him some carrots and let him go and play with his friends.
Then I had to ride lead for E with the little girls. Harry and Warpath were untacked, so I had to ride Caprice, who is green and willful and BIG! And
looks like a donkey. Anyway, we did the same exercise, only much more slowly, and the kids were giggling, and E was so sweet. It was lovely. Then Stormy tripped, and little S fell off. She was fine, but I felt terrible.
Ooh! Oohoohooh! And we had a foal born on Wednesday night! The mother, Buttercup, came with our newest batch of horses (Silver and Storm, etc) and we had no idea that she was even pregnant until she gave birth to a gorgeous little bay filly. There were no complications, and the filly is looking great. G, J's daughter, wants to call her Crazy Daisy. I think it's genius, personally, and very smart for a seven year-old.
So, anyway, that's my barn news. I am treasuring every moment that I have at my barn. I am going across the country for university next year, so I won't be riding there any more. I'll have to give up Diesel, and there go all dreams of owning a horse, for the moment.
Oh, what we sacrifice for growing up.