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It is now ten years since I bought April and I have been
reflecting on what's happened during that time. There have been some good and fun
times and also bad times - so here goes..........
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Way back in 1990 I was regularly going horse riding.
Although I didn't have my own horse I went every weekend. Sometime during mid 1990 I
was introduced to April - I was told she was big - she was nearly 16 hands - but I would
enjoy riding her..... and I did.
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After several months of riding April I expressed interest in
buying her from the riding school. Then unfortunately I had injured my knee and was
unable to walk properly - let alone ride - so I missed six weeks of riding.
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Then after a big night on the town I convinced a friend to go
riding with me the next day. Typically I asked to ride April. I was told she
was not available for riding, a friend then mentioned that she was being sent off to the
sales the following day. I went for a ride with my friend and on returning asked if
I was still able to buy April. I took her for a test run - returned from that
stating "there's nothing wrong with her" and that I will be back for her the
following weekend.
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On 9 March 1991 I purchased my first horse - April - she was
about 9 1/2 years old.
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Two weeks later a retired race horse I had supported and
cherished as a young lass (and basically this horse was why I love horses so much) was
euthanased due to a shattered leg. A nation had lost the greatest horse of modern
racing.
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April proved to be a bit of a rogue horse on many occasions and
sometimes got the better of me.
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We competed in one hacking gymkhana were my friends had to drag me in
kicking and screaming into the first event - quietest horse - protesting that April would
spit the dummy and that would be the end of my day. Under much protest I entered -
and won!!! It did go a bit down hill from there as we only managed to get a 3rd
place in beginner hack, 2nd place in pairs and I managed a 2nd place in beginner
rider. As we had won the first event we entered champion horse - this is when she
decided to spit the dummy.
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Some
time later I competed in a dressage day - only the preparatory level - and my goal was to
get around half the points available. From memory it was out of 70 and we just made
it with 37 points! She is not very suited to dressage, nor am I, we both preferred
charging around the country side.
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On 4 March 1995 I found April in the paddock unable to
walk. April had a badly swollen carpal joint (the same one as
mentioned on the injury page!!) and I was told that I would
never ride her again and the kindest thing I could do was to have her euthanased. I
was half way through saying "yes" to the euthanasia when something stopped me
and I said no. I later found out that she had severely torn the muscle in her off
fore shoulder. Four months
later, after a lot of laser therapy to her shoulder and exercising, I was back riding
April. At first we were just walking, I gradually built this up over time to
trotting, then cantering and finally galloping. |
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In the following years I ended up with a brilliant horse.
We were riding for up to 5 hours on the weekends. The best ride I had was in June
1998 when I floated her out to Appin. It was an all day ride - she ended up being
out in front leading (not bad for a horse that usually shies at everything - must have
been the drinks I had
for lunch!!) and didn't skip a beat. April had the most relaxed canter that day. |
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In 1999 I was unable
to do much riding due to injury to myself (amazingly not due to a fall from a horse!) and
missed several months of riding. I guess this proved to be her undoing.
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In late 1999 I started riding regularly again but had constant
problems with April. In early 2000 I even tried taking her back out to Appin and had the worst ride
ever.
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Then 3 weeks later - nearing March - I received that dreaded
phone call.
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I don't know whether horses have nine lives like cats, but April
has certainly used up several of hers over the years.
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I think I should just stay away from horses in March. |
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