There are also some pictures of my students with the riding school horses.� Anybody who has had any dealings with these creatures knows that they are one in a million.� They are patient and kind, and forgive mistakes.� They put up with things that a highly trained performance horse most likely will not.
If you would like a picture of you and your horse to appear here, send me an email with the picture attached, and a small paragraph about your horse and yourself, and what you like to do together.� I will do my best to post it here.
���� Miguel was the next horse to enter my life.� Known as 'San Miguel,' he was the horse that introduced me to my current passion, eventing.� He is a brown thoroughbred X quarter horse gelding, 15.2 hands and was almost 20 when I got him.� He was also elementary dressage, and had done up to preliminary eventing.� He is one of the quietest horses I have ever ridden, but not lazy.� He is what is often described as a push-button horse when doing dressage, but he could get excited when jumping.� He taught me about eventing, and we went everywhere we could, which was not a great deal as I didn't (and still don't) own a horse float or truck.� Only 6 weeks after getting him we won 6 firsts at a local show, and he had also been in the paddock for a while to fatten up.� The person who owned him had leased him out to a girl who knew very little but thought she did.� She didn't feed him properly, and as a result he grew very thin.� He already lost weight every winter due to his age, so he took a while to pick up again, but he did, and we were happy together.� It was his age that led me to finally let him go, at the age of 22, to be a first horse for a lovely girl.� He was ridden regularly right up to the age of 25 when, sadly, I learned that he died from colic. He was a wonderful horse who taught many people a lot of things. There are so many people who will miss him.
���� Then came my first mare, Niketa, who is also very sadly no longer with us.� I lost her in May, 1999 to a liver toxicity so violent it killed her in 6 hours.� I still miss her deeply.� I bonded more closely to her than to any other horse so far.� She was an Appaloosa, 15.2 hands and was 7 when I bought her.� She was very green, but learned fast, and it soon became apparent that she was extremely talented.� It was only 3 months before we attended our first green horse one day event, placing 4th, and 3 months after that we attended our first proper ODE, placing 10th.� She and I went everywhere, doing reasonably well.� She was the reason I still have Appaloosas today.� After having her for about 9 months, I met my current coach, Dianne, who soon had both her and me going even better.
���� I then bought Di's daughter's pony.� I had no idea what I would do with a pony, but Cammy was certainly good for me, and I for her.� She had been in the riding school, but quickly went sour, in the end children could not get near her.� So I began the task of getting back her confidence in people.� It took a surprisingly short time.� The little buckskin mare soon became a happy, willing pony again.�� She was only 11.2 hands but could jump 3'6" and probably higher, as she jumped that with me on board!� She was fantastic.� After a year I sold her to a little girl called Jessica, who had a marvellous time with her, and recently sold her to be a first pony in Raymond Terrace!
���� So I was back to one horse, but not for long.� The riding school where I worked was closing down and selling off their horses.� So I bought old one-eye Joe, an Appy with an attitude problem, and an eye problem.� As with Cammy, he soon became a different horse, and he happily took lesson riders for me and Di, before I sold him on to a girl for her first horse.� He is not the best choice for that job, but Cherie is learning very fast how to handle him!� Joe is very special to me, because if I did not have him when Niketa died, I think I would have given up riding altogether.� He still bites, but I think it is so ingrained in him after being in the school for 5 years that he'll never stop.� Old habits die hard after all.��
���� Then I bought my current horse Nevada, who is a wonderful mare, Appaloosa of course.� She is a bay leopard in colour, but was born bay with a blanket.� She is just starting to go well in dressage, and I'm now introducing her to jumping and ODE competitions.� Read about her results on the next page, then check out the photo gallery!
