Life lessons- Each horse has a new lesson

And the life lessons from the grey horse are becoming clear- Cal’s life lessons for me are that I must learn to enjoy the journey and not focus on the pursuit of  the goal.

This February is The Full Snow Moon – “It is a time to release that which no longer serves you, what you no longer need in your life or an aspect of yourself that you have outgrown. What are you ready to release?”

He was to be my project horse, my doer upper. I had done my first few seasons of eventing on Paddy, but he was getting on a bit and getting a bit stiff and unreliable. My riding had improved no end and I felt ready to progress further up the levels, albeit on a shiny new horse. I took advice from my trainers and friends and we came up with a plan. I was to start with a low mileage horse, a nice sort suitable for riding club amateurs,  bring him on and then sell it for a profit and the profit would buy the next horse which would be the really posh one.

So my brief was to buy a nice Irish bay gelding, that would be an easy resell once it had done reasonably well at a few affiliated local events. So I went to a recommended dealer and listened to all that wise counsel and got my friend the vet to ride it as well as vet it and I finally came home with….. a pink pony!!!

Well, steel grey that definitely looked pink in some lights, but with the most amazing silver tail.

Can you hear all those people in your heads who say I would never buy a grey??? I was one of those….why on earth would you buy one as a doer upper??

He is a gorgeous person, very quiet and affectionate, easy to do, stands like a rock, loves a fuss, is pretty food orientated so easy to bribe. When he first arrived we could tie him up to groom and he wouldn’t move a muscle: I do think some of these Irish horses have a tough time of it when they get started, and I also think the journey / upheaval takes more out of them than we realise.

He was pretty green, he could barely canter, couldn’t trot a circle, was really weak behind the saddle and had to inspect his fences carefully at a halt before cat leaping them.

We worked on that and by the end of the first summer he had done a BE 80 and was doing really well at Riding Club dressage. The cunning plan was going beautifully.

Disaster struck that first winter. One day he came in from the field lame. Vet came, started with feet, dug out a bit of gravel, diagnosed white line disease, shoes off, bit of rest, shoes back on. He was a bit better, slow work, then lame again on one circle on a surface. So the vet came again, found heat in his knee,  took mobile Xrays and found a bone chip in his carpal joint. A trip to Leahurst ensued and the MRI showed a comminuted fracture of his second carpal bone, as well as ligament damage to the joint.

Much discussion and agonising later and we opted for 8 weeks box rest in a splint. We discussed all options including PTS but he was insured for loss of use at that time and Ellen Singer thought the splint was worth a go.

I jumped him again at 11 months post injury. If the ligaments in the knee were not going to stand up to work we needed to know for the loss of use claim. I was determined I couldn’t have a horse that wouldn’t jump. There is a whole other story in the rehab, bit of barefoot, bit of Natural Balance shoeing, poor initial shoeing, flat feet and long toes obviously being contributing factors to the original injury and a lot of soul searching about belief systems, horses’ purpose,  life lessons learned from horses etc etc.

The leg stood up to work. My doer upper would probably pass a five stage vetting now but essentially I have a greying horse who broke a carpal bone and sprained his knee, is barefoot to minimise concussion and delay arthritis but is also grass sensitive.

Be careful what you wish for.

He is really bomb proof, carries a side saddle beautifully, would jump the moon now and might even make the time Novice eventing with enough fast work: his price tag should be £15K if I could ever sell him.

During his rehab we were doing really well at Riding Club dressage but he was getting more and more grumpy and turning his back on me when I brought the saddle to the stable door. I was stuck at a stage in his schooling that I couldn’t get past and I couldn’t find anyone that would help me go back to basics. I knew my position could be better but nobody would or could unpick it, despite me asking for very specific help. Then Sarah Barefoot nagged me to have a lesson with Patrice Edwards of Equestrian Journey, and I finally found the instructor I had been looking for.

http://www.equestrianjourney.com

The long version of that life lesson is another day’s story. I am sure, had I not changed my schooling methods, that Cal would have joined the recent epidemic of leisure horses requiring Kissing Spine intervention.

Cal offers Piaffe occasionally now. He cannot quite believe that he can move to the right in right flexion through his ribcage-once he twigs that this is possible we will have  a full set of lateral movements, a basic piaffe and possibly the airs that he has learned whilst finding alternatives and processing!!

He also jumps for fun, skinnies and big things, in a neat, workmanlike manner from a good canter.

I have done this- with help, but I have trained this horse, rehabbed him from a serious injury to be the amazing all round poppet he is. I am allowed a tiny bt of credit for that. I’ll take more when he has rock crunching hooves as well 😉

But I can’t sell him now- he’s both worthless and totally priceless.

Cal has also rehabbed me- he has changed me from a rider into an equestrian, and many more horses will teach me many more valuable life lessons as a result of that change in mindset. That is the most precious gift the grey horse could have given me- freedom from goals and a lifetime of further learning from the most noble of animals.

I am now the facilitator for monthly classical riding clinics with Patrice Edwards at the amazing facilities at Delamere Manor.

http://www.delameremanor.co.uk

Do come and join us if you would like to learn more- next one is this weekend 26-28th Feb.