A Passion For Horses

The family that run the yard were very patient, kind but demanding and I soon found that you have to have a lot of grit and determination to stick with it.

The Major who’s yard it was had very high standards he had been in the army for many years, you had to keep to his exacting level of stable management, with no exceptions ( being eleven was no excuse). He expected you to muck out with a muck sack something I had never seen before or since, it was a open hessian sack that the droppings and wet bedding was placed in, the four corners were then gathered up and the package slung over your shoulder and carried to the manure heap, clean yard, clean stable, wet and smelly back. Mum was not impressed, I was usually smelly but I loved every minute.

If everyone around me thought this was going to be short lived, they were mistaken! In the very enjoyable time I was there, I learned the virtues of extreme hard work, cleaning tack, washing horse lorries, turning out horses to a very high standard. Learned to ride, eventually could jump a pony over barrel height, with no bridle and bareback, Health and Safety would not allow that now.

I remember I had to go back one evening to do a late feed and because of my age they asked me to ask one of my parents to come along as no-one else was going to be there. Although my mum was used to cows, we had a farm, horses were another matter, particularly as she was petrified of them and they were up to 17hh. When I went to open the stable door to put in the haynets and feed, she screamed and said there was no way that I could go in there, I declined to tell her that I led them to the field, tacked them up, loaded them in the lorry and climbed on a bucket to re arrange their rugs…..

Sadly things changed, other lads arrived and the atmosphere, was not the same. I had just started secondary school and met a girl, on my first day we became best friends ( I did NOT know she had ponies). She needed help, to look after her four ponies so I sadly, left the yard and began to ride for her, we had great fun together, at the end of the paddock she had 2000 acres of forestry, that we could ride in, we also did a little bit of show jumping. I built up a real relationship with a pony called Timothy, it was almost as if he was mine. Then one day I turned up as usual, to find empty stables and just one chestnut horse! I was devastated, I hadn’t even had time to say goodbye. My friend explained that she did not really have a say in the matter, but obviously I was surplus to requirements. We still remain friends to this day. Things have to change, but a when your young it’s a hard life lesson.

Then school, Saturday job and life takes a change, you still never get those horses out of your system though how ever hard you try.