The first meeting! Friday 18th March 2011
A bit of background is that for the past 2.5 yrs, I have been studying Parelli with a friend's pony, Duncan. He was a skeptical right brain introvert (Parelli "Horsenality") who had some big trust issues. We'd made a lot of progress but it was slow and there was still a long way to go. My blog at http://looking4savvy.blogspot.com/ describes our trials and triumphs.
My previous horse was a right brain extrovert and, in addition to Duncan, I recently found myself exercising another right brain introvert. I struck up a good rapport with her but she had way too high a spirit for my liking and it came out at unpredictable moments! She was sold and so I continued to look for another partner, hoping to find another horse to share, maybe to buy!
Three super-sensitive right brain (RB) horses (and a painful tumble) later, I realised I had Right Brain Burnout! (This should be an official savvy-draining disorder!) I no longer had the heart or desire to stifle my extroverted character or hold any more frightened horses hooves.
I decided to take a break from looking for lent (I was spending hours on-line!!) but if something came to me, I would follow it up in case it was "The One!"
"The One" would be a Zebedee clone - in temperament if not looks. Zebedee was a coloured horse I had on loan from my friend, Ursula, for about 2 years and had the best fun in the world on. We hacked everywhere by ourselves, did county level showing, riding club dressage and generally messed about. He was game for anything and so brave he made me feel I could do anything! He was essentially a left brain introvert (LBI) of medium-low spirit.
Back to the present....having given up the search, an email came to me through Savvy Sussex. It bore the scantest of details about 1 horse and 2 ponies for sale - height, age, price, location.
I actually had to push myself to call as I'd already decided the only horse was probably another scatty thoroughbred! To my surprise, I liked what I heard.....a lot! So much so, I pushed to go and see "Jack" the next day in the pouring rain even 'though I couldn't ride him as the ground was too slippery (no arena). I had a feeling that the first person to see him would buy him and I didn't want to be pipped to the post!
When I set eyes on Jack, my first impression was of a huge, heavy, hairy, mudball! He looked even bigger than his advertised 15.3hh due to an enormous neck and shaggy mane. Not for me, I thought, but there was something about him....I've since realised that everyone seems to feel that something when they meet Jack. I guess it's presence. He had me hooked after 5 minutes!
It was mostly chatting that day and I heard so much about Jack that I liked. "He was a bit of a thug when young, needs to know who's in charge, not afraid of anything, great to hack, perfect in traffic....." Yeehaa! I led him about - and got dragged back to his hay - which delighted me. A LB sign! I found myself not wanting to leave him and then, all the way home thinking "now THAT is a really great horse!"
The next day - Sat 19th March 2011
I moved all my arrangements the next day to go and ride Jack in the morning before the next prospective purchaser arrived. I saw him ridden in the field which was still very slippery. He obediently walked, trotted and cantered without any sign of freshness despite having been out of regular work a fair while. I got on, tried a trot but didn't fancy cantering as the ground felt really slippery. I was also still very sore from a high-speed fall I'd had 4 days earlier! "I'll just go out", I said.
Off we went - alone - alongside the busy A27, past the burger van, under the railway bridge just after a train had gone over and up, up, up a narrow footpath that rose to a 20 ft drop above the road! At a crossroads, we went along a busy residential street to the foot of the downs. I noticed that Jack looked round a lot and was quite slow so I knew he was a bit unconfident but he didn't spook and his adrenalin didn't come up. In fact, on the way back, high on the footpath, I let him stop for a munch (whilst I phoned Ursula) but then had trouble persuading him it was time to go home. Atta Boy I thought!! Nappy going homewards. Brilliant!!!
So now, I had a very scarey decision to make. I recognised what a good horse Jack was but couldn't help feeling like I was rushing into buying! I had been unable to try another horse who was available to me to loan/share due to my fall and now felt that I really should try him before deciding about Jack. Sharing is obviously a better option financially and the horse was at a lovely yard, an experienced competition horse etc etc. So...I dashed back home to try the local horse and I'm glad I did as he wasn't a patch on Jack! I made the call to Teresa and the first step to owning Jack had been taken!!
