# How did you first get into riding/horses? Whats your story?



## M2twisted (Sep 9, 2009)

techincally for me it's genetic, my mom loves horses too, but...

i've been addicted since the age of 4. my mom took me to a fair and rode my first pony. to this day the picutre of me on that georgous little pony is still one of my favorites, i have this HUGE smile on my face. after that, breyers grazed around the living room, my mom even built me a barn, with stalls, cross ties, a feed room, tack room and an arena! i still have it too. i got a cabbage patch cowgirl with a horse, and didn't give a hoot about the doll, just the horse.
at age 9 i started taking lessons. some days, even if i was too sick to go to school, i would still go to my lessons. i also worked at the barn to work off free hack rides. i even helped teach pony camp in the summer. 

i leased a horse the summer before i left for college too!

i went off to college, and rode on the varsity Equestrian team, and travelled around the country to show, i even majored in equine science!

at 21, i got my first horse finally. i still have him, he is the light of my life. it;s a total obsession.


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## BaliDoll (Sep 21, 2009)

My mom gitbher first horse when she was 11... and ha had them ever since. I got a pony at 2 years old, POA bombproof little love, jojo! Then my mom bought a show horse for me at 8 and then I got one of her homebreds at 14!  Bali is the homebreds. So I have been more r less intereted in horses my whole life... I was leads interested in high school but now as a junior in college I am addicted!!! I know I was meant to always have them in my life, they make me happier than anything else in this world!


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## CowGirlUp9448 (Nov 23, 2007)

I was born and raised around them. My dad had bought me my first pony at 18 months old and I had her for 9 wonderfully amazing years. My dad, mom, brothers and sisters rode and still ride. I guess you could even say it's in my blood hehe.. I started in the barrel racing with that first pony and done barrels from the time I was 5 years old (the age the used to let you run them alone around here, this was a lot of years ago though so I don't know what the age would be now lol ) til I was 18 years old and in a series of three accidents that leaded to me breaking my leg one month, my ankle two months later (while my leg was still broke) and chipping and fracturing my shoulder two months later (while I was still recovering from the other injuries). So I was laid up in bed almost a year. Wasn't allowed to ride for almost 2 years.. But through all this I was and still am horse crazy  I no longer show but I still love to ride and be with my horses.


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## ThatNinjaHorse (Jul 26, 2009)

grew up with them, got a pony when i was 3. But i wasnt really heaps interested untill i got to 11..12-ish


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## myQHpaul (Jun 25, 2009)

3 years old. a friend of my mom's lived down the street with her 2 horses and she would ride them down to our house on the weekends. i would sit in front of her while we rode around the yard for a bit. it was incredible. our neighbors had horses so when i got older, i would go over there everyday and ride. those were great days.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

My Mother actually saved and bought an unbroke half-arabian mare when she was 14 and broke it herself (Or, at least what she thought was broke) and that was what got her started. After she graduated, she had enough saved to buy a reining horse and she did so. Hobby was a great gelding, and he was her first real competition horse. My dad always had hroses too, but he never competed.

So I guess its genetic for me. Mom bought a stallion named Jester the day before I was born as a weanling colt and trained him herself. (This was when she knew what she was doing, not like the arab mare) So Jester was my first ride. I was four and he was four. Jester never acted like a stallion, he was always more like a dead broke 30 year old gelding. 

So yeah, I've had Jester for as long as I can remember and I used to ride with Mom in the arena. Jester could hold me on his neck in front of the saddle and I would always fall asleep there xD

Soon I wanted to compete, and since Jester is not completely sound I couldn't do it on him. Mom bought me a bay arabian mare named Angel who was sweet and reliable, perfect for me. She had training as a cow and reining horse and there was a play day for team penning. I took Angel and rode with Mom (On Jester, he was sound enough for that) and played. 

So yeah. I've been doing it all my life and just never quit I guess.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

I don't really have a "story" because horse were a part of my life as far back as I can remember....I was just lucky enough to be born into a family that loved/had horses and grew up with them. We used them as working horses (ranch work) and were an active 4-H family so that is when the bug really bit me.


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## Survalia (Mar 4, 2009)

I grew up in western South Dakota, a small town where the biggest celebration of the year includes a rodeo. Lots of people I knew had horses, but we didn't. A good friend got a Shetland pony and I got my first ride -- and first buck-off -- in my back yard. (That same pony stepped squarely on one of my feet and now that I'm old, it still gives me fits.) When I was 10 or 11 I wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper, saying that a rodeo town like ours should provide horses and a place to ride them for kids like me, and what do you know? A very nice local horseowner did just that for me for the next few years. Life intervened, and for the next 40 years, the only contact I had with horses was an occasional trail ride. Now, through happenstance, I am riding again, and having a great time.


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## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

i first rode a pony at age 3 in a ponyride at a fair, and the pony reared up with me because someone nearby was holding a balloon, but since that was my first time ever riding a pony, thats what i thought was supposed to happen, so i thought it was really fun. that got me hooked ever since lol

(my parents told me, since odviously i dont remember, but they do have tons of pictures of the pony and i and the rearing part haha)


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## majustesen (Sep 24, 2009)

My parents moved to scotland when I was in 3rd grade and I started taking lessons on the most adoreable welsh pony. A friend of my dad's asked us to take care of his horse on the farm we lived on and I began a year of great memories. At the age of 21 I bought my first horseand had her for two wonderful years, but had to sell her when we moved to florida. I got married and had to put the dream away for my babies but have always loved horses. My wonderful husband just bought me two horses for he and I for mothers day. what a sweetie. I am so happy I have horses in my life again and love learning as much as I can. I will never be without them again.


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## wordstoasong (Jul 8, 2008)

Guess you can say its in my family too. My mom loves horses, my dad rode them in the Yukon, and my sister also rides too.

I've always liked horses. And the stories I hear of little me with horses are really cool. There is one story, where when we lived in BC, I snuck off and played in the hay under a friend's large stallion. I was 3 years old then. I began actual lessons in Germany with my aunt when I was 10. Her and her daughter both ride (and drive horses too!).

I've been riding since 2000, and don't want to give up yet. There are days I need space from horses, but I will always return.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Seems like my story's quite different from most of yours. A decade or more ago, I finally could afford a house somewhat out in the country (not enough for my taste, really, but what can you do?) with room enough for a decent garden. And the neighbors next door had a couple of horses, which meant free fertilizer  So between the fertilizer pickups, and the couple of apple trees the previous owner of my place had planted, the horses and I got to be pretty good buddies, and eventually (because I do get on much better with animals than humans), the horses' people became friends too.

I like to hike a lot, so I started going on trail rides with them, me & the various dogs walk/running along with the people on horses. And of course they kept telling me I should get a horse & learn to ride (while I'd tell them that they needed to get off and stop making the horse do all the work). And eventually I caved in - though to date I've still spent far more time leading Ellie around than I have riding


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I got my first pony at six. My sisters got tired of me always getting on their horses. I started taking dressage lessons from Captain Heyer in Sarasota Florida. He was very German and I rode his huge dressage horses in the lessons. His saddle had a seat belt on it to hold me on. That would never fly today! Anyway, he taught me how to think like a horse and never allowed any show of temper on a horse. My favorite mantra that I learned from him...."the tenser the horse gets, the softer you ride". A life lesson.

I was so lucky to have him in my life. Col. Kimball later told me that the Heyer Cup (awarded for the world cup in dressage) was named after him.


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## flamingauburnmustang (Dec 25, 2008)

I was introduced to horses about 6 years ago through a good family friend. Ever since then I have been really hooked. Now I compete in show jumping and ride everyday.


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## Jackson Creek Farms (Oct 19, 2009)

I have loved horse all my life.When i was a little girl i begged my mom for lessons but never got them so i had to settle for riding friends horses any chance i got.Finally when i graduated college i was dermined to own a horse, it took me about a year but i found a place right beside my house that was willing to board a horse for me and saved up some money to purchase my very own horse.My dad found a horse through a friend of his so i went to see him a fell in love at first sight.Peewee was a 4 year old quarter horse that was as dead broke as they get, they guy that owned him was a really ruff "cowboy" that wasent very nice to his horses so i knew i had to do whatever it took to get peewee away from him.A week after i offered to buy the horse they guy told me that he had changes his mind and no longer wanted to sell the horse eventhough i have visited this horse everyday and fell in love with him, i just couldent take no no for an answer so i aggrevated him everyday for 2 weeks until he agreed to sell me my horse, the guy told me that i would have to come to his house everyday 2-3 hours a day for 6 weeks to get some training on horses because i was new to horse ownership but i didint care i was having the time of my life.So it is 8 years later and we are still best friends and i love that horse to pieces.My 3 year old daughter has inherited my love for horse and i look forward to many years of fun with her and our horses.


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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

My mother always talked about the "little mountain mustang" she rode when she lived at her brother's ranch in Colorado. She was just a kid at the time. I've always loved horses, but we lived in town and didn't have any $$ for horses. When I was seven, I promised my Daddy I would clean out the garage all by myself if he would let me keep a pony in there, but he didn't go for that (he did tell me I could clean out the garage, though!:evil

When my husband and I got married, we lived on his uncle's 80 acres. We didn't have much $$ when we got married - not even enough for an engagement ring. We decided that he would get me a diamond ring to go with my wedding ring for our fifth anniversary. Just before our anniversary, he bought me my first horse - then a few days later one for himself. They were both two-year-olds. Mine was a gentle giant strawberry roan. His was an OTQH that was also gentle. (I got my diamond ring anyway - as a Christmas present!) The next year we got the girls a little Shetland pony. After about 10 years or so, we were forced by finances and lack of time to sell our beloved horses.

My youngest daughter married her second husband and moved a trailer in next door to us. He wanted his three kids to experience the "country life", that was pretty much all her two had ever known. He promised his kids they could have horses. Last February, they bought three horses from my cousin, who had fallen on hard times and no longer had the $$ to feed his horses. Since the daughter and her husband didn't have much $$ either, I knew I was going to be stuck with the feed bill. (they had no clue just how much it costs to feed a horse!) I told my husband if I was going to be feeding horses, by golly, I was going to have one of my own down there to make it worth my while. 

After much searching on my limited budget, a friend of mine at work told me she was going to have to move and leave her horses behind. She had no way of moving them - either to her new home out of state, or even to an auction. She was devastated and desparate. We worked out a deal that let me pay out the price of the horses over time (almost done!) and she could relax because she knew they would be well cared for. Hubby was furious with me because I bought two horses, when all he expected me to buy was one. However, when he saw DJ - it was love at first sight. He's working on building up his strength (he had a stroke several years ago) so he can ride again. DJ is not very well trained, but he is such a gentle baby that hubby won't have any trouble with him. (he knows his basic stuff).

We are so happy to have horses again...and chickens...and goats...OH! the feed bill!!!!:shock:


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## Rachelfailappraisal (Oct 26, 2009)

From the first time I remember wishing on my birthday candles, there was only one wish, horses, horses, and horses. I learned to read before school so I could "learn more about horses" and I have been horse crazy since living memory. I started riding at six, and paid for my horse/lease/lessons starting at the age of 9. I'm grown and married now, but my horse is still a daily part of my life. I now own my own business (Horse Appraiser) that can put all my knowledge to good use. I think horses are more than a hobby, they can be a part of your soul.

http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv73/rachelslashr2b2/portrait1.jpg


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## PechosGoldenChance (Aug 23, 2009)

i dont remember when i first started getting into horses unfortunately. But i do remember my first ride and it was at my cousins house (whom just passed away friday from 2 yrs of battling lymphnode cancer) and i loved it ever since than. I still do not own a horse but i might as well becuase my fiance's aunt has 3 horses and honestly doesnt know much about them and kinda scared of them but she rides...anyway, the one i ride she wont cuz shes scared so basically i'm over there everyday taking care of all of them, especially Dee (the one i ride) she takes great care of them too tho


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## sunshineo0o (Oct 15, 2009)

When I was about 5 years old I started to be interested in horses, my moms friend would give me pony rides on one of her ponies. All I used to want to wear were cowgirl outfits. I even used to pretend my dog was a horse and make him jump over little jumps that I would set up around my house. My mom finally gave in and signed me up for riding lessons at the age of 7 and ever since then its been my life.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

When I was 5 years old my mom married the only dad I would ever really have. I was horse crazy before that but my dad was a real cowboy and horseman. It wasn't long untill I had my own pony. A welsh sized little sorrel named Singer. He was so named because he was puchased with the money my mom was going to use to buy a Singer sewing machine. He was a hard mouthed, herd sour little ******* but he taught me how to cowboy up and ride. At times, particularly in my teens, my dad and I didn't always see eye to eye but horses always brought us together. He was the one that saddled my first horse for me and I was honored to saddle his last horse for him before he died two years ago.


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

I was not born into a horsie family, my mom's dad didn't like horses, although I think she did ride a few times on a grandparents pony. My dad had a horse when he was a kid, and knew alittle. But I had the horse gene from the moment I took my first breath.

We had some land so my parents gave in when I was 5, my older sister (who doesn't like horses) had a friend that had a really great kid horse she sold to use for a $5! (my brother, younger sisters, and me scrapped together all the money we had which was $10, but they let us have her for $5). And she was the most awsome and wonder perfect first horse I could have asked for. When we got her home my dad put us on her, told us "this is how you go", "this is how you stop", "this is how you turn left", and "this is how you turn right". And that was the extent of our riding lessons. So I'm self taught. And I haven't been horseless from that moment on.

(and I also have a cabage patch horse! Got it for xmas when I was really young, and I still have it, it's name his Brownie, don't think mine came w/ a doll though, it did come w/ a cardboard stable, that didn't last long)


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## Becca93 (Jan 22, 2009)

I guess its in my blood because my dad have loved and ridden horses most of his life but due to circumstance never owned one.

I've loved them for as long as I can remember. I actually owned one for 24hours give or take before my dad realised we werent really in the position to care for one. Ive never forgiven him lol.

I have taken lessons when I was younger, and I ride at our local ranch on rides etc. Everyone tells me I have such a natural seat etc.

Hopefully after I finish school next year I'll be in the position to buy my own or atleast lease one. I'm looking at starting to take some more lessons but I cant actually afford it at the moment with the amount of dancing I'm doing.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

We went horseback riding in Colorado and I fell asleep on a Clydesdale when I was two. I think that's where it all started. 

It's kind of genetic, too. Everyone on my mom's side of the family are farmers. My mom lived on a farm as a kid and they had ponies. They sold the farm when she was still little and she didn't get back into horses until I started showing an interest in them (and begging for lessons, asking for a horse every Christmas and birthday, etc.) lol I think I kind of rekindled her love of horses and now we're both horse crazy ladies.


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## luv8my8morgan (Oct 28, 2009)

Lol, what a great thread. According to my parents I was born with the gene. As soon as I could walk and climb the couch was my pretend horse. Eventually I'd strap a pillow and made stirrups and prettend reins. After hitting my 7th birthday my Mom finally had the courage to send me to my first horse camp. It was 2 weeks long. THe day my parents came to pick me up I did not want to go home and ran and hid. After an hour they finally found me in one of the horses stalls crouching underneath a horses belly. So much for a passing fancy, lol. I've been hooked ever since! Thank you all for sharing your stories


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I guess mine is sort of 'boring' as I have always known horses from the time I was little. My mom rode alot, and my earliest memories are of her putting me up in front of her on her horse and riding out on the trails. I like to say I was 'born on a horse'...or atleast in a hypothetical sense..haha; I've never known a life without horses.

By the time I was 7 or 8 I was pretty fearless, and had my own stubborn pony to ride and call my own. I would also ride other friend's horses, and especially loved one family's mustang mare. She was the horse who dumped me for the first time, too...Lol! But she was a fun horse to ride.


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## Annaland13 (Oct 28, 2009)

I think I was 3 or 4. We lived in NY so there wasn't much of a chance of me really getting into horses. I don't remember how I first got into them, but I had about 30 plastic horses, and I would line them up and tell everybody around me what breed, and color they were, along with what I named them. There's pictures of me going on pony rides when I was about 5 in Vermont. We moved to CT when I was 7, and figured out there was a Morgan farm 10 minutes away when I was 11. I was there 10 minutes and had awful allergies and wanted to leave right away. But I couldn't stay away. I fell in love with a filly there who had a lot of spirit. I've continued going there on and off, mostly because my allergies are still pretty bad and I HATE all the drama there. I just started going to a different place and I really like it there. There doesn't seem to be much drama. Yet.


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## anrz (Dec 21, 2008)

When I was four or five, there was a HUGE traffic jam on the highway, and there was a trailer in a couple cars in front of us. The traffic jam hadn't been moving for a couple of hours, so my dad, my sister, and I got out of the car and my dad took us up to the trailer. There was a woman standing there with her horse. She told us his name was Ribbon, and she was taking him to a show. He was a big bay with a wide blaze and a fuzzy halter. After meeting Ribbon and his owner (at least I THINK that he was a he- it was 9 years ago lol), I drew pictures of Ribbon the horse everywhere. He was basically my idol . Anyway, when I turned five, I begged and begged my parents for riding lessons. It was all I really wanted to do. Finally, when I turned six, they let me take riding lessons on a little 9hh pony named Raspberry.
(below are two pictures of him- I can't NOT post a picture of him because I wuv him <3)


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## Stepher (Nov 5, 2007)

I've always loved horses and wanted to ride. So I bugged my mom until she put me in lessons, haha. I was 10 when I went to my first camp and 11 when I officially started riding =) That was 12 years ago, and I still look forward to the next time I ride.


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## Tasia (Aug 17, 2009)

Well my mom had two horses she rode really well I have all her medals. My Grandpa on my dads side owned a big horse farm he was a true horseman he founded the local horse club he lived on horse and he died on horses when my dad was only nine.

And for me I started lessons when I was 8 one a tiny peruvian paso mare called tessy and got my first horse when I was 9. He is still my only horse. In conclusion It runs threw my blood.


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## LoveMyDrummerBoy (Nov 5, 2009)

Started at age 5 when i first rode at my mom's best friends wedding...After 7 long years i finally got my first horse...we just celebrated out first full year together, my roads been unique and even though my first trainer screamed at every little thing i did wrong (even when i was jumping 2.5 ft at age 7 and showing with people twice my age) I tried really hard to do something right and i never could do enough for her...I was the first to leave out of my group and don't regret it. Even with a few bumps along the way i could never be separated from horses.


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## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

My mum's side of the family was really into the gambling side of horse racing, and they used to take me to the races when I was a young one every now and then. And plus we knew someone who was a clerk of a course back then, so we also had some connections. 

I guess thats how it started, took my first riding lesson at seven and have never looked back since.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

my mom put me on old ranch horses before i could even say a sentence(she just led the horse around and someone held me on) and well, i still love them the same today, from the first time me and my cousin got to ride out of the corral on a trail ride alone to my last dressage show... haah if it is a phase...it is a VERY logn phase and i will drop this phase when i die


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

When I was around 8-9 years old, I suddenly had a great interest in horses. I live in "cowboy country" so I saw horses fairly often. I read every single book in our library about horses, fiction and non-fiction. Then I read them again. I wanted to ride. But I wanted to ride English.
My mom started asking around to see if anyone gave English lessons in our town. A lady from our church told us about a barn where her daughter rode, the only English barn near us. So I grabbed my best friend (we did everything together) and we did our first horse summer camp together when we were 10. 
Over eight years later and I'm still riding at that same barn and even bought my horse from the BO.


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## Lobelia Overhill (Nov 3, 2009)

Both of my parents were born and raised on farms in the days when they used horses ... by the time I was born they'd long ago lost any interest in horses (we lived in London at the time) but for some reason I was obsessed with horses and used to ask for one every year for Christmas or birthday.

When I was 7 we moved to Scotland and we lived near fields, so I doubled my cries for a pony ...

When I was 13 a riding school opened about a mile from our house and I was finally able to start riding - the instructor at the place took a dislike to me and used to put me on the worst ponies they had and it took me forever to learn how to do anything, but I stuck at it. I went for a lesson every week and booked myself onto every 'camp' they held during the school holidays (I never helped out at the yard because of the instructor not liking me) and I kept asking for a pony and was still being shouted at for mentioning "that word" in the house.

When I was a baby my parents had started paying an insurance policy for me, when I was 16 it matured and I received a couple of hundred Pounds - I started saving like mad and when I was 18 I had enough money saved for a pony. 18th is your Big Birthday in Scotland and you're supposed to get a special present for it, so of course I asked for a pony and was screamed at again :? I showed my parents the money I'd saved up - they didn't care, I'd committed the mortal sin of saying "pony" in their presence... 

I ended up buying a pony myself in spite of their objections, she was a 15hh fleabitten grey mare, very well mannered in the stable, had a terrible sense of humour, was crazy to ride, loved jumping and galloping. And I had a lot of fun with her in the two years I had her.

Then I was offered a job as a live-in groom to some show ponies - and the woman wouldn't let me bring my pony with me. I wanted to put my pony on loan just in case, but my father made me sell her. Since I didn't really want to stay at home any more anyways I sold her to a man I knew from the riding school who was taking early retirement and had decided to buy himself a horse (I found out a few months ago that he kept her till she died about 5 years ago).
I phoned the woman to tell her I was on my way, and she coldly told me she'd given my job to someone else ... so there I was with no pony and no job (my mother laughed in my face) I had no money to buy the pony back as I'd spent it all on things I'd need for leaving home :-(

I stopped riding for a few years, then I started again ... Then I damaged my back really badly (nothing to do with a horse!) and 3 days later - while I was at my parents' house I became more or less paralysed. It took me over two years to recover from that [mis-diagnosed by 4 doctors] injury, during which time [while I was out of my head on pain-killers] my parents decided to retire to Ireland, and I ended up moving with them.

All of a sudden my back 'righted' itself and I started exercising to get myself fit again and loose the weight I'd gained! My cousin knows a woman who's son was starting a riding school a couple of miles from our house, so I started going there - having not ridden for about 10 years. I got back into the swing of it very quickly tho' and started thinking about buying myself a horse again, then the economic boom started and horse prices went through the roof and I couldn't afford to buy.

I stopped riding at that place and started looking for somewhere else, but I couldn't find anywhere in walking distance (I couldn't drive at the time), then when I was on a computer course a woman noticed I had "horse riding" listed as one of my hobbies [on my CV] and she asked where I rode, I said I wasn't at the time, and she said she was going to a place that wasn't that far out of town, she asked them if I could join on the lesson she was on, they said yes. And I've been riding there ever since (about 12 years)

A few years ago I hurt my back again (same injury - again nothing to do with a horse!) and had to stop riding for a few years, then last year I started again ... and I started thinking about buying my own horse, prices had started to drop to a more reasonable amount by now, and 6 months ago I bought my new horse! a 16.2hh 6 year old chestnut Irish Sport Horse who's been used as a showjumper, but I'm hoping to turn him into a useful all rounder ...


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

A common route for us to drive to the 'big city' would take us by a large horse ranch that always had a small 'Foals for Sale' sign by the road. We drove by this ranch for 15 years before one day, having some extra time, my wife wanted to stop and look at the foals. We stopped, she went off one way talking with the breeder, and I wandered around looking at the farm. An hour later we met back up, my wife very excited with a paper flapping in her hand.....which turned out to be the bill of sale for our first Paint filly. 
We're up to 3 wonderful Paint mares and have enjoyed every minute.


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