# This is William



## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Ok, im gunna try this again...

A bit about me and my horse~
Hi, im Lizzie. Im 18 and have been riding since I was 7.
After 10 and a half years of riding lessons I think my parents realised it wasnt a phase, lol! and so in oct 2009, I was able to get my first horse Country Man a.k.a. William (Willie, Willy Wonka, Will, Wills... lol depends), he responds to William though 

He is a bay, 11 (nearly 12) year old Anglo Arab (50%TB, 50%Arab)
Country Man Angloarabian Tb

When we got him we considered selling him on again as he became suddenly aggressive and I was not confident enough to ride him without any horse savvy people around me. He has bitten me twice badly leaving me with a scar on my arm and tissue damage to my leg, he had also hurt my dad by head butting him 

After a 2 or 3 months I started riding him about once a week on a very short trail, he was not spooky or anything and wanted to explore more  so I was very happy and had a boost of confidence.

Just before Christmas we managed to get a good deal on a trailer! so now I take him for a lesson every week (or at least every other week). We started off with private lessons to see what he could do in the school. We jumped on our second lesson and he had lost all confidence in himself and me (since my trial jump with him before I bought him). He refused trot poles :-( and then small cross poles and even when he jumped them, he wouldnt go over a filler 

Last night, I went for a group lesson (our second ever with a group) and he jumped everything including a (very small) filler, but he jumped it! and with an excited buck at the end lol!

I have competed him once (jumping) and came first in one out of three classes! So proud of him now  
He still bites a little but thats ok, we have a lot more to do, this is just the beggining...

1st day (the morning after he came home)








1st ride at home








1st show


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## cottncandykoala (Apr 16, 2010)

Aww, he's a cutie.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*PolyPad*

Today the Poly Pad (saddle pad) I ordered came! So much nicer than I thought it would be it is purple with black edging. I havnt ridden in it yet and I will get some pictures when I do 
I got it with his name on and it is perfect, really like it  what do you think?








Got a really good picture of William today too, waved some dandilions at him to make him ***** his ears lol, hope you like this one:


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## cottncandykoala (Apr 16, 2010)

That pad is gorgeous! My two favorite colors xD And William just looks like a sweetie pie! :3


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Mmmm... yummy over reach boots*

So I did something dumb, lol. I rode William late yesterday (with his new purple PolyPad!) and then forgot to take his over reach off him!
So... I went to feed him this morning and I noticed that they were still on :s I thought they were ok, but when I got to him, to take them off I noticed a great rip in the side of one of them and chunks missing from the sides! Has he eaten them? I found one chunk of rubber in his bed this evening but not the rest... Oh well expecting to find that in his poo for days to come!

Anyway, appart from that, the ride went well yesterday. We met 3 cars, 4 people, a huge tractor with a HUGE trailer and 8 dogs! yes 8! Very friendly and good with horses though, which is good 

Tomorrow, we go to the stables for a jumping lesson, see you soon!

p.s. got some new over reach today


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## whiskeynoo (Mar 17, 2010)

lol sounds like he enjoyed those boots


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Jumping Lesson*

So we went for a lesson in the trailer last night. When we got to the stables suddenly there was a really heavy hail storm! I was trying to tack William up in the trailer when it got really bad. My dad thought it would be a good idea the shut the from trailer door to stop it driving in whilst I tacked up. Bad Idea! Because after doing this my father though it would be a good idea to walk off. To be fair to him, he didnt bolt the door or anything so I could get out, but it is impossible to push the door open from the inside! Anyhoo after that and a mild panic attack from claustrophobia, before being calmed down with a nose kiss from William , we got him into the stables to tack him up there instead! Drama, drama! Glad we where indoors for this lesson. Lesson went really well though. Here is one video and im trying to get the next one uploaded, enjoy.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

the other video:


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*A Little more on William*

He has a kick injury to his left chest muscle and struggles to pick up and keep him left canter lead. We currently are getting there with it but it takes a lot of work to get him confortable on that leg. It doesnt hurt him at all, he has just got into the habbit of cantering on his right lead whilst his injury was healing. No dressage competitions for the moment then!

We dont know how he required the injury but we know he was gelded soon after (he was 6), so we suspect it was a rougue mare :?. We can only guess really...


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## PumpkinzMyBaby22 (Jul 5, 2009)

He looks really good! Glad to see he is going over the jumps in the last video for you. Keep up the good work! 

*coughheisnotinmybackpaddockwithPumpkinifheismissingcough*


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

thanks a lot


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

So, it was William's 12th birthday yesterday and we went to the stables for a jumping lesson and it went really well (i will get a video up soon).
Getting him in the trailer was a bit of a scare... the stables has very large gravel stones in their drive way and he trod on one, triped and twisted is leg and when i looked round he was holding his leg up!
Lucky it only hurt him for a moment and he is ok now, phew!


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Video as promised and some pictures!*


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*its Spring! in more ways than one *

So it has been a quiet week in the world of horses for me. I rode William for a little while on sunday but it got far to hot for him and we turned back. An interesting ride to say the least, Hot weather + spring grass = hyper, mad horse! Some horsey people are moving in next door but one and they dropped their horses off on sunday. They were on there way back to their current house (not to far away) with their horse lorry and the usually bomb proof William wasnt for having it! He spoked and reared infront of the lorry, good job they were stopped, all I had to do was trot him down the road and tuck him into a farm drive untill the lorry had passed, one drama over!

Wednesday- the cheeky pony didnt want to be caught! He wanted to spend more time eating yummy grass! He wasnt agressive though, whick is a start, just playful, very playful.
I went to get him only for him to whinny, jump 3ft in the air and trot off towards the gate... so it walked all the way back to the gate from te bottom of the feild, only for him to trot off, buck and them full pelt gallop to the other end of the feild again... lol. Im seeing the funny side of this now...
Anyway I managed to get him in around 10pm lol

thanks for reading, will have some pics up soon x


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Poorly pony , then new stuff *

Sunday- the last time I rode William , weather has been too hot one day, too wet the next and my dad is working 

Monday- SJ competition! but couldnt take William , so I rode my friend's loan horse, Woody. He went really well, we won!... twice! (we did 2 classes).

Tuesday- woke up to find William with horrible lumps on his neck, I thought they were bites, turns out they were and he's allergic to watever bit him , the vet came out to look at him to check for respiratory reactions and there were none 
I got some new fly repellant and a garlic supplement for him ad if it gets worse maybe a fly sheet will be needed. *Can they be worn in a stable?*

New stuff!

New riding/yard boots
short boots for showing
half chaps
head collar for the horse










new boots! cool huh? i love thm although i havnt ridden in them yet, they need to be a little more supple for that yet.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

oh and i forgot he are some pics of his bites and one of him being cute waiting for the vet

Tues morning






















and by the afternoon






















and now they are just swollen around the bite mark, phew


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## AfterParty (Jun 4, 2010)

He is so cute , I love your saddle pad !


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

thanks, he may look cute lol  and the Polypad was his early birthday prezzie


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Th Storm*

So yesterday was quite a day. I think it is too early to re-live it! But here we go...

So I have a biology exam tommorrow and I was revising for it yesterday. Around 1pm, it started to rain, heavily. So I looked out the window to see if William was still ok, he was, he doesnt usually mind the rain. About 10 minutes later, the heavy rain got even heavier, I didnt think it was geographically possible! I checked out on William again and he was running... backwards. As you can imagine this panicked me a little so I got my wellies and coat on and went outside. I was soaked through within a few seconds.

I got to William and he had his head on the floor, trying to keep his head out of the rain and wind. I clipped his rope on and tryed to lead him out, neither of us could walk forwards because of the wind and driving rain. So we walked sideways towards the back of the stables for shelter and I managed to get him through the gate and out into the yard and into his stable.

His stable, by the way, was 6 inches deep in water, so I ran in to get help. Willie just stood there wrapped in his cooler/dryer eating hay, whilst me, my mum and then later on, my dad sweped water out from around him into the yard. 

It was all over soon after that and the water started to drain away naturally. William was pretty happy to go back out and had a roll in the mud! Completely different to the scared, wet horse just an hour before.

That was my first flash flood experiance and hope there won't be too many of them!

p.s. got all my revision done in the end


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Went for a ride today and bumped into a neighbor, she said we can use her outdoor arena! it has jumps and everything, just thought i'd say!


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## payette (Jun 3, 2010)

He's a pretty boy!


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

thanks! x


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*First proper jump at home... well sorta home*

Well I have told you that my neighbor said we could use her arena... well we went down there for the first time on Saturday. Even though it was SO hot, we did a little bit of jumping (up to 2 ft) and I also attempted to school him in canter. As you might know William has an old injury which means cantering on his left lead is hard for him, but we are getting there. Funnily enough he can do it alright when he is jumping! So we were there for about half a hour, and then it got to hot, so we came home. I think we have a promising future, now i can jump at (well, close to) home.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Yesterday was the first time that me, the horse, dad and the dog went for a ride together! Went rather well but William was too interested in Jack's (the dog's) bum for my liking 
Jack was a bit scared of the 'very biiig doggy' so stayed well clear and hid behind dad, at least he didn't go for the horse! Thats all I was worried about.
it was funny when the dog and the horse decided to go to the toilet at the same time 
and i'm so proud of Jack for not barking when William trotted past him!


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*4th July 2010*

So this was a good day, went up the road to ride at me neighbor's for the second time. Got a bit more of a ride out of it this time!
We practiced lateral work and jumped about 70cm

leg yield
traverse
rein back
turn on the forehand
shoulder in
45cm cross pole
70cm upright

Quite proud he did all those things! I didn't even know he could do half of them!

Some of these pics are good, some aren't!


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

more piccies


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## LoveStory10 (Oct 31, 2009)

Thats really good! Im glad he's coming along nicely for you


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## TheCountryLife (Jul 8, 2010)

some lovely pics, beautiful horse you have. looks as though hes coming along nicey and you's both are working well together


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Thanks a lot guys.

We had our first SJ competition this morning and we won!


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## LoveStory10 (Oct 31, 2009)

Thats fantastic!!! Well done!!!


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Thank you here are some pics

Tushingham Arena 11/07/10 - Tonykay-photography - Online Picture Proofing

Tushingham Arena 11/07/10 - Tonykay-photography - Online Picture Proofing

There are many more pictures  here are a few


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

more pictures from sunday

lap of honer


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*Jumping Lesson, 14th July 2010*

Another good day for riding.

We went to Prescott Equestrian Centre (as we usually do for lessons) for a Jumping Lesson!

After warm up we started off with a grid of one jump, then 2, then 3, then 4. He did really well! Only one down (which left green paint on him back hoof!). I am trying now to teach him not to touch jumps as he can get a bit lazy...

After doing a grid of 4 we incorporated it into a course of two other jumps, one on the diagonal and one down the long side.

No refusals though, which is gooooood! and only one excited buck, the whole lesson


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## LoveStory10 (Oct 31, 2009)

Thats fantastic! I love your pics from the show, he looks good.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

thank you so much


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

*A bit of a low...*

Well yesterday, we attempted some schooling but Will just wasn't for having it. He was okay in walk but napped towards the gate. And he was painfully slow in trot. Canter transitions were difficult... to put it lightly.
His first canter was good though, bit lethargic, but it was on his bad leg and he cantered all the way around on the right lead!  Well always good to see the positive in things.
My neighbor came out and told me to have a go without stirrups and he was a little more responsive, but not much, so we decided to call it a day! Ow my legs! Well we all have our bad days...


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