Learning to Blog

So, I have never blogged before but figured now is as good a time as any to start!

Farrah (Forrest Nymph) is a red headed, pony, who also happens to be a mare.  So, you might ask why I even thought about taking said pony and attempting eventing?  Well, mostly I thought it might keep her busy little brain, well, busy.  And, I just happened to have a 2* rider move in to my boarding barn.  Which is when I discovered that said pony and myself are adreneline junkies.

I have to admit when Lynn Simpson called me and asked me, two years ago, if I wanted said pony, I tried very hard to discourage her.  Farrah was 5, flunking out at a high end dressage barn, with some significant issues involving manners.  Such as cross tie, why would I deign to stand her, when I can rear, slip my halter and leave?  Tie, to a trailer, my what horrors!  Be pleasant to ride, or stick my nose on my chest and trot at mach one!

So you get the idea that Farrah was a real work of art.  It helped that she was well bred, and a pony, but I still wasn't smitten.  She is a New Forest, I breed Connemaras.  She is oversized, at 14.3.  But, she was the highest scoring ISR Oldenburg pony in the nation as a weanling.  Heck, her daddy was competing at Intermediare!  So she was a dressage washout....maybe she would like to hunter pace and I could do something useful with her.

Our first rides were, well, unpleasant at best.  Her canter felt like any minute she would explode into a bucking frenzy.  She would threaten to go up.  She was about as a wide as a 1x4 (now maybe she is as wide as a 2x6).  I really didn't like her.  Too much work!

After a few months, of not really progressing, we went to a hunter pace.  Not like this was actually in the plan, but a friend wanted to come and I offered to let them ride Lucy (she is a connemara mare, been to lots of paces).  Which meant that I had to try to ride the evil red pony.  Who had never been on a pace or to a show.  I had taken her to a little trail ride, but this would be 40 trailers in a field, horses coming up behind us at a canter, passing horses!  The red head has a thing about her personal space.  But I took her anyway.

She promptly broke her halter tied to the trailer....I think we'd been there 10 minutes.  However, after that, she was awesome.  Let horses pass her, passed horses, never tried to wrench my arms out of their sockets!  We even braved a few coops.  Maybe I might have something here!

More later....................