DefinitelyDressage.com

My non cantering pony (she can in fact canter and very nicely but some might recognise her as that from my earlier threads on other parts of the board) is:
lovely,
she is a british native pony , a fell pony, rare breed status which is something I always wanted to own,
is incredibly pretty,
has a lovely kind nature - she loves a cuddle and comes running up whinnying when called from the field, very black beauty
her idea of marish in season bad behaviour is to flick and ear and turn a nip into a nuzzle when being girthed,
she wasn't handled until 6 years old yet will happily run like the wind or drop to a walk when escorting nervous others on hacks,
rides out alone in 50 mph wind and rain with me,
walks up to new spooky objects and stomps on them if they look scarey (that'll teach them)
Goes up into the trailer within 1 minute of asking (amazing as we had a bad trailer experience last year,

I have competed intro dressage last year coming 2nd each time, also started doing trec which comprises of three phases orienteering, control of paces and obstacles like a western trail class. I have also jumped with her in the obstacle phase and if my nerve goes she will slow to a walk and carefully step over the fence - even if its 2 foot high she is only 13.2HH.

she has given me my confidence back in riding out as I have ridden alone for years but on previous rather spooky horse it used to always be with my heart in my mouth and fists clenched on the reins, I ride pony often on the buckle end and get to view scenery which I couldn't do on past horse. it is quite funny as I escorted a friend last week who is very nervous on a much bigger horse who got a shock as pony trots v fast so her horse cantered to keep up, she had never cantered him before and I was proud to be on a pony that would happily drop speed when asked to do so.

Basically she is a saint and away from her writing this I love her and appreciate her 100%. However, she has a health issue we are trying to get to the bottom of. This makes is difficult for her to work for long in hot weather or do what I love, long distance plus she absolutely hates long distance venues and horses come up behind her in groups her heart rates can go sky high. She is fine in cold weather (which is more common where I live, we get sunny weather above 24 degrees for about 20 days a year in total usually spread out from April to September between cold under 17 degrees, damp days), for dressage, trec etc just not long distance - guess what the discipline is that I would like to do before I hang up my boots? I actually hate riding her in hot weather as I can feel her panting and do not go out of a walk, if it wasn't for the need to keep her fit which I have been told to do by the vet Id probably give it a miss.

My options are:
Keep her, do dressage which I like at home but I have the same issue with my heart rates at competitions as she has at long distance and maybe showing and trec, and I do get real heartache from all the things I would love to do but cant
sell her - but as she has this as yet not really bottomed out health issue I would worry what happen to her as she could easily get passed from pillar to post as was sold to me as the vendor thought she would have a home for life (though I never said or promised this), plus she is the type that sadly often ends up with travellers being road raced in carts
put her on breeding loan - but if she doesn't carry a foal she might be sent back or could disappear elsewhere
PTS - out of the question as she is happy in herself.
get another horse

I don't think I could bear the guilt if she ended up in a bad home or worse.

The get another horse thing is feasible money wise but I am really time constrained as work 40 +hrs per week, then ride after that then home to see family and my son who is 11. Plus my husband works nights weekends which has caused all sorts of rows as trec is spread over 2 days at weekends and so he has to book time of unless my mum can look after my son. To get to long distance rides I would only need 1 day but would need to leave before he gets home, so maybe I ought to just keep doing what I can with pony and stop moaning until son grows up , but then he will be 16/17 when I am 57 and possibly too ancient to do long distance and take on a younger more reactive horse and just generally
ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH Im going around in bloody circles and have been for the last two years about this

an aquaintance of mine beat me all to heck at a three day endurance ride at the age of 76. honestly, i rode behind her and some times she seemed so tired she was listing and her saint of a horse would scoop her up and carry on, but the three day ride format is the most difficult i have ever done. I think she, the lady , was remarkable, but i do not think 57 and in good health is old for distance riding.

It sounds as though you really love your girl. Is she a non sweater, or it is heaves? my horse with heaves is actually better able to function the more work he does. It keeps him fitter. at first when i was told this it seem counter intuitive, so i asked a friend of mine with COPD. she, runs, or bicycles every day because the only way she can remain fully functional in work and normal activites is to keep what part of her lungs that work very fit.

It is very difficult to talk about placing a horse that has health issues. can you do a full lease, find some one who is okay with just lovely hacking, or breeding, and make sure you have the wherewithal to take her back if you need to, even if it is to just kindly retire and pts if it gets to that?

If you could wait till your son gets just a little older, then a couple of hours alone at the house between parental monitoring is not as complicated as it now is?

Then you could take on that other horse that might work for your ambitions.

Could you keep your mare, and do what she can do, and part lease a horse that might be more suitable for distance riding. People who are serious distance riders often keep two or three horses for the sport, and are not unwilling to share a horse with some one who does not mind putting some of the training rides on one of their string?

i am not sure if any of the suggestions help, just throwing out a few thoughts.

Speaking from an emotional place--do not sell her. Lease her out, shareboard, get another horse so that you can do what you love, but do not sell her. She is a gem. Honey, you are never too old. Walt Gervais STARTED eventing in his 70s.

greenholmeshandy wrote:However, she has a health issue we are trying to get to the bottom of... She is fine in cold weather ....I actually hate riding her in hot weather as I can feel her panting and do not go out of a walk,

This sounds like it might be similar to what I saw at a rental barn. The horse carried considerable weight at a fairly good pace for 2 hours in hot weather, and when she got back they hustled her off, which was probably because they didn't want to answer questions about what was wrong with her. I can't remember if she was sweating more than the other horses, but she was definitely panting.

It's possible that she was just an old horse who had been overworked, as I've seen that before and it looked similar. The horse I saw who was overworked was panting for quite a while, but eventually, after about half an hour, recovered. Don't know how long it took the rental horse to recover because they took her away. I've always been curious about what was going on with her, though.

Thanks ladies, I just had to vent.

As pony was a bit breathey last night we had a play in the menage. We did some nice canter work on a 20 meter circle doing 1/4 circle trot up to canter, back to trot. This from a pony that wouldn't canter in a straight line for more that a few strides last year. Practised our trec rein back and then walk squares with a turn on forehand each corner. All on a light rein with minimum leg aids. I actually really enjoyed this.

Her breathing issue is in late spring/summer esp when it is hot and humid or hot and still so I habe assumed hay fever. It has variously been diagnosed over the last four years as lung damage by a vet who scoped her also said she coughs continually which now means her insurer wont cover her for any lung/breathing related issues - I think she has coughed once in 4 years so changed vets as no faith in that one. Next vet tried homeopathy with bugger all success. Current vet practice was monitoring and advised inhalers which helped but attending vet has left, last visit was by their head vet who was surprised first vet didn't take samples for lung infection as he thought lungs sounded clear but airway wasn't so I'm.kind of back where I started as planning to have her scoped and samples taken. The other thing is she is jet black and a heavy build so if does have a long standing lung/airway issue heat will not help.

The other issue reselling is the a family on the yard where I keep her bought back a lovely similair type coloured pony they sold to a home for life, for reasons I dont really understand the person pony went to starved him then sold him at auction for meat, despite their being willing to buy him back. The reason he is back is that they saw him on facebook with a rescuer and bought him from them. He returned skin and bones (rescuer had him a v short time) and all his lovely mane and tail had to be clipped of as so badly matted. I couldn't bare that happening to mine.

I will try and attach some photos to cheer this post up

I definitely think you should keep your mare, and add a second horse if possible. If time and money do not permit this at the moment, maybe it would be something to look forward to in a a year or 2?

I come from the world of buy and sell. Yes, there are horses that end up in bad situations, but MANY (most?) horses do not. They cost a lot of money. People tend to take care of things that cost lots of money.

We've had pony club horses ("passed from hand to hand"!) that had 30+year lifespans being loved by little girls. There aren't many better lives out there than that, even if it comes with a certain amount of bouncing about and tugging on mouths.

If you can't use her, find the right next home for her. You will be doing someone else an enormous favor and can go on to pursue that which you are interested in.

Isn't life funny, I posted the original post just the weekend before setting of for the level 1 gb trec national championship with pony. This was to be only my second trec competition as an individual, the competition is pairs or individual. Must choose to ride as a pair at level 1 and 2 . I had qualified as pair with my usual trec buddy and her pony but sadly he wasn't quite right a few weeks before the champs so she sensibly withdrew him. I was very nervous as at the only other individual trec where I had managed to qualify as an individual my pony had been very unsettled orienteering without her pair.

Well, she was fab. Aside from getting lost along with virtually every one else in the first section (picture if you can riding down a steep slope and below is too huge fields with a number of lost trec people randomly riding of in various directions) , we managed to orienteer around solo, found all the checkpoints including tricky ones hidden between breaks in hedgerows (these aren't marked on the map, they are on the correct route so if you mismark or misnavigate you miss them and lose points),got round each section bar the first within 1 minute of optimum time, ended first day leading by 50 points, having ridden some of the most stunning of English countryside solo. All rolling hills, golden stubble fields and little red brick cottages with hedgerows in full bloom.

funny thing was id been so stressed upto 1st checkpoint, then found I had lost my checkpoint card and thought I was eliminated and check point people were not sure either. Rode on alone as came in to checkpoint in a bunch who were held back for 15 min intervals (compulsory trec rule so you have to navigate solo) I was in tears thinking ," argh come all this way, let pony down,weep wail, we will be passing wyth farm on right, oh there it is, and soon there will be a duck pond on the left and bloody hell I actually know what I'm doing and can read a map, lets just enjoy it and have a great ride" and we did. There must be a message in that re pressure and competing nerves I guess. We lost 20 points for the card otherwise id have been 70 points in front.

Did ptv (obstacle course the next day) over a massive two fields with 10 minutes for 16 obstacles, came in under 10 minutes having opted out of three obstacles (this I allowed you just dont get points for missed ones), got max 10 points for most, sadly the control of paces bit was our diwnfall. A winding up hill canter track to turn down to do walk back, idea is slow canter, fast walk.winner of this phase did canter in 40 seconds for max. Points we did it in 20 seconds so "ahem" a bit fast but it was fun.

We ended up coming 3rd overall, I was truly delighted. Pony was such a star throughout and despite her breathing thing passed vettings both days with 40bpm day 1, 36 bpm day two.

So needless to say I'm keeping her, trec has finally ousted endurance for me.

Wonderful update

Love it! Thanks for sharing.

I don't see any pics, but wonderful update. So happy for you & pony!!

Would love to see pics!! Great update! That sounds like so much fun. LOL at the image of lost riders in the paddocks.

Sounds fantastic! Makes me want to hop on the next plane and go find a nice pony to trec with (is that how you say it?).

Love the pictures, you make a great pair!

More photis

She's adorable and that looks like a blast!

That looks like SO much fun. Do they do Trec/ orienteering rides un the USA?

greenholmeshandy - Huge Congratulations on your trec competition!! Love your pics! Your girl is so gorgeous and I'm so glad you didn't give up on her. You look like you had SO MUCH FUN and what wonderful way to see the beautiful countryside. I wish I could partner with you as would I love to ride in this type of competition. Years ago, I participated with my TB in trail paces at a local park and we had a blast. It was so much fun. I really miss it.

Gosh, you've made me homesick...

That looks like so much fun! What a great pair you make.

Lovely photos!! You both look like you are having a great time, and your horse is adorable.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ this update and those fantastic photos! She sounds like such a gem!

Thumbs up!

What a pair, good job!

This makes me happy, seeing people do what they love with the horses(ponies) they love.