Am I still a horse girl? Back in the Saddle

You may have read my article back in April about my horse's injury and my coming to terms with it. Well, I’ve good news and bad news, the good news is that Sam seems to be on the road to recovery. The bad news is his injury has probably forced him into early retirement (though at 24 he probably would disagree with me). While it does make me sad from time to time that I’ll never ride him again. He is currently, I do believe the term is “living his best life” and it’s really nice to have him actually come to greet me in the field instead of walking (yes walk not bolt) away like he used to.

It’s been an interesting few months, after Sam did his injury his bestie was diagnosed with terminal cancer so while it was nice they got to hang out together Unfortunately Diego is no longer with us. They have been neigh-bours (see what I did there) for years and were always turned out together during the day. Diego would pop over the wall looking for treats and making fart noises with his mouth when I was visiting Sam, and Sam would bang the door when Diego's owner was with him. They both knew there were treats for them too. I kinda feel like I’ve lost a family friend. He wasn’t my pony but it’s still so sad to see him declining in health while Sam started to get better. RIP Diego, you were such a sweet and gentle horse.

I miss seeing Diegos happy face

I took a break from riding myself. I was training for a half marathon and my hips couldn’t handle both. (I did it last year and it suuuuuucked) I also think that I wasn’t ready to get back, it wasn’t going to be the same. Sam was the laziest animal alive, and everything was a battle but I somehow missed that, and regretted taking all those battles for granted. 

Then I went to Necarne.

At the end of June and one week before the half marathon, I went to Necarne to film content at the Enniskillen horse and pony show for the Grassroots Gazette. It had been so long since I'd been at a show (it's far more relaxing when you don’t have to try and get a horse organised and learn a course/test) but the buzz of the competitions, counting strides between fences and just talking to people about their horses reignited my passion for the sport. I knew I had to get back riding ASAP.

That week I contacted two people whom I knew from my yard who were looking for someone to ride their horse. I was lucky that one was still looking. This is how I met my new buddy Paddy. 

living the dream

After the lesson, I was like a kid at Christmas, if you could bottle and sell the feeling you’d be a billionaire.

 People who aren’t involved with horses don’t understand why we put so much time, effort and money into our ponies but it’s the little things like being up on horseback after a long break, the connection, the partnership. It’s just meant to be.

Maybe the problem has been that a piece of me was missing these last few months. The missing piece was being a horse rider without a horse to ride. I feel so much better since being back, even if it's just once a week. I feel excited going up to the yard knowing I’m going to ride. I’m also loving the challenge of learning to ride something that couldn’t be more the opposite of my Sam.

Don’t worry Sam’s still getting his carrot deliveries several times a week, just now I’ve had to bring extra for Paddy too, it's only fair. One thing I’ve learned about this whole ordeal is that you never stop loving horses. I never stopped being a horse girl... And cobs are the best! 

Sam lives a hard life these days

There was also a slight mourning period when we realised that Sam was most likely not going to come back from this injury (I refuse to believe it 100% that he’s done). There were days when I didn’t want to go see him because all I could do was sit and look at him but now I do enjoy coming up to see him. I also did what all sane people do when they are sad and got a tattoo of him on my arm. Was it slightly spontaneous? Yes. Do I regret it? No, I love it and it's actually from a pic of him so it’s not just a random horse-related tattoo.

A tattoo is a perfectly healthy response

Sams not best pleased about sharing treats

Before committing I did a lesson to try him out as I hadn’t ridden anything bar Sam in probably 5 plus years. I also felt a bit guilty the first time I was going to ride Paddy. There’s no logic to it as Sam wouldn’t care, but for some unknown reason, I felt like I was almost cheating on him...That was until while walking out to the field to catch Paddy, I saw Sam lying out in the next field, flat on his side sunbathing. As I said before, living his best life.

It was almost like being a beginner again. He is completely different, and if I rode him like a rode Sam, I’d end up doing laps of the arena until he decided he was done. It’s crazy how you become so used to riding a certain way. It's almost like a reflex, I had to constantly think “No don’t do that” while going around. Thankfully Paddy is very patient and he dealt with me well. 

I feel like one of us is having more fun than the other