The scruffy project mare who is here to stay! Part 1
In the spring of 2019 a picture of a horse caught my eye on Facebook (always a bad thing!) I then watched a wee video of this mare jumping and thought I saw something I liked in her. Because I quite enjoy doing this I bought her – sight unseen and untried. (I don’t recommend this way of buying horses by the way, but I have had a bit of fun doing this – however, you need to go into this with your eyes wide open because as we all know – horses are generally cheap for a reason).
Mardi the day she arrived. Mardi starting to look a lot better after some tlc!
Anyway, the mare that arrived looked pretty much nothing like the photo I had been sent of her, in that photo she had been a picture of health – a cobby type with plenty of condition. The mare that walked down the ramp here looked skinny, scrawny and unfit. I had bought her knowing that I had a few weeks in which to decide whether to send her back. Looking at her in the stable you could see a nice looking mare as she has good basic confirmation – so I didn’t worry about her appearance.
The first day in the school there was no one else around at all – I lunged Mardi and she bucked and bucked pretty much the height of herself. Hmm perhaps should have been a warning, but nothing ventured I hopped on and she actually appeared to be stuffy and nappy and a horse with not much education.
I decided I would hang on to her and see how we got on. It soon became clear that she loved hacking but was completely turned off in the school. When you buy a horse this way you are basically starting from scratch as you have absolutely no clue about the horse’s background other than what you are told. I had been told that she had been bought as a novice cob but had turned out to be ‘sassy’ . Yup that word came back to haunt me pretty quickly.
The second time I popped her over a small fence – about the size a hamster could easily jump – her back end came up above my head and I found myself sitting on the floor watching her backside heading for the exit.
The second time I popped her over a small fence – about the size a hamster could easily jump – her back end came up above my head and I found myself sitting on the floor watching her backside heading for the exit. It was so quick and it came out of nowhere three strides after the fence, me I had just been sitting there – yup like that duck.
I dusted myself down and remounted, worked her and popped over another miniscule fence – this time I was ready for her though and when she tried her monster move again I sat it out. Having had six operations on my left shoulder though I did wonder then just what on earth to do next with her.
Mardi settling into life here
I was already growing to like her – a lot. She suited me size-wise and inside of that body, there is a lovely looking, strong mare that has one heck of a jump. She did the same thing to me again though after a fence a couple of weeks later – it is a well-rehearsed move – a drop of the shoulder, a spin and buck all combined into a movement that I am sure would get a 10 from Len!
Now I was a bit stumped. I am no longer 25 and I literally bounce less than lead balloon now. So first off I got my ace vet to check all avenues of pain – I even scanned and x-rayed her joints. ‘You have the soundest horse I have seen in a long time’ was my vet’s diagnosis. So at least I knew that pain was not causing her behaviour which was a good start. It seemed to be in her head.
But where to go next? I couldn’t afford to knacker my shoulder again for the sake of getting bucked off an antsy mare so I needed a plan B! Find out what happened in Mardi Part 2!
For lots of Mardi videos showing her progress head to my video page
