Topic

I was thinking Welsh in there some where, although he really does remind me of a 1/4 Shire 3/4 Thoroughbred I had that was stunning and stood 17.1 as a 2 year old, he was a right stubborn ass

Softly~Softly wrote: wrote:

I was thinking Welsh in there some where, although he really does remind me of a 1/4 Shire 3/4 Thoroughbred I had that was stunning and stood 17.1 as a 2 year old, he was a right stubborn shaft

Impressed! He's Shire/TB cross. I think the colour gives it away (and the hairy legs - but I clip them to spare his blushes!)

Luckily, he doesn't have a stubborn bone in his body - he's an absolute sweetheart. Bit of a drama queen - but I can live with that!

People have the wrong opinion of Shires, they are incredibly pretty, very like a Warmblood as in slow to learn but when they do, they never forget, mischievous, and have the most powerful hind quarters, like a Suffolk Punch, which when crossed with a TB produces an exceptional jumping horse, short but incredibly powerful, just a bit chunky on turns which can let them down, unless you bounce them round on their hocks

He is a very handsome boy, although I think he will lead you as merry a dance as Wiggly lol

So, he's actually a horse? Not a dog at all?

Softly~Softly wrote: wrote:

People have the wrong opinion of Shires, they are incredibly pretty, very like a Warmblood as in slow to learn but when they do, they never forget, mischievous, and have the most powerful hind quarters, like a Suffolk Punch, which when crossed with a TB produces an exceptional jumping horse, short but incredibly powerful, just a bit chunky on turns which can let them down, unless you bounce them round on their hocks

He is a very handsome boy, although I think he will lead you as merry a dance as Wiggly lol

He can be a bit quirky - very very quick and sharp for a big horse - and he's a spooky sod. Tries to leap into my arms like Scooby Doo if something scares him - then wonders why I'm cursing!

Makes up for it by being a joy under saddle - and he's also a complete charmer - whickers at me every time I speak to him. Knows exactly where the carrots come from!

Last pic - honest...

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

So, he's actually a horse?

Not a dog at all?

Horse who thinks he's a dog perhaps!

Judging by that "last" photo, errr yeah right, he looks like a horse. who "Knows" he's a God

Softly~Softly wrote: wrote:

Judging by that "last" photo, errr yeah right, he looks like a horse. who "Knows" he's a God

He is a God, and he knows it! But he's more than earned the right to be a bit smug!

Wow, what a terific horse! You are so lucky having somewhere to keep an animal like that. You mus live somwhere you can ride him as well. Are his competition days over or do you have some plans?

lovely boy Ally you deserve him

Beautiful!
Not that I know anything about horses but he is lovely...

Go on, you might as well spill about his achievements before he retired...

I'll answer everyone in one post!

He's 15 years old, so his competition days aren't necessarily over - but I bought him for a pittance because he has leg problems, which were preventing him from being able to work consistently enough to compete at a high level. The place he came from was a professional yard with a lot of younger horses, and they weren't interested in putting the time and money into sorting out his problems, so were considering having him euthanised. I have the time, and have always wanted a horse like him - all my others ahve been youngsters that I have trained myself, so the lure of a horse that knows it all at this stage in my life was huge!

He lives at a local livery yard - it;'s a very horsey area, so loads of nice places for them to live

He has had a complete veterinary assessment, and has arthtritis in his hind legs, plus soem old damage to ligaments. He's had an intravenous infusion of a drug which slows down the arthritis, ad several sessions of shockwave therapy to help his ligaments heal. Last set of scans and xrays showed a lot of improvement, although he managed to tear a ligament jumping out of his field, so he's currently recovering from that. He is out int he field resting at the moment, and will be scanned and xrayed in January, with a view to starting work again - fingers crossed he's ok!

He may be able to compete again if his recovery carries on as well as it is at the moment, but I don't really care abotu that. I'm hoping to be able to do some hacking and play around in the school with him - anything else is a bonus. I'm just happy that I was able to give him a second chance!

He's an advanced dressage horse, who was competing at Internediare 1 level before he broke (one level down from Grand Prix, the top level) He knows all the GP movements, and is always very keen to show them off!