A Brief History of Charlie and Me.

Well it is almost 5 years ago since I got Charlie, my first horse who was sold as a small competition horse. Perhaps with my lack of real riding experience and him being a thoroughbred maybe not a good combination but we got along well.

We had a number of problems during the first winter, such as feeding him too much mix and nuts, he had so much energy, but after learning about feeding correctly he soon calmed down. Through lack of knowledge I just copied the tack which the previous owner had, so flash nose band and martingale. So as Charlie calmed the noseband and martingale came off, and boy was he a different horse because of it.

We spent a lot of time jumping things over the first winter and I played with him loose in the school.

Anyways in the first spring we moved to a dressage yard, and he had a massive field but the yard owner had lots of rules, which didn’t benefit us at all well. Everything had to be done at the same time to every horse, so they all went out at the same time and came in at the same time, all the horses ended up waiting by the gates, same with feeding and this brought out many more vices from Charlie, but there wasn’t much I could do as you needed permission to ride which was rarely given, and should you want to ride during the day the yard owner had to be asked as she had the only key.

As you can guess we didn’t stay long, but it wasn’t all bad as she introduced me to Monty Roberts.

From the dressage yard we went to a DIY yard where there were a few serious jumpers with the odd dressage person, but generally people hacked. and it proved to be a good mix, so we just ended up disappearing for an hour or two every few days into the lanes. It was a shame to leave but a lady was moving to a yard which was much closer to home and they had far more hacking roads.

The first hack I went on was for three hours, and a carriage was in group. It was a much smaller yard so everybody knew each other better, which suited me.

I then met Sara and went on a few courses with Eyjolfur Ísolfsson, who got me really thinking about horsemanship, Sara had done little bits which we tried with the horses, but as soon as there was a problem or the horse could do it lack of knowledge stopped us.

So we took a deep breath and bought a Parelli Pack, we didn’t watch it immediately; we saved it for a week’s holiday when we were in Sweden so we could study it properly. Then when we got back that was it, we went full steam into our horses, ok they developed at different speeds, Charlie took a long time to give sideways but everything else went well, especially the undemanding time, within 5 minutes he was stood over me, smelling and nuzzling everything.

The only negative part of Parelli is that it showed Charlie’s dominant side, which we never fully dealt with, nor ever would as he would always take the game to a new level.

I had lots of plans prior to the sale to Charlie, we wanted to do a video for official assessment and for me to keep, and however by the time we were what I felt ready time was running out. We tried but it wasn’t going to happen, so rather than letting the last days be a fight and us both get nowhere we just had a few hacks.

It was upsetting for Charlie to go especially the last week, but I look back over our time together and smile, my last aim was for us to be partners, but I’m happy with us finishing as good friends.

There’s times when we cried, like when he grazed his leg for the first time and there were thoughts of calling the vet, and times when I laughed like when we galloped through a massive field and did some jumps.

I will miss him terribly, but he’s got a good home with a new herd, and I know he’ll be happy with them.