I had left school and got a myself a job, owning a horse of my own now became my mission. But being a young sixteen year old things did not quite go to plan, instead of getting a horse I got myself a boyfriend, but as luck would have it he to was very interested in horses to.

Now Granny had quite a few horses which she could not manage all at once, so she asked my boyfriend Peter and I if we would be interested in taking one of her horses on loan, we could keep him stabbled there and it would cost us £20 a week.

We worked out all of our out going expenses just to make sure that we could afford him, his vet bills, and his food, as soon as we realised that we could we went round to Grannys to accept. Finnally I would be owning a horse, well sort of. I could not wait to go and ride Harcombe.

Harcombe was a fifteen-two cob cross horse, he used to be a hunting horse but he was getting on a bit now so was retired from hunting, which was how Granny came to have him. Now the thing with Harcombe was that he was very set in his ways, for example, if he did not want to go a certain way then he would drop his left shoulder, rear, and then spin round and head back to his stable. Not a very nice trait that he had picked up, but at least Granny had warned us both about it.

The first day that we owned Harcombe Peter went out riding with Granny, all went very smoothly and Harcombe was very well behaved. The next day it was my turn, but because Granny was riding out over the common I decided, as it was my first time, just to do a little bit of horse road work with him so that we could check each other out.

I decided to go up the lane opposite my parents house and then around the block, Peter said that he would wait for me to go past and then meet me at the stables. Of I went without a care in the world, riding a horse that sort of belonged to me. What could go wrong?

We went up the lane, and about half way up I let him have his head, he broke out into a canter, it was such a good feeling, and getting to the end I was so tempted to go back and do it again, but knowing that Peter was waiting for me at our check point I decided against it and carried on down towards the road.

Turning the corner we walked down the hill and onto the road, there coming towards us was a group of three horses. Now coming from a stable with a lot of horses Harcombe thought that these were his friends and started to trot towards them, I pulled him back into a walk and let him sniff the other horses whilst I engaged in conversation, but as soon as I asked him to walk past he started to throw his head about. I knew this was the sign for him to drop his shoulder, so before that happened I tightened my reins and gave him a hard kick, he shot forward, a little surprised that I knew his little trick, and he started to trot along the road.

I was so pleased with myself that I let him trot till I met up with Peter. I could not wait to tell him how I’d mastered the horse. Peter just looked at me when I had finnished telling him and told me not to get too cocky. As if. I told him that I would see him in about half an hour and began trotting off to finnish my ride.

Being sat up on harcombe made me feel so tall, I could see for miles across the fields, it was great, I loved that feeling. Anyway getting back to my ride. I was just getting to the top of the estate which was about half way round. I remember singing away without a care in the world, so what the little bugger did next took me completley by surprise. He did not drop his shoulder. He just froze, then span round and jumped up on all fours. As soon as his feet landed he took off flat out in a full gallop, I screamed and yelled at him, when you think about it that probably did not help, but at that point I remember being absoultley terrified, I yanked on the reins but nothing happened, well it did, he got faster. The fifteen minute walk that I had planned just flew passed in thirty seconds, and all I kept praying was that we did not meet anyone coming the other way.

Before I knew it I was whizzing passed my parents house, looking back I suppose it was quite funny, seeing three faces at the window as I shot passed, my arms and legs not far behind. At the time I can asure you it was no laughing matter. As soon as harcombe got back to the yard he stopped and casually just walked into his stable, and I swear it took ages for me to untangle his mane from my fingers so that I could dismount.

As soon as I saw Peter running up the yard I burst into tears, I swore that I would never ever ride Harcombe again and that he had to go back. But of course that did not happen, and I did ride him again. At that moment he was the closest thing I had to owning a horse of my own.

Owning a horse was a dream for me from a very early age, looking back now at some of my old photos brings back some very funny memories. I think that one of the very first memories that I have of riding has got to be riding a donkey on the beach at Weston, when you would beg and beg your Mum and dad to let you have a go, and then scream your head off when they get to the end of the beach and turn around and run like crazy all the way back, and then stopping sharply in front of their hay stack where you pulled them away from five minutes ago. OK, now I am older I realize that they turn and trot back, but when you are only five years old it feels like they run flat out and that it goes on for miles.

Going on Holiday with your Mum and Dad, no matter how old you are it always seems boring because you have to do the stuff they want to do, not what you want to do. Unless you think that you are going to get something out of this then you get bored and start to play up, well, I was no different and I bet there is not a child out there that is.

Now on this one day my dad had decided that we were going to go to Clovelly for the day, so we packed up sandwiches and loaded up the car then we were on our way. I could not wait, we were going to go somewhere new, thinking aloud I said, “will there be a sweet shop there Dad,” laughing he said that he thought there might be a few shops but it was a long walk to get to them. We arrived about midday and sat out on the grass to eat our lunch, then we made our way into the shop at the top of Clovelly, dad bought us all a drink to take with us and then we were on our way, down, and down, and down we went, it seemed to take forever to get to the bottom because Mum and Dad insisted on going into all those boring little buildings, why, I had no idea all I wanted was to get to the bottom and onto the beach.

Eventually we hit the bottom and I ran out onto the beach, running in and out of the water, it was great fun. My mum and dad went into the pub but I stayed out not wanting to waste any time in playing. About a hour later they came out and called me over, boy oh boy was I tired from all that playing, my dad said that it was time to go home now and maybe I should not have run around so much seeing as though we now had to walk back up, “walk back up,” I said, “no way,” I was too tired. Straight away I started to moan and whinge, and then started to cry.

My Mum came over to comfort me, and then she said that if I walked up without moaning then I could have a go on one of the donkeys that we had seen on the way down. Being only young I did not realize that she was bribing me, but at the time it did not matter, jumping up I started running over to the bottom of the steps, “come on,” I shouted to them both, “what are you waiting for.”

My legs and back were aching so much but I was determined not to say anything, I just kept on going and going until eventually we were half way back up, and there right in front of me were the two donkeys, one white and the other one brown, yes I had made it. Mum and dad caught up then paid the lady who was looking after the donkeys, my dad came over and helped me onto the white donkey, and do you know what happened next? Absolutely nothing! Because it was such steep path the donkeys were only there for you to have your photo taken with, they never moved a step, not even one, well to say I was gutted was a understatement. So I just sat there and smiled for my photo not really knowing whether to laugh or cry, this was so not fair, after I walked all that way to, without any complaining I might add. Even my Mum and Dad thought that the donkey would take me for a little walk, but no nothing.

Stationary Clovelly Donkeys

Getting back off I looked up at the steep cobbled road that we had to walk to get back to the car, I did not think that my little legs could do it without moaning this time. So we set off again. Up and up we went and I never once complained the whole way, brave of me or what?

When we reached the top my dad went into the shop, when he came out he was carrying this huge bar of chocolate which he shared between us all, well if he thought that was a peace offering for making me walk all that way he was going to be in for a surprise. But because the chocolate was so nice I thought that I would wait a while to get even with them and it would have to be when I had finished eating my lovely chocolate. Lying down on the grass in between taking bites out of my chocolate, I was already wondering how much it would cost in owning a horse of my own.

Riding Honey whenever I wanted to felt like owning a horse of my own. My friend Jo and myself used to ride out every day for hours on end, through the woods across the common and even just round the lanes, it was such good fun and we loved it. My Mum and Dad used to get a little confused though because when walking to school Jo and I would take at least half an hour and always end up being late with letters being sent home, hehe, but when the bell rang at the end of the day and we knew we were going out riding then it would take us only ten minutes to get home funny that!!!!

Now one day as we were getting ready to go out riding, Honey’s owners came up to us and what they said next completely destroyed me, they were moving away, which ok might not sound too bad but then came the worse bit, they were putting Honey up for sale because they were moving to a city and did not think that it was fair to take her. Oh my god! At that point my whole world came crashing down, I ran all the way home, tears running down my face, I ran through our front door like I was being chased by a swarm of angry bees, it took my Mum about twenty minuets to calm me down and get any sense out me. At first she thought that I had fallen off again and really hurt myself. Because I was so upset this annoyed me even more and I just started to shout at her. I know this was wrong but being a fourteen year old girl and having her dream taken away I knew no wrong in shouting at her.

About a hour later I had calmed down enough to sort of apologize and to tell her the whole story, at this point my brother come in from work and was listening, nosy so-and-so, at the end of it I just burst out crying again, my brother said that he could afford to buy Honey for me but could not afford to keep her, bless him, did I say nosy brother earlier, must have been a typing error, any way, I knew that my parents did not have enough money to keep her and even at that young age I knew it would be unfair to ask them, but one good thing, until she was sold at least I could carry on riding her.

With Honey gone I just skulked around the house all day being really miserable, I did not even want to go out and play with my friends, I just went to school, then came home and went straight up to my room, only coming down for food and drink, my Mum even offered to pay for me to go back to the riding stables again, but as you would have probably guessed, I thought that I was an accomplished rider by now so it would have been a waste of money, I know that its true what people say, you learn something knew every day, and boy-oh-boy have I learnt a lot.

Granny had just bought a new horse for her son who liked doing long distance horse riding with his grandma, the horse was the same height as Honey and the same color, when Granny heard about Honey being sold she asked me if I could help her get Lizzie (her son’s new horse) fit, no problem, I replied, I mean how hard could it be, ok she was a little overweight and a bit stubborn, I was just happy at the thought of being back in the saddle.

Now the first time I rode her Granny said that we were going to do road work, having been out riding with her before I knew that it was going to be just miles and miles of trotting, great I thought, one sore bum coming up. I tacked up Lizzie then mounted up, “ready,” I shouted to Granny and she led the way down the track. As soon as we hit the road she started to trot, what a surprise, I thought, and squeezed my heels into Lizzie’s sides to get her to trot, nothing happened so I squeezed again, and again, Granny came trotting back towards me laughing, “I forgot to tell you she said she hates doing anything but walking so you really have to use your legs on her all the time, Granny said. I squeezed once more and then gave her a sharp kick, she groaned and very slowly went into a trot, I did it, I thought very smugly to myself, and without realizing it I must have lost contact because straight away she stopped trotting and started to walk again, using my heels I dug them back into her side and again she broke out into a trot, just!

Getting back to the stables later I was not sure who was sweating the most, me or Lizzie, but I did know one thing for sure and that was I could not feel my legs, nope there was nothing there whatsoever. After riding Honey who would go from a standstill to flat-out in one leap, I guessed that I must have been spoilt and just didn’t realize it at the time. Granny had already dismounted and was leading Woodway back into the stables, I just sat there wondering if my legs would take my body weight when I finally had the courage to try it. Ok my lesson of that day was not to get complacent, no two horses were the same, thank god for that I thought to myself because when it came to owning a horse of my own I knew what type I would be going for.

I soon got used to riding Honey and it was like owning a horse of my own. Because I had to walk so far with the tack I very rarely used a horse saddle, looking back now I do not think that I would last five minutes bareback but as kids you seemed to have more balance. Back then I did not even own a riding hat but now the first thing I do is put on my riding hat, strange how growing up makes you much more cautious.

One day we decided to go around to Granny’s to do some jumping, Jo was on Goldie and I was on Honey as usual, I had no saddle but was not worried about it. Jo wanted some advice from Granny because Goldie would not jump at all, so in the little paddock Granny had set up some small jumps, we were so excited, Honey flew around them, it felt so good to be jumping, she never stopped once and she seemed to enjoy it as much as me. Then it was Jo’s turn to go round the jumps but Goldie would not jump at all, we tried every thing to get Goldie to jump but nothing worked. Granny said to come back the next day and try again but first to go out on a hack to tire him out a bit, then he might not be so quite so full of himself.

The next day I tacked up Honey with a saddle, I know, quite a novelty for me. I met Jo along the road, we decided to go through the woods for our ride because it only took forty five minutes but we could let them go at the gallop. This would hopefully tire out Goldie enough to make Jo handle him better back at Granny’s. This seemed to do the trick as he actually trotted over the trotting poles without hesitating. Granny put the jumps up to the first hole, Honey flew around the course followed by Goldie, it was amazing the higher the jumps went up the easier they both seemed to jump.

Granny told us to jump the fence out into the main field where there was more solid jumps to practise on. Well we did not need to be told twice, we flew over the fence and galloped out around the field, it was almost like a horse cross country course that they had built, there were more jumps and most of them were the same height that we had just been jumping. I think that I was slightly over cocky. I turned in and let Honey go at the first jump, as she cantered up to it I got ready for the take off, Jo was right behind me on Goldie.

The next thing I knew I was led on my back looking up at the sky, ouch that hurt, getting up I saw Jo hanging on for dear life around Goldie’s neck as he bolted around the field, he was heading straight for the muck heap. and just as he reached it he sharply swerved left, poor Jo never stood a chance, she landed face first in the muck heap, mmmmm nice, she jumped up straight away and started to laugh, which was just as well as Granny was trying to come to our rescue but was laughing so much it was a very slow progress.

Trying to catch Honey and Goldie was no laughing matter though, and running round the field getting all hot and sticky made Jo smell even worse than she did before, eventually we managed to catch them both with a little help from a bucket of horse nuts and we mounted back up ready to go home. Honey flew over the fence back into the small paddock but Goldie was having none of it. This was the only place that we could get out, all the other fencing was over six foot high, so to get out she had to jump the small part of the fence where we had jumped in. Goldie reared and bucked as soon as Jo turned him in to face the fence, Granny stood behind him to try and coax him forward but he started to kick out at her. His sweat was thick and white now but he still would not give in and jump the fence, even me jumping back over so he could follow me did not help, it just seemed to make him more stubborn about the whole thing, so we had no choice but to leave him there over night.

As it was starting to get dark Jo asked me if I would go and tell Goldie’s owner what had happened while she untacked him and rubbed him down,ready to put his sweat rug on, I trotted off to make sure that I could get back before it had got completely dark. Around the corner I went but pulled up Honey when I heard Jo yelling behind me. Turning around I saw Goldie galloping up the road towards me, but where was Jo? Apparently, as I left and went around the corner, Goldie decided he did not want to be left on his own. He reared up, taking Jo by surprise as she was just dismounting the horse, span around, which made the dismount even quicker, and then shot straight over the fence and came to find us.

He stopped right in front us and rubbed his nose against Honey’s, bless him, he was in love with Honey and did not want her to leave him. I looked over Goldies head and saw a very angry Jo walking along the road. I tried to tell her how sweet it was about Goldie and Honey but she didn’t listen because she was so angry. I don’t really know why, ha ha. She cheered up later though, I think having a bath helped. Looking back on our day we realised that owning a horse of our own was going to be a lot of fun.