Having Harcombe was hard work but we loved owning a horse of our own, and now that we had been to our first show there was no stopping us. We went to every one that we could, sometimes Harcombe would behave and other times he was a little sod. One show that we went to had a cross country clear round course, we decided that as I had never done a cross country course before that Peter would take him around and we set of to walk the course. At each jump there was an option of either the novice jump, which was no higher than two feet, or the intermediate jump which was three foot and above. Peter said that according to how Harcombe went at each jump would give him time to judge which one he would take next.

That day Harcombe was in one of his “I am not going to jump no matter what you do” moods and watching Peter try and get him over tiny little practice jumps had me laughing out loud. The one bit that I can still remember now is when Peter cantered Harcombe twice around the field and then turned him into the jump still at a canter, Harcombe, being very wise stopped dead and just strolled up to the jump and sniffed at it, Peters legs were going flat out trying to make him take off from a standstill, like that was going to happen. Peter took him away and cantered him around the field again and this time when he turned him in towards the jump Harcome kept up the pace, Peter got ready for the takeoff, and just as you thought he was going to do it Harcombe dropped his shoulder right at the last minute, Peter carried on straight over the jump and Harcombe realizing that he was free turned and bolted off towards the horse boxes. I ran over to Peter who had still not got up from the floor and I tried, I really did try to ask him if he was ok but I just could not stop laughing, which really did not go down very well, though I do not know why, he-he.

Peter got up and started to whinge about how much pain he was in and that he could not possibly do the cross country course now and that I would have to do it. Well that knocked the smile straight off my face, but because I did not want to look like I was a complete novice I agreed and went off to rescue Harcombe who was stood so patiently next to our horse trailer, bless him.

I decided that Harcombe had done enough of the horse practice jumps and decided to go straight over to the cross country course, thinking that I would have a few minutes grace I was surprised when they said that I could start straight away, my mouth went dry and my hands were all clammy and so Peter said that he would walk round with me to make sure that I was ok. I turned Harcombe in towards the first jump, he took off and we sailed over the jump into the next field, so far so good. We cantered down the field towards the next jump which was a wall, Harcombe flew up to it but stopped dead, I managed to stay on which I think surprised a lot of people who was standing there watching. I turned him around and kicked him on again, but yet again he stopped dead in his tracks, on the third time Peter said that he would stand to the side to try and stop him from turning at the last minute, so I turned him in again and headed him straight towards the wall.

This time I really thought that he would do it and jump the wall but he stopped yet again, Peter was shouting from the side to kick him on and without thinking about it I did, and do you know what? The little sod did well! He took off from a standstill right over the wall, I took off with him but the landing part the other side is a completely different story. When we landed I was hanging round his neck, and because he just stopped dead the other side I slipped right off and hit the ground. I jumped straight up and the first thing I could think of to say was, “yeah we did it,” everyone started to cheer, which made me so embarrassed but at the same time made me so proud that I jumped back on to Harcombe and carried on around the course, and this time he jumped the rest of the course without stopping, bless him! It was days like this that made me proud of owning a horse.

Having Harcombe was like owning a horse of my own, every day whether rain or shine we went out horse riding. Sometimes Granny had a spare horse so Peter and I could ride out together and on the other days we took it in turns to ride out with Granny and her family. Life could get no better than this, I thought. Now after about six months of having Harcombe, Granny told us about a horse show she was going to and that she had room on the lorry for one more horse if we would like to go. Like to go? Well I could not stop talking about it for the whole week prior to the show. I was soooo excited.

On the morning of the show, my friend Jane said she would come up to the stables and plait Harcombe’s mane up ready for the show, so I made sure that I had bought loads of black elastic bands, color coordinated to match his mane of course, and some hoof polish to make his feet shine. He had a brand new red sweat rug, red numnuh, and red head collar to match. He was so good and did not fidget one bit while she was plaiting him, and when he was finished he looked real cool, not at all like a pansy which was what everyone else was calling him. As soon as Jane was happy at the finished outcome we boxed him up with the others then drove to the show. The show was only a twenty minute drive away, which I think Granny was quite pleased about because I did not stop talking from the time we left the stables till the time we arrived at the horse show. God! I was so excited I could not wait to get there and get him unloaded.

“We are here,” I yelled making everyone nearly jump out of there skins and Peter gave me one of his please be quiet looks as Granny parked up the horse trailer. As soon as she turned of the engine I was gone, running round to the back of the trailer I opened the door and there he was still intact with his plaits, my lovely Harcombe. Peter led him out whilst I went and got all of his tack which I had scrubbed and polished the previous night, it almost looked like new now. When I had finished tacking him up I stood back to admire my choice of color that I had chosen for him. Looking at the picture now, yes I think it was a bit too much, but on that day years ago he looked great and I was so proud of him.

Sams and Harcombe's 1st Horse Show

Peter had not been very well that week so he did not want to compete in any of the classes but he said that he would warm him up for me whilst I went to register him. Granny came with me because I had no idea what class to put in so she registered us in the two foot jumping class, I was given a number which she helped me to put on. I was so excited and even though I had been to shows with Granny and her family before I could not remember what we had to do next. When Granny said come on then lets go, I had to ask her go where? “To walk the course silly,” she said, “otherwise how will you know where you are going,” so off we went to walk the course. It was only a small course but the jumps looked huge, and even though granny was talking to me as we walked round I had no idea of what she was saying, my tummy was turning over and all of a sudden I started to feel sick, the nerves were kicking in, great!

Peter took one look at me when I arrived back at the trailer and then started to laugh, “you look awful,” he said, thanks a bunch for that I thought, and I was going to give him a piece of my mind but thought that I might burst into tears if I tried talking, so I just grabbed Harcombes reigns and walked off to try and calm my nerves. I trotted around for a few minutes then took him over the practice jump a couple of times, he flew over, you could tell he was having fun, shame about his rider, I thought. Looking up I saw Granny waving at me so I trotted Harcombe over to her. My class had started and they were calling numbers at random, please not me first, I thought, as luck would have it I was called in fifth, they all wished me luck as I trotted towards the ring.

Just as we were about to enter, Harcombe stopped dead, I tried to get him to walk on but at that point he started to rear up. Granny came over and led him and telling me under her breath to relax because Harcombe could sense it, and that was why he was playing up, I nodded and smiled then trotted of towards the caravan. A man asked me my name and number which I had completely forgotten, so again Granny came to the rescue. I was told to ride around then start when I heard the bell, my hands were so clammy I could hardly turn Harcombe at the end of the ring, then just as I was about to say that I could not do this the loud speaker went off, “and now in the ring we have Samantha Beale riding Harcombe,” well that made my day hearing that, and from that point I knew we were going to get round the course, the bell went off and so did we.

Harcombe flew around the course loving it, he took off at the right moment and landed well, I landed a few seconds after him each time but that did not stop us from finishing the whole course. Wow! What a rush it was. Walking out of that horse jumping ring with a clear round made me feel like I was on cloud nine, I think everyone was surprised that we actually got a clear round, and now that we had done it, I was saying that I loved it and would do it again when Granny said that it was just as well because now I was in the jump off. So I would have to do it again, my face fell and everyone started to laugh at me, what happened to “can I do it again,” they asked, I started to laugh as well and hoping that it sounded genuine.

My turn soon came back around again, but this time you only had to jump some of the horse jumps, not all of them, and you were against the clock. There were quite a few small ponies which had the speed but Granny said they would not be able to turn in quick enough like Harcombe could, so that was the technique we used, and do you know what? We came fourth! I was so chuffed, especially when we all had to do our lap of honor, Harcombe had his winning rosette attached to the top of his horse bridle and I left it there for the rest of the day. When we got home I gave him an extra special feed for doing so well. He did look rather funny when I took out all of his mane plaits, bless him, but that day it really felt like my dream had come true and I was owning a horse of my own.