Meet Fred,Dd1's new pony.

[TheFnozwhowasmirage]

I haven't posted on here for a while,but have lurked. Old timers might remember that I bought dpony nearly 4 years ago for my DD's to share. She has mainly been ridden by Dd1 who is now nearly 12,whilst Dd2 has had a couple of 12hh ponies on loan.Dd2 is a confident rider who likes whizzy ponies,but Dd1 likes the steadier sort,that are harder to find.We had reluctantly decided that Dd1 had outgrown Dpony in size and capability and next year we'd have to look for something bigger,with more scope,but not whizzy. Frankly,I wasn't looking forward to it.
However,out of the blue,last Tuesday,I mentioned it to our instructor, and she said she knew of a super pony up for loan. His owner wanted a PC home,but only by recommendation and had asked our instructor if she knew of anyone. We went to see him on Thursday,they offered to take him to a rally for her to try there on Sunday,and he was fabulous. He hadn't done PC for ,6 years,but was exactly what they'd said he would be. She rode him all day and loved him and he us coming to live with us this week. He is big enough at 14.1,and chunky,for me to ride too and his owner only lives a few miles away,so we plan to hack out together when I can borrow him from Dd1.

Agh, looks lovely and a super find.

Wondered where you'd got to Mirage......glad things are going well on the horse front. Fred looks like a superstar and it's great that you will be able to ride him too. Hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Thank you both. do you still have your gold dust ponyEve? How is your big lad's back these days frosty?

Fred is coming tomorrow, so I'm off work today to sort paddocks out.I'll have 3 ponies for the summer as I've arranged for DD2 to keep her little loan pony for camp.She will be moving onto dpony after that,but to be honest,dpony presents no challenge to her,so won't last her long.However, a friend has a whizzy 13.1 that is a very good pony, but which terrifies her daughter who has only just come off riding school ponies. Poor child was too scared to ride the whizzer on Sunday,so I tacked up dpony and she rode her instead and was like a different child, big grin on her face and really enjoyed herself. I did ask her if she'd like to borrow dpony for camp and her face lit up. I'm pleased because dpony loves camp and I'd feel awful leaving her behind and it was lovely seeing her do her job and give confidence to a petrified child. We have also arranged for DD2 to ride the whizzer as she is a bigger faster version of her current loan pony,and Dd2 likes that sort. If things work out,it might be worth us swapping for a while,so one can gain confidence whilst the other has some fun and a challenge.
Meanwhile,we are going to have to investigate the mysteries of dressage as Fred has won a lot of dressage to music comps,he moves beautifully. He also jumps 1m+ and sounds like the cavalry coming when he canters as the ground shakes,also hunts like a dream. I think I'm as excited as Dd1.

Sounds like you'll be very busy! Big horse is ok, we had a bit of a blip over the winter when he stopped jumping so I had his back checked out - nothing new came up, his muscle tone is still good so we went for a steroid injection and some bute and he seemed happy enough at the end of the season. His saddle has been reflocked and he seems comfortable. We did 32 days hunting in all.

Photo is from our second ever team chase which was absolutely terrifying, but thrilling after the event! He's had 7 weeks off, is the size of a house and has just come back into work although a loose shoe has curtailed that while I wait for the farrier, then I'm on holiday for a week so back to square one! I'll see how he goes over the summer with fun rides and stuff and hope that he's back to normal.

I think I'd faint if my girls jumped something like that! You have my total respect! I hope you enjoy the summer on him.

yup still have 'gold dust' pony. He is fantastic, DS took him to Riding Club dressage nationals and came 5th a few months ago.

They qualified last week for RC Show jumping Nationals and doing PC event and showjumping areas in next few weeks. Not bad for a 19 year old ex driving horse!

DS is growing like a weed though and beginning to get too big for him!! So now need a 16h superstar!

This is him a couple of years ago doing their favourite thing!

That is a gorgeous pic Eve - two happy faces!

Awww! What a fabulous photo. How big is gold dust pony?