My name's Marissa. I'm 17 years old and have been riding since I was 9. I'm mainly an english rider though enjoys riding western on trail rides and for cowsorting. I had solid english lessons for the first five years of my riding life before my favourite barn, and horse, had moved to a different facility too far for my mother to drive me. I ended up part-boarding a really bad horse at a run-down barn where I found the love of my life, Symbah. He was an 18 month old Fjord x TB gelding. At the time he was barely halter broken. I eventually taught him how to lead like a pro, stand in the crossties, stand quietly for the farrier, handle spooky objects, done in-hand trails, lunged a wide circle w/t/c, sat on him and started steering him undersaddle when he was 2. But then I had a falling-out with the barn owner and left that barn. About 4 months later that barn went under and I ended up purchasing Symbah. He was very underweight, hadn't seen a farrier in about 4-5 months and hadn't been dewormed in about 5 months or so. I found out the barn owner had tried riding him undersaddle to sell him quicker, and 2 weeks prior to me buying him had tried starting him over fences. So he got to relax and be a horse for a few months, and then I went back to the basics.
Fast forward to now. We've been to a great barn, a really bad barn and now am at a great facility again. Symbah is healthy, happy and sassy. He's 4 now, and goes solid walk/trot/canter, can do a small crossrail course and is started over simple 2ft fences. He rides english and western, have lightly played with gaming, he's nearly bombproof out on trails and seems to have a good knack for cowsorting. I love him dearly and have no intentions of ever selling him/letting him go. He's always willing and aims to please. We've been to 4 off-property shows and our most recent show he placed 3rd, 4th, 5th and 5th in the Hack division.
People always tell me he's not going to get further than schooling shows because he isn't the pretty Thoroughbred/Warmblood that is desired in Hunter. But he's got movement, and he's got heart so I'm not going to give up on him. We'll prove everyone wrong, one day one way. We're the underdogs.
At the end of April, we'll be moving to a closer facility to start into some serious training. We'll hopefully hit some simple schooling shows this year, and next year we'll jump in with the big boys on the Trillium circuit. Our goal is to get to the "A" circuit and place in just one show; nothing more. Just to prove those nay-sayers wrong. Sure.. we'll hit some bumps along the way, but we'll meet new people, new horses and new places as well. It's all a learning experience.
So here we come, BYB wonder and I.
Zoom-zoom!
If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to e-mail me at Artistedecheval@hotmail.com
Thank you.
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My backyard bred wonder; Symbah; King Of The Jungle (show name). 2004 Norwegian Fjord x Thoroughbred gelding.
About Us
- MdJ & KotJ
- "I do because I can, I can because I want to, and I want to because you said I couldn't." I'm not a professional.
2 comments:
Wow, your horse reminds me exactly of mine.
I actually bought him as a western horse, at four years old[not a very good gamer though] but I used him for cowsorting and people were amazed when I told them how long I had been sorting [I took him six or seven times altogether], and he was a rockstar about it.
I converted him to a little hunter/dressage horse, and he's so awesome! He's five now, so he's still at the beginning of his career.
Also, people don't think he can 'do good' because he is a little western paint, just like yours because he isn't a warmblood. But he has faaaaancy movement.
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