To say we are proud of her is an understatement! She is a part-bred ( no 4028), by Saul Oberon out of a tb show jumper mare (Vesty) and will be 16 on the 3rd July this year. She doesn't show her age though and still continues to give us the run around as if she were 3! An amazingly kind and sensitive soul who absolutely trys her heart out for you. My other half (Dave) has had her for 10 years now and with him she has mainly done affiliated show jumping with double clears up to 1.05 last year. She loves it and was smashing as she was incredibly careful and would practically never touch a pole (I think about 12 faults over her career!). She pretty much stopped showjumping a couple of years ago with just a few outings since as she had lameness niggles we struggled to get to the bottom of. Turns out that slight but long term medial lateral imbalance caused collateral ligament damage. Our excellent farrier couldn't keep her sound in shoes so we took them off. Lots of ups and downs along the way and we are at last there! A diet that balances the minerals she recieves to our grazing which allows her to grow an excellent quality hoof and leaving her to wear the balance perfectly seems to have done the trick and she is off again!!

 We spent last year doing a little showing with her and a few dressage outings and are looking forward to continuing the same this year. If you were at Folds farm last year you might have noticed her showing her contempt for being lead around (the shame!) in the mare class. Fortunately she redeemed herself by loving the ridden (2nd) and winning the BTO sash and prize. At home she mainly hacks for miles around Cirencester Park (popping the odd log!) which she completely loves, with lessons every few weeks. This year we plan on getting the other half of her BD area qualification at prelim and making the step up to novice. She is really loving the work, though canter changes through trot annoy her, being a show jumper she would much rather use her flying changes and simply thinks the silly human on her back has made a mistake! We are particularly looking forward to the Three Counties where we have her entered for the in-hand CB class. We think she is utterly one in a million, our beautiful kind girl.
Note from Webmaster Jenny : Thank you Anna for telling us all about your fab mare - Other stories gratefully recieved.