I was still flying when I got back into horses at 28, I went riding in St. Lucia on a trip and a week later I made a call, and bought a horse, Moon,  beautiful 16.2hh TB ex-racer, she was amazing, everything I could have asked for, stubborn as hell in the school, however amazing hacker, we had three years of fun, then lameness, she had poor confirmation to her front fore and it became apparent no amount of corrective shoeing would help her become sound.  We lept from one injury to the next and after 6 years together it was time to say goodbye aged 16, she knew and I took my lead from her. 

I decided to give her the summer, and I began loaning a little sports horse the day after I bought him he did the most humungus rear after another livery left the arena with her horse.  I sought help from my instructor, got all the usual stuff checked out, all fine, however he hated being in and as it was intermittent, I decided to turn him away for a bit see if anything changed.

In the meantime I moved out on to a beautiful estate and took my at the time very broken Galaxy to rehab and hopefully start again, it soon became apparent that without surgery for the kissing spine, something I toyed with for about a week, then decided against it, he would not be safe to ride.  He had always preferred to live out most of his most explosive moments and there were many, were inside spaces, so prolonged boxrest after the op was not an option.

Once we received the diagnosis and how bad it was I bit the bullet and retired him permanently, he hadn't been ridden for the best part of a year and just loved hanging out with the old boy Star who lived with me.  The most gorgeous 17.2hh TB you have ever met, they were so happy, sadly Star fell ill and his owner decided to put him down, I was on holiday at the time, still I remember the conversation like it was yesterday, I knew it was time to say goodbye to my boy, he would have been frantic without him, and it just wasn't fair.

After a few months I began to look again, tried many, got let down a few times nothing felt like it was right, I knew I was a different rider after Galaxy crushing my confidence, I just wanted something straight forward, no issues, no heartbreak! It was at this point I was ready to chuck the towel in, losing two horses so close to each other, when my Farrier stopped by and mentioned this little cob x shire mare to me and we went to view her, she did everything I asked for and after a vetting I took her home.   She was 4 not 12 as I had planned to buy!

The irony of Daisy was she rode like a 12 year old, absolute superstar, we slowly got our confidence back and little by little went out further til we were out on our tod for 2hrs of pure magic.  I had been house hunting and decided to buy a old Victorian Villa by the sea in Somerset and do it up myself whilst flying, make use of my degree in Interior Design; all seemed idyllic except one thing I was actually 4 hours from LHR rather than 2.5 back in Sussex.  When I did relocate I needed to look for grazing like we had or a livery yard which had services this time, it became the latter, it soon became apparent that ground manners now she was at a livery yard were really quite hit and miss, not to mention the fact she was constantly in Season, she was more like a Stallion than a Mare, often rearing for the hell of it.

After a year of being in Somerset we went to our first show she was doing really well, we were having lessons and progressing, she had a medium trot and canter to die for and it seems she was rather good at Dressage, our first competition she came 3rd and team 4th, so proud of her, everything I had been hoping for was coming true despite her ground manners.

6 months later we began disuniting in Canter then bucking, it was more that being difficult or not wanting to do it; this felt very familiar to Galaxy, so I got the usual done Saddler, Teeth, Physio and then Vet, heartbreakingly as well as the shocking hormonal behaviour, she had hock arthritis and mild changes to her back, she was only 9....so during this period her ground manners which were not perfect where becoming explosive, and it became apparent I needed a different approach.

I had a month off so it was the perfect time to transition......I got sick and I never returned to flying.....it turns out I was rather burnout for it all, probably a bit peri menopausal and if I am honest exhausted from juggling it all.  After a year I felt more like myself so it would be a good time to start a business and finish the house.

Since she came from grass livery to a livery I would see if i could find a smaller yard where it was quieter and with more turnout, luckly there was one space down the road so I tacked her up and off we rode to a new yard, I put her in the stable she liked it, so she stayed, we would see where it took us  during that year of tranisition. I was committed to do everything and anything I could to change the management moving forward, and so our journey began......an the creation of THE HORSE ORGANISER was born, I mean come on I needed a lighthouse in those stormy waters just to navigate the path through, I would plan, test, evaluate and then keep or change, all the time noting down the results each time I rode. 

I even took to weighing her, her hay, created a track system, and finally started to see patterns in her behaviour...the light, from there we could target the treatments and training accordingly, the new yard was perfect, she could do things without causing too many problems.

So if you are having problems or just want to pay a bit more attention to those areas so you can work on them and your partnership together I highly recommend giving The Horse Organiser a go for a year, write in it, treat it as your bible and see what things look like at the end of that year, it's probably the best £24.95 you will spend.

Good Luck on your journey, if you need to reach out I am on email emma@thehorseorganiser.com, we have a private group that goes along side the equestrian planner if you would like weekly prompts and accountability.

bye for now

Mxxx