Val De Mar
Known as Vallu
2002 FWB gelding, 178cm
Willburt x Rex 673
Vallu is the most amazing horse that I've ever had the pleasure to ride, he's super talented and has been trained up to PSG/Inter I level by Henri. He knows all the fancy moves: tempi flying changes, all the lateral work in trot and canter, canter pirouettes as well as piaffe. Although he is a big mover and talented, he is also a spooky horse who is very sensitive and this can make it pretty difficult to ride him for an amateur like me. However, I do think that he is the perfect schoolmaster for me and I'm very privileged to have a horse like him ❤️ I've gained so much knowledge and skills in the last 9+ years from riding this horse that I will be eternally grateful to him. He has been retired from proper riding since 2021 but we are still going out for in-hand hack and he gets regularly worked over poles and lunged to maintain a basic fitness.
He was originally bought as a new horse for my mother, but he was too big and scary for her and luckily my parents were willing to give the ride over to me. A rather quirky horse with a huge personality and a great sense of humour, there isn't a day where he doesn't make me laugh! We've been through two different major front leg injuries and various other ailments, we never managed to make it to a proper competition but this is not be the end of the world as just getting to spend time with him and having the pleasure to ride this horse every day is a luxury for me.
My Chalcedony
Known as Doni
2018 FWB gelding
Clarimore x Londonderry
Donna Melisse (2003-2022)
Known as Melisse/Mellu
2003 FWB mare
Don Primero x IndusMellu, my queen! My very first mare, and wow what a journey it has been - I never knew it could be so hard to gain a mare's trust, but now that I have it has been so worth it. She has taught me so unbelievably much about horsemanship in just a few years, and I consider myself eternally blessed to have such a wonderful girl in my life. When she came to me in May 2018, I never could have guessed how much of a softie she would turn out to be. She was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease in January 2022, and despite being on medication, having the best farrier, being on strict low sugar feed and hay we ended up losing her to a horrible laminitis attack in August 2022.
Dybdalsgaard's Ferrai (2004 - 2021)
Known as Erik
2004 Danish WB gelding
Blue Hors Don Schufro x Racot
Erik, my love. He was originally bought as a new horse for my mother in October 2017, but after a couple of falls my parents were willing to give the ride over to me in January 2018. He was a rather quirky horse (thank you for training me to deal with horses like this Vallu!) but with a beautiful soul and a wonderfully kind personality that made his little eccentricities always worth it. He was a bit of a worrier but in the end he was the most trusting and darling horse there ever was. I lost him in August 2021 due to a sudden colic attack, a day that I will never get over.
“You gave me a forever within the numbered days…” - John Green, The Fault In Our Stars
Riverfield Bastitini (2002-2019)
Known as Basse and Fat Unicorn 🦄
2002 FWB gelding
Fair Play BRD 97 x Napoleon
Basse came to us when he was 2 years old and has never left. At the age of 5, I started riding him (I was 14 then!) and this was when he did his first dressage competitions. This started his competition career that consisted of about fifty unaffiliated and affiliated dressage competitions ranging from preliminary to elementary levels where he was nearly always placed. From 2008-2010 Basse and I competed in many shows in and around West Sussex, mainly at Hickstead, Oldencraig Equestrian Center and Merrist Wood. During this time our worst placing ever in at a competition was 10th place in big classes, but normally we were placed in the top three. Our best result was at Hickstead in a novice class with a score of 70%! 🦄
In February 2016 Basse had a freak accident in his paddock where he fell over and damaged his straight distal sesamoidean ligament (SDSL) but after more than 11 months of rehab, a few huge vet bills and some major stress, he finally started to improve slightly and when I moved back to Finland in the autumn of 2016 I started properly riding him again. After moving back to the UK in July 2018 he was retired due to arthritic changes in his front legs, and in August 2019 he sadly passed away. I can only hope that he knew how much I adored and loved him. In my dreams I get to see you and I can't wait to be reunited with you 💞
 |
Spirella (1994-2016)
Known as Nelli
1994 Danish WB mare
Those of who you have followed the blog from the early days or know me in real life will know about Nelli, the small, feisty mare who was adored by absolutely everyone. Nelli was with my family for over 10 years and taught everyone so much about literally everything. When I fell off my pony in a bad way and was so scared that I seriously considering quitting riding, Nelli was the reason why I still to ride to this day. She was such a kind horse and made me feel so safe that I was able to feel comfortable riding again. Everyone needs a horse like this in their life at some point. Vallu and I had only been back in Finland for 3 weeks in the spring of 2016 before her teeth were beyond repair from diastema and the quality of life had decreased too much.
I will never forget the moment when her heart stopped and mine kept beating.
 |
| Nelli taught me flying changes when I first moved from ponies to horses |
stunning
ReplyDeleteBeautiful 🐴
ReplyDeleteWow
ReplyDelete