The latest edition

With nothing to ride and a new farm to call home, I started the search for a new horse, this time specifically for a lusitano or andalusian. With my ambitions aligned to classical as opposed to competition dressage, and being all of five foot, the Iberian breeds seemed better suited. The search started and ended pretty quickly, as I went out to a local stud and met a 2yo lusitano x andalusian filly. She was small and minimally handled, but had charisma and a quiet disposition.

A couple of weeks later she was on her first float trip, by herself and landed beside a bunch of misfits - Lennon, Charlotte, Lilli (and 2 x stock horses).

Nelly settled in over winter and learnt all about rugging, hoof trimming, grooming… and the dentist, worming and vaccinations. She is a curious sole, and it always got the better of her, coming up and seeing what we were doing, bit by bit becoming a ‘pet horse’.

Her third birthday arrived and with it Spring and improved weather (kind of). Slowly I started working with Nelly and teaching her to accept the bridle, steering and stopping, faster and slower, the saddle and girth and then me on her back.

While sweet, Nelly has a very clear ‘no… too hard’. In the paddock, the others will run up the hill to greet me and she will canter half way (sometmes a third), then decide it’s too much effort and walk the rest of the way. With the exception of windy days, when it goes straight to her head, taking after her grand sire, who played Thowra in the Silver Brumby movie - Thowra being the aboriginal word for wind.

Nelly’s just turned 4 and has been growing up in the paddock, until we do a take 2 under saddle in summer. While all the sheds, stables, yards and fencing is being done she is very much enjoying having our house in her playground. She makes a stop at our kitchen window every morning for treats and terrorises visitors by rushing them up the path and into the house.

Nelly is very different to any other horse I have owned. Normally, i’m working with horses whose first instinct is forward and to over react. She is the opposite and is going to require a lot of tact and thinking from me to get her on my side and enjoy trying. So far, treats are working, but unfortunately a carrot on a stick is not a viable option when riding.