An introduction to 'The Equestrian Writer'
Combining my love of writing with my passion of horses leads naturally, I feel, to writing a blog like this! That being said, I certainly wouldn't say that I am creative writer, so don't expect any visionary tales - I would say my writing style is more that of a reporter - I like facts and figures but I also really enjoy combining these with insightful stories. It might be adversity that has been faced in the past, why this result was significant or even how the owners came to be owners.
I enjoy writing reports on all things equestrian, but you will mostly see eventing and racing (including P2P) featuring most on here.
Where did my equine passion come from? Well, I’ve been involved with horses my whole life really - Mum rode lots, albeit usually on the horses that no one else wanted to ride! I was lucky (perhaps not the right word, you’ll hear why soon) enough to have my own pony at the mere age of two - she was called Pandora, a Shetland Pony. Any truly ‘horsey’ people out there will probably have had an ‘A-ha’ moment at the mention of ‘Shetland’ and will know exactly why I said ‘lucky’ may not have been the right choice of word - although I certainly was fortunate to have a pony as a child! As a two-year-old pony mad little girl, all I wanted to do was spend hours on end patting, grooming and cuddling my pony. As a very mare-ish Shetland pony, all that Pandora wanted was no human contact, to eat as much as physically possible and certainly not to be bothered by an overly-loving child. Safe to say I was chased around the garden by a teeth-baring monster more than I got my pony cuddles!
Fast forward a few years and Daisy came into my life, a very sweet Dun Connemara mare. Daisy taught me plenty, including what the bottom of a ditch looked like, and just because I wanted to jump something, it didn’t mean we would - well certainly not together anyway!
Then came Pedro - a jumping machine who never said no. Dressage, however, left a lot to be desired, so we soon realised that eventing was not the discipline for us.
Pete came next, a big Irish Sports Horse. I learned an awful lot, as did my poor Mum being dragged around by him. We had some wonderful highs and some heart breaking lows with him, never quite getting to where we wanted to.
After a short break from horse ownership during University, I briefly took on an ex-racehorse called Warrior - he had a bad tendon injury when I took him on, so I already knew I had a strenuous rehab program for him ahead, but he turned out to be pretty dangerous and unfortunately, I didn’t have the time nor the finances to help him, so he went back to his owner to have the help he needed.
Finally, Darcy. A 16.2h grey Irish mare (can you tell I love greys?!) - this horse had the brains to go far, but her relatively young (9yo) body couldn’t keep up. Having been overworked as a youngster, Darcy went on to suffer from arthritis in her neck, hocks and fetlocks, Kissing Spines and Sacroiliac Joint Disease as well as having a locking stifle. Darcy definitely taught me to listen to my gut rather than the loud voices around me telling me she was just naughty.
Listening to my gut is what brings me here, actually. As someone with a lack of confidence in my own work, the ‘loud voices’ have certainly been telling me that no one wants to hear what I have to say about the equestrian world. However, now, I have the perspective that I don’t really mind if people don’t want to hear it, I want to write it regardless.
So, if you are reading this, listen to your gut too - and thank you for being here, I hope you enjoy the content.
