It was the spring of 2020, it was the start of lockdown and I’d been rebacking Sky for about 6 months. We were then at the stage where I needed to get back on, but I was so scared, we’d spent 6 long months of groundwork, building muscle, discipline, but mostly trust for one another. It kind of felt like, if we started riding, and she still wasn’t happy, then she’d be a field ornament.
Of course I was ok with that outcome, and she’d have stayed with me whatever, but I desperately wanted things to work out. It was also around this time that my mum had started coming to the yard with me. She was really enjoying the fresh air, and due to it being lockdown, having so much spare time. It was then that she said that she would like to start riding again. Mum used to ride up until she was about 16, and then had a few lessons here and there over the following years.
I quickly informed my mum that unless she had no regard for her safety, Sky would never be a suitable ride. So we started thinking about getting another horse, it would have meant that mum had the ability to ride, and it would take the pressure off the want for Sky to be a ridden horse.
We started looking, I knew we wanted something a bit more placid, smaller, as I knew I wanted to be a little it closer to the ground, something that jumped, as this was something I wouldn’t have considered with Sky, and I wanted a gelding. We searched all over the internet trying to find something suitable, but they were too big, too small, didn’t enjoy jumping, or just not quite what we were looking for.
Then, we saw a picture of this little 4 year old cob, standing at 14hh, popping neatly over a small jump. He instantly caught my eye and I read the rest of the ad. He was advertised as an all-rounder, affectionate pony, would turn out with others, solid and easy going. And… he was only an hour away from us.
We headed down there the following weekend, trying to remain sensible and willing to walk away if he wasn’t right. In we walked and we see this hairy little cob, wide as he was tall and the grumpiest little face. I got to ride and he was so quiet, done everything I asked, we even went on a short hack around the yard.
We were sold, he was younger than we had originally planned, but he seemed an old head on young shoulders. We bought him that day and arranged delivery for the following weekend to give us a chance to sort some things for him.
The day arrived and he plodded off the trailer, I put him straight in the field with Sky, who was fascinated by this little hairy pony, and Rupert just put his head straight down and started eating.
Rupert very quickly settled in and became part of the family, and although him and Sky used to bicker, they were really the best of friends. He may not have ended up being the easy pony we thought we had bought, but I wouldn’t change him.