Greetings from the Isle of Man!

[FriesianTart]

Hi I'm a new member living in the Isle of Man.  I have a 7 year old Friesian gelding called Meindert who is the joy of my life! I've always ridden other people's horses and at 50 bought my first horse, sight unseen except for a brief video, off the internet, from Holland - all the things you shouldnt do Anyway someone somewhere decided I needed a bit of luck and I have a beautiful Friesian who is extremely clever, mischevious, idle, curious, talented, gets fat on the smell of an oily rag and above all is massively forgiving!!! Almost immediatly I fell off him 3 times in quick succession - once in full view of everyone on the yard including all the pony club kids who now follow me round sniggering!!  I tried every 'training programme' known to man and beast when I lost my mojo the last time I fell off, had to listen to everyone's advice as if I was deaf and senile (!!) and finally by accident found someone who knows what it feels like to be trying to get on your horse with one half of your brain screaming run for the hills and the other half shouting get on you great wimp! I have ridden every single day since May last year, even if at the start it was get on and get off! Suffice to say its been a long, hard road to get here.  I started with Mary Wanless's book and then saw a comment on a forum that said 'if only I'd known about Sally Swift beforehand' so I bought her book and at last began to make sense of what and where I was going wrong.  Then I saw Heather on Youtube and thought AT LAST!!!!! Finally, I was lucky enough to get a cancellation lesson with a talented dressage teacher that everyone on my yard was raving about, and for the first time in decades am learning to ride in the 50 year old body that has forgotten everything that my 20&30 year old one did instinctively.  Meindert has been knocking the socks off the divas who come along to watch the silly old cow (me!!) fall off and suddenly we have become a team, and although competition is a long way off, it is a distinct possibility.  A long way to go, but here I am!!  As soon as I work out how to put pics in photobucket I'll add a couple. just worked it out, errr i think..!

[Diane Smith]

Hello    and welcome 

You sound as if you are doing brilliant and able to laugh at yourself on the way  wonderful 

[FriesianTart]

Many thanks Diane - I'm looking forward to this!!  I'm currently selling whats left of my soul to purchase a new saddle thats big enough for my bum and then the sky's the limit.....

[whisper's mum]

welcome to EE! 

[DollysMum]

Welcome to EE, Meindert is beautiful!

[SNC]

welcome to EE 

[FriesianTart]

thank you, everyone

[nona]

Hello Isle of Man!

On a clear day I can see you -  from Anglesey.  I identify with so much of what you are saying, as an even older and comparatively new rider myself who also has a propensity to fall off; or, hopefully, used to.

I think you will get a lot from this site.  There is a wealth of experience and support here.

Enjoy.

Nona

[Flyingfox]

Hello, you sound like a really lovely person to have around - I wish you were nearer so that you could keep your Friesian at livery here! He looks gorgeous! I think you will find the EE people a very welcoming and friendly crowd indeed, and your learning journey will be fun and rapid I am sure. Are you going to buy him a Heather Moffett Vogue Mk 2 saddle - I have been through all sorts of saddles and I am SO loving the Vogue - and more importantly - so do my horses. I don't sell them, but I think I should cos I recommend them to everyone I meet and I think I am right in thinking they are great for Friesian shaped backs!

Welcome to EE xxx

[crdodgeon]

Hello and welcome to EE!
Love Meindert 

I'm sure you'll find this a really useful and helpful forum 

[Wendy]

  Welcome!

He looks lovely - definitely cheeky - but what a beauty!

[FriesianTart]

Thank you - what a lovely welcome!  I can already see this is going to be alot of fun!  Just reading the topics on the forums has been great! I read Heather's older article on 'seat & thighs' & 'squeeeeeeeeze the buttocks' late last night and resolved to try it this afternoon with M. I have been suitably amazed at how little it takes to stop once I stopped exaggerating the feeling(!) and conversely I realised later as we were trotting in a small circle that I was doing it unconsciously as well as holding my breath!! My poor horse!! Annnnnnnnnnnnd relaaaaax!!!

Minder (as he is known - its the best I could do without a Dutch accent when he arrived!) is the result of about 4 years research into Friesians. I knew what type (not baroque) and the breeding (not fiery) I wanted and it should serve as a warning 'be careful what you wish for'!!  He is baroque (oops) and sparky (oops) when he wants to be - some research eh?!  Dread to think what I would have got if I'd specified a dobbin!!   Having seen so many Friesians overfaced too young who paid the price for it, dressage will be something he does 10% of the time - no matter that he loves the indoor and his willingness to work is amazing - especially surprising when you've had to push through his obligatory 'Kevin the teenager' time to get there! He trips up, snorts and farts the length of the school, stops to itch his nose, pretends to be afraid of himself in the mirrors, stops dead at X and refuses to move....the full repertoire also includes the 'I might just buck' and 'ohhhh alright then, if we must'!!

The journey has been amazing - especially as I had this major fear attack every time I went to get on him after the last time I fell off.  The thing is, it wasnt his fault - it was mine.  I was so lucky to find someone who had been through the same thing - my experience has been that anyone who hasnt felt this mind numbing fear (to the point of being unable to work out which foot to put in the stirrup to get on) really finds it hard to empathise. I have one friend who just kept saying get on you'll be fine, and another one saying you can ride my horse, a five year old could ride mine.....!! One friend said oh I'll come round and ride him for you....at which point I gathered my courage and said - and how will that help me? Ouch!! Anyway to cut a long story short another friend who'd been through it helped me - I started by being led round the school weeping. Shouting dont you dare let go of me....arrrgh you cow you did...!!!! My goal was to ride M through our village to the posh riding school to a natural horsemanship course - I got there, and the australian instructor says 'whats your goal?' and I thought 'how am I going to get back?'!!!! I attach a photo taken just at the moment when he said to me 'did you ride this horse here this morning?'

There's tons more on that journey, I can tell you.  My friend and I are thinking we should be sponsored by Tenna because we spent so much time thinking we'd wet ourselves in fear!! If anyone is interested I can tell tales to make your hair curl!! I just know I'm not the only one to go through this, and sometimes it just takes one person to admit it and then you can deal with it....

Yes I'm definitely looking at a vogue saddle - I also measured M this afternoon with the wow template and he may well be an 8 he's so wide!  However I may need a lottery win just at the moment to be able to afford it!

[Obidi]

Welcome, you have a beautiful horse! 

[ParisDiamond]

Hello and welcome.  Lovely horse and its great to hear of someone getting into horse owning later in life, good for you.

[abuela]

Welcome to a friendly and helpful forum with plenty of fun and nice people

 **peers over glasses  lifts researcher's hat and nods - spoken from experience and wide range of case-observation.

Great to have a Friesan owner to chat with