At the age of 5, I used to watch my sister go horse riding every Saturday at a riding school in Denny and I longed for my 6th birthday when I could start too.
When the day came round, my first lesson was on a chestnut Shetland pony called Tessa, I loved the half hour lesson and couldn't wait until the following week to go again!
After a few months, I had gained confidence and had ridden several different ponies, my favourite being Vanilla, a fluffy little grey pony!

After 2 years or so at the riding school in Denny, my riding instructress Lesley and her friend Karen who worked at the yard, left to go to a different yard, so to my disappointment I wasn't getting as many lessons anymore.  My mum changed me to a different riding school but I wasn't keen on it, then we finally found the Livery Yard where my old instructress was now working.



I used to hack out and have lessons including show jumping and I would ride horses aswell as ponies. Everyone used to call me "Pea on a Mountain" as I looked tiny on such large horses.
Every weekend was spent at the stables, I started to help with mucking out - i was the wheelbarrow girl which involved emptying wheelbarrows of straw and dung in the muck heap!! ha ha. I loved it!!!

I stayed at the stables until Karen and Lesley left to move to Philpstoun in Linlithgow, that's when we moved there and on Christmas 1996 my Mum and Dad bought me my own horse called Dandy. I was chuffed to bits, I used to take him to shows, do jumping and showing and just have fun!



I had a close bond with Dandy, he was a cheeky little chap but everyone at the yard loved him! The farmer didnt, as Dandy used to cross from one field to the next and to do this, he climbed through the electric fence which most times burst, so after a while it wasnt so electric!!

I used to help owners with their horses aswell, I took a couple of ponies to show and I would always be mucking out at the yard and feeding the horses and all of the Summer holidays were spent at the stables, we often had water fights or bath the horses, there was always something to do!

Come 2000, I had started high school and a lot more of my time was spent socially with friends, leaving Dandy not getting exercised and my parents spending a lot of money every month for a horse that wasn't getting used, so they decided to sell him.  I still used to visit him at his new yard but I often wished he was still mine.

I got asked at the yard if I wanted to help with Antaeus, he was a huge horse that used to bite and kick and was a bit of a handful, but I agreed, always loved a challenge. His owner didn't keep very well so it was once in a blue moon that she came to the stables. It wasn't long before I grew to love Antaeus, I was still always wary around him for his biting and kicking but he never seemed to do it to me, but still did to other people, I suppose he trusted me and knew me from all the time I spent with him.
                           
He was fantastic at dressage and we went to a few shows where I won first place.  He was older and sometimes his back and legs would play up, probably due to him being raced when younger, so a couple of times he needed rest and wasn't to get ridden.
Sadly, on November 1, 2001, I got a phone call from the girl that worked at the yard saying that the vet had been to see Antaeus through the day and that he would have to be put to sleep.  I was devastated, I went to see him that night and he was lying in the field - obviously because his legs were weak - and he struggled to get up when he seen me.  I spent most of that night with him, grooming him and feeding him carrots, eventhough he was hobbling, he didnt seem to be in pain at all, it was like his legs were just not functioning correctly, like an old man or woman when the grow old.
He was put to sleep the following day and since then I didn't go back to the yard, only to drop off and collect Xmas cards. A few people asked if I wanted to ride their horses but it wasn't the same without Antaeus.
A while later, I did however go to a house of a lady I had known from the stables Dandy and Antaeus were kept and I got her grand-daughter's pony fit for her selling her but after that I didn't go back to horses.

It wasn't until recently when I was looking on the internet at horse photos, that I began to reminisce about my horses and what it was like!  I wanted to go back to horse riding and decided to put an advert in the paper looking for a horse to exercise.  I had a couple of phone calls, one being from a lady who worked on a yard that had 2 racehorses, she mentioned that the horse is a handful and now that the girl who rode him is back at university, no one will ride him and he needs fittened up for racing this year.
I agreed to go along through the week and I had a shot on him, his name being Kanegua, he was gorgeous but was grumpy and did bite!!
That was back in April and I go up and ride him a few days through the week, he bucks a lot and is VERY fast when in the field with him but he's adoreable and definately not boring!  His owner, who used to be a jockey when younger, bought a new racehorse from Dubai so I now might have her to exercise too.
                         
                        
I love horses and horse riding, its a hobby that is healthy and interesting. I like to go up and hack out as it gives me time to think and relax, I also like schooling because it can be hard work and a challenge to get the horse turning nicely and doing what you ask it to.
Fifteen years now I have been around horses and I hope to for the rest of my life, I am sure that when I have children of my own that I will take them to horse riding lessons!!