Scary and Exciting

And so it all begins! Echo came to me nearly two years ago, when I was looking for a yearling to work on as a project. I was looking for a coloured horse as I had become very attached to a coloured cob who sadly died. I saw Echo advertised on a website and she looked perfect. Getting her was somewhat tricky, as she had evidently provoked some interest! However, at the beginning of September 2005 Echo made the long journey over to Hereford and took her place in a field with a pair of yearling ponies.

Echo has an interesting history: her mother was brought over from Ireland and sold to a lady looking for her perfect first horse. After several very happy months, it was discovered that she was in fact in foal and due to give birth any minute! Echo came along and I bought her a year later. I am extremely grateful for the fantastic start her mother's owners gave her, as she is well-mannered, affectionate and a very happy horse. Her mother's owner tried desperately to find out who Echo's sire was, but to no avail. She even had an article about her experience published in Horse and Rider magazine.

August 2006 led to another change in location, as my job moved to Suffolk, and therefore Echo was transported the 250 miles across the country to get here. She was stabled for six months, while I taught her to lunge and be a civilised grown up horse, and at the end of this period I backed her and she was very sensible.

This was in December, and straight after Christmas I decided that she needed some time to grow before I could break her in properly. She has now spent the last six months in a 30 acre field becoming very wild and very fat. But now the time has come, and tomorrow I will bring her in to begin her education in earnest. It will be something of a trial and error exercise, as it is a good two years since I have broken in a youngster, and I have never had the pressure of it being my own horse to deal with! However, I am looking forward to the challenge and to finally being able to ride my beloved horse.

In this blog I will try to keep a diary of our progress, so fingers crossed that it will be a smooth process!