I have always wanted two horses in competition, so here goes, Take 5……Qantas isn’t going to be rideable this year, if ever, so it was time to look at bringing another Novice into the ranks.
Let me introduce HS Estella, a 6yo Arab mare from Halsdon Stud.
You can see a short video and some pictures of her at the stud here (Pictures) and here (Video).
When I went to Halsdon all I knew is I wanted them to be between 5-8, between 14-15.3hh and that was it. My new horse protocol is to usually run my hands over them, pick up their feet, check joint range of motion, palpate the back and listen to their heart. I’ll then narrow the options down and see them walk and trot in hand. I look for straightness in their gait, even foot landing and pelvis movement, plus an open big stride. Then I narrow it down and see them free school, this is usually where I get the ‘feels’.
We had seen pictures of a handful of horses that fit my criteria and from those pictures the whole family had chosen HS Estella. We looked at 7 horses in total and it boiled down to two. One was cool, switched on and sweet the other was firey, stressy and strong but both moved beautifully.
I would have gone for the latter in a heartbeat a few years ago but Dan sat me down in the lorry, gave me a jaffa cake (as no decisions should be made on an empty stomach) and said ‘How many broken bones do you want this year? How many times do you want to practice walking into a vetting and standing still? Do you want to make the sensible option or the wild card choice? Do you want to start with the odds in your favour?’ and he was so right. HS Estella, was by no means a dobbin but in reality she was the more sensible option. She may still be stressy, I may still break bones (I hope not though), she may turn out to be challenging but so far she is lovely, thoughtful, and so like Azid in personality it’s a bit spooky!
She loaded and traveled beautifully, and we gave her a stable name on the journey home. Estrid, a name associated with Norse mythology and means beautiful goddess. Who knows how our journey together will go, but I will enjoy the process, keep my expectations low and just see how it goes, with that ever-present desire to make it to an FEI Championship again!
Welcome to the family Estrid.
Beth Endurance 