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This is me riding my Thoroughbred, James.
The photo looks airbrushed (yeah, OK I need it!) but it’s actually sun faded because it’s pretty old. James was the horse love of my life and even after he died I still love him best. He was a racehorse before I got him but he learned cross country, show jumping and even Pony Club Games with us!
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I’ll always miss him but I’m very lucky to know lots of other horses, some I’ve worked with...
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... like polo ponies.
I didn’t compete but I helped school six, called Kismet, Pharaoh, Oberon, Claudius, Shaka – and George. Guess who was my favourite? Yeah, you’re right, it was the lovely, cuddly, quite dim and often naughty George. Hm, maybe I’ve just got a thing about horses with human names!
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Though when I worked on a stud farm I loved a gorgeous mare whose name was Cariad, meaning sweetheart in Welsh..
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While the first pony I ever rode, a very hard working, not very pretty, but to me beautiful dun-coloured mixed-breed, bit-of-everything pony was called Topper. He lived at a local riding school and taught me loads.
I saved up my pocket money to ride him every week, and he also let me practice stable chores. I was very slow at mucking out, and impatient to learn grooming, which I didn’t mind taking ages. Topper also put up with my first attempts at mane-plaiting and didn’t seem to mind that I made him look like a punk pony.
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The first pony I owned was a Welsh Mountain filly called Black Magic (Madge for short), small in size but the owner of a very big heart.
And now? I still have lovely, lovely horses in my family, Apollo, an Appaloosa who’s ridden by my niece, and his friends, the wonderful matriarch Flo and beautifully bred Welsh bay Treacle.
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So having spent most of my life working, owning and loving HORSES I’m now lucky enough to have another fabulous job – writing about them. So here’s one more pic for luck just because horses are beautiful!
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