Congratulations to all our winner from our first Easter Photo Show! We'd also like to thank everyone who entered and reminder you all that every entry was a winner in their own right!
Details of our next show will follow shortly!
Congratulations to our first Veteran of the Month winner, Nimbus, whose story was sent in by Taddy.
STILL GOING STRONG AT 30 I’ve owned Nimbus for 10 years now and we have done most of the Cornish endurance rides over the years, sticking to the pleasure rides as he has a strong aversion to having his pulse checked. After Nimbus fell ill in November 2005 and had to have a stay at the vets many people thought he would never come home again let alone ever do another pleasure ride. He lost all of his weight and looked very much like a skeleton with skin on. But he’s made of strong stuff and being endurance fit has kept him healthy so he fought off this illness and was soon keen to be building up some muscle. We started off by going for walks together and as he got fitter I started to ride him bareback coz I couldn’t keep up with him on foot any more but he didn’t have enough muscle to support a saddle. By Easter he was looking better than before his illness as all of the new muscle was in the right place now and we spent the summer doing lots of lazy hacking. At Easter 2006 I had also bought another horse, an Arab called Winnie to continue my endurance on and to be a friend for Nimbus. All went well until, just before West Moor, Winnie started to cough when exercised so I was advised by my vet not to ride her and “why not take Nimbus instead”. A friend of mine whose horse also had a cough decided to take a youngster so we downgraded to pleasure ride and took it steady. In the end we found we finished just on the fastest time allowed – not bad for a 29 year old and a 5 year old on her first ride. The next ride I entered Winnie for was Carn Marth and I swear Nimbus knew as three days before the ride he kicked Winnie in the leg and it came up like a rugby ball. I decided to take Nimbus again and when I saw that the vet was one who knew him I asked if she would be prepared to try to vet him or if I should downgrade to pleasure. She said she was happy to try and surprise surprise – he stood like a lamb, never one to have a low pulse he vetted 56 at the start and 54 at the finish. 20 miles later he had completed his first ever Graded Ride - grade 2, I couldn’t believe it. This year, having now turned 30, he sailed round Cardinham training ride, did 10 miles at Ladock in about 50 mins and crossed the finish line as fresh as he had crossed the start. I entered him for Jigsaw in the hope that, with only another two 20 mile rides he could upgrade to open but unfortunately he stumbled coming down out of the woods and although he stayed sound for the rest of the ride, between the finish and the vetting he seized up and vetted lame. A trip to see a chiropractor and we were ok to go. I concentrated on Winnie for the next few rides but as the time for Carn Marth came round again I knew I had to enter Nimbus. We had been hacking a lot through the summer and he was so keen and enjoying himself so much it was like he was telling me he was ready to compete. If we could just complete Carn Marth and Camelford we would upgrade to Open at 30! Before Carn Marth he was getting grumpy with me because I gave him a whole week off but on the day was so well behaved for the vetting, his pulse has never been so low, 45 at the start and 48 at the finish. Averaged 11.3 kph and won best Veteran, most people don’t get excited about getting a completion but I was so proud of him. Now with Camelford cancelled due to foot and mouth, my hope of upgrading this year is out, we will just see how he feels next year and keep going as long as he wants to. I doubt we will ever do more than 20 mile rides and I always let him set the pace but that’s ok, we have so much fun and that’s what it’s all about.
We would love to hear your experience of veteran horses, whether you own one, ride one, look after one or just want one. One story each month will feature in our newsletter in the new Veteran of the Month section and will recieve a free month's supply of VHF Respirator, to soothe, repair and support your veteran's respiratory system. Please email all stories to rkeeble@veteranhorse.com and mark them veteran of the month.