My daughter adores her pony! Of course, he’s not really a pony. He is a 16h1″ thoroughbred horse that is 9 years old. He has run a long format one star (*) with the previous owner, who is my friend and my daughter’s coach. Our horse (Billy), is love of my daughter’s life at the moment. I think this moment says it all!

I am often asked “how did she get started with riding?”. And here is my answer:

When we lived in England, UK – and she was just 5-1/2 years old – every little girl was taking riding lessons at one of many local stables. She was just like every other little girl. Only she went from lessons once a week to joining the British Pony Club to spending a full week at a pony camp by the time she was 8. She passed all the Pony Club tests with flying colors as high as she was allowed by her age. She learned everything about the horse and equipment as well as general dressage and jumping skills. And lucky for us, it was only 5 minutes from our house.

When she was 10, we repatriated back to the USA (Katy, Texas). She wanted to continue riding and asked about trying to compete. At the time, I didn’t know the difference between just ‘jumping’ and all the different styles and forms and groups there were to get involved in. But after trying several barns, quickly learned that hunter/jumper was not for her. We stumbled upon an eventing barn on the out squirts of Katy, Texas, I could see the lightbulb go on and the excitement in her eyes.

A few months later, we bought her first horse – which really was a pony. A 14h3″ quarter horse named Micromachine (“Mikey”). He was around 15 years old, but a veteran eventer. Perfect for a 10 year old just learning the sport. Mikey helped build my daughter’s confidence as she took her first rounds at all three phases of eventing and gave my daughter her first “GREAT RIDE”.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Debbie Horses