One day I will write about my own super steed and our showjumping exploits but today I want to tell you about one of his stable mates. She is at present more news worthy and I have been thinking about her today, for while it has been pouring with rain and blowing a gale here she is in sunny Spain. A horse on holiday I hear you ask. Is she sunbathing on the beach right now? Not quite. She is in fact working hard competing at the Madrid horse show.
Annie or to give her her full title Fresh Direct Animation II belongs to my friend and trainer of 19 years Diane Jay-Ing. She bought her as a yearling from a friend of hers who owns New Priory Stud. This was nothing unusual as Di buys a youngster nearly every year, but this particular year she was a bit short of cash and came back with a very ugly looking thing that she got for £1500. Even worse she had a very twisted front leg. (Her left foreleg is turned in from the knee down.)
Everyone told Di that she shouldn't bother to keep her but Di just kept saying that she didn't cost very much so she may as well see how she turned out. Then it came to breaking her in. Di sent her away to be backed first of all. She didn't have much help at the time and we have found that sometimes horses that are broken at home are always a bit difficult at shows. She sent her to some professional friends who sent her back saying they would never have another one of Di's horses again! Over the next year she earnt her nickname "the mule". Why Di kept going with her I'll never know. She tried long reining her for a bit but she reared up and fell over in the field then jumped out over the gate with the reins trailing behind her. We caught her up by the main road.
Di would often ride her for about 3 hours a day. Most of this time she spent in the hedge just behind the barn as Annie refused to leave the yard. I used to ride my horse beside her up and down the lane to the school for ages until Annie would do it without making a fuss. Many people would have given up on her but luckily Di is even more stubborn than she is.
Eventually she was ready to go to shows but that wasn't easy either. She often wouldn't leave the lorry park. Di took her to a 3 day show and rode her all day every day and never actually went in a class. Everyone thought she was a waste of time. We went to Dorchester show but there were flags and we couldn't get her anywhere near the ring so we had to just come home.
However, once Di got her in the ring, wow did she jump. There was one show in an indoor arena and Annie refused to go down the far end. Di could jump all the jumps at one end but then Annie would look at these mirrors they had on the wall and Di couldn't get her to the next jump. The height wasn't a problem though. The classes that day got progressively bigger and Di took Annie in every one. She won the last class of the day.
By now Annie was 17.3 hh, which is very big, and getting very strong and Di realised that if she was going to do much more she would need a man to ride her. Since then she has had a succession of riders and has done progressively better with each one. She jumped at county level with James Rosewell and then at national level with Geoff Luckett. 
Also whilst with Geoff she jumped her first Nations Cup, that is she represented Britain on a team of 4 horses in Copenhagen.
This year she is being ridden by Tim Stockdale and should go on to even better things. She was second in the Jaguar Grade A class at Royal Windsor last week and I think another Nations Cup appearance will happen soon. I haven't had a full report from Madrid yet but I think she has been placed. Currently she is number 35 in the BSJA rankings list of horses and has won £13,184. Not bad for a £1500 mule with a bent leg! I'll be catching up with Di when they get back from Spain so I'll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile my poor Balu is stuck at home in the rain, but at least when he meets other horses he can tell them about his high flying friends.
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