LINKS:
Foal Photos
Growing Up
Dancer At 3 When I broke him to ride
Dancer Today
Videos
Fave Art and Photos
INFO:
He was born on 1st March 2009 and is 1/4 Thoroughbred, 3/4 Dutch Warmblood. His mother was the half-breed and she was a solid colour. I think his father is the Warmblood stallion known as Semper's Spirit.
I have owned him since 10th September 2009 when he was only 6 months old, I fell in love with him in a photo I saw and asked the lady if I could come and view him, she said yes, so two days later I made the two and a half hour drive to visit him. He wouldn't come anywhere near us as he'd never been handled and was in a field, but I could see curiosity and shyness in his behaviour. I bought him there and then. He stayed there until he had just turned 11 months old as we'd agreed for him to stay there until gelding in January and then for a further week to make sure he was healing well. I visited him every weekend whilst he was down there though, and he slowly got more and more curious about me, to the point that I could stroke his nose and he'd approach me and examine me with his eyes and sense of smell. He made me laugh by sneaking up on the other foals by walking slowly, step by gentle step, backwards until his bum was right in the middle of the crowd, and he'd kick out causing them all to panic and run off, leaving him standing there looking rather proud of the chaos he had just ensued.
He came home on February 2nd 2010 if I remember correctly, and he was like Bambi coming off the horsebox, he didn't know how to walk on his leadrope or anything. We got him into his stable and he soon calmed down when he heard my voice and smelled the familiar scent that came from me. Something familiar to him.
Our bond quickly strengthened and he always got excited to see me, we used to go for walks together every free chance I had, he loved it.
I recently broke him to ride by myself, we've been working on little bits slowly throughout his life and I've made sure he's happy with it all before I'd moved onto the next step. He has taken to being ridden like a pro, he absolutely thrives on the odd bit of work, he loves new challenges and takes it all in his stride. He jumps absolutely anything he can find, even puddles that he's cantering past and not even over, he'll still jump past them for fun, but he is so honest and such a sweetheart. He loves a good gallop too, and doesn't take off without asking me first, and getting the go ahead from me (I slide his reigns up his neck and whisper "Go on son" and he takes off at full speed, ears pricked forward, tail raised up and it feels like we're flying together as one.
I have never had this bond with another horse before, I have my full trust in him and he has his full trust in me. I couldn't have gotten myself a better horse.
I will definitely do it all again, when it's coming to the point where he'll be getting old and close to retirement in many years to come, then I will buy in another foal and start the process over. Though I will never part with him, he is my life right now, and has been since the moment I laid eyes on him.
I love my boy too much for words to describe <3
I have also had to leave him for over 4 weeks without working him as I was in a car crash and my back was too bad to ride, but the other day I decided to tack him up and hop on, despite my back still being in relative agony, and he never put a foot wrong, he was enjoying having me back in the saddle so much and he was trying so hard to please me. <3
