The Herd!
Rags (Ragtime Blues)
Rags is Sue's personal horse, long time friend and herd leader!
He is now 22 years old (relitively old in horse years) but still acts like a youngster and keeps everyone else in their place!
He was bred in Ireland and was transported over to England to the sales as a 3 year old, but was bought straight off the boat by a showjumper from Derbyshire as he liked him so much. He competed upto Foxhunter level in BSJA competition until the age of 12 when a condition his breed is prone to, Shivers, progressed to the point where competitive jumping was no longer an option. He was retired to a riding school in Staffordshire where he worked for 4 years, where Sue worked and fell in love with him, eventually managing to smuggle him away!
In 2007 he was diagnosed with a condition called bilateral larangeal paralasys, where both sides of his larynx stopped automatically moving and allowing him to breathe when exercising. At this point he had an operation to fit a permanent tracheotomy tube which has given him a new lease of life allowing him to play with his friends and be ridden once more.
Sebina (Blue Vixen)
Sebina is our rescue case and long term project! She was bred in Holland and was imported to Britain in 2006 after some time living in Belgium.
She was 7 years old when she came to us and had had at least 4 foals before we bought her. Her hormones were a little over wrought shall we say and her behaviour was very much affected! After 12 months of hormone therapy (which we expected to be a life long treatment) she is now doing very well, enjoying a settled life with her friends (especially Her best friend Danny) and slowly realising that life doesn't have to be so stressful after all!
She is Steves baby really and loves nothing more than a good papmer from her Dad! Natural horsemanship techniques have helped us build alot of trust,but she really is a long term commitment. To see her happy and healthy today gives us such pleasure and satisfaction!
Dreamer (Lullabye Blues)
Dreamer is 14 years old and is our claim to fame here at Robins Nest, as his grandaddy was the famous Shirgar! He can gallop nearly as fast as his Grandpa at times but that is generally in the direction of food in the field with his buddies!
He is our gentleman schoolmaster adult ride who teaches his rider to give the correct aids and how gentle and subtle the horse-rider relationship can and should aim to be. He has competed in various disiplines with his previous owners and we hope to be able to start taking him out and do a bit for fun along with his best bud Rags.
Danny (The Blue Danube)
Danny is now 15 and has been with us since November 2007. He came from a riding school at which Sue used to work. He is a cheeky chappy and his biggest fan is Bob, Sue's dad! Danny loves attention and having something to think about, he especially loves his stable toy ball which he has full of fibre nuts at night time! He is our school master pony as he is fantastic at teaching people exactly how to use their body to communicate specific instructions to him. He is a great little jumper too and is fantastic at building a riders confidence. We really couldn't be without him! He is also Beena's best friend, and wants to be just like Rags 'when he grows up'! He is very playful in the field and is sometimes quite rough and tumble (espcially with Dreamer!) but sometimes likes to wander off and have a little time to himself.
Fergy (Royal Blue)
Fergy is our spotty little boy. He is our smallest pony and works mainly in leadrein lessons. He is very sensitive to the riders aids and as such if fab for the smaller riders as it teaches them at a very young age just how gentle horse riding should be.
Fergal-bum (as he is affectionately known) is a BIG persoanility despite being our littlest boy. Woody is his best friend and they are always running around in the field together and getting into mischief! If there is a tickle going Fergy will be the first one there saying 'Yes pease!'
He came from a yard in Cannock where he had been owned since moving away from his mum. A young girl had taught him to be ridden and had loved to canter and jump so Fergy didnt know how to do much else. Neither did he like to be caught or stay in the field he was put in. After many hours of working using natural horsemanship techniques in open fields Fergy decided we are noce people to be with and he now likes to try and come in first when we go out with headcollars! And since making such good friends within the heard he has opted to stay in one field.
Woody (Blue Forest)
Woody is our other cheeky little chappy who finds nothing easier than being very cute!
Woodys previous owner has been good enough to tell us the tale of all Woody got up to before he came to live with us at Robins Nest...