Gypsy's Story 

Gypsy was bred in Cambridge, out of a young Thoroughbred mare who had been retired to stud after an unfortunate racing accident. However she was sold not long after Gypsy was born, and began a successful career as a show hack.

Because she was weaned early, due to her mother’s sale, Gypsy was a small foal. Perhaps she should have grown to a full 15hh, but she never did, instead remaining pony size.

Her first owners were the owners of the mare, but once she was sold, they decided that they had no use for a foal, so she was sold to a pony farm. Carrvale had a high reputation, and they’d liked what they’d seen in the pony, young and weak as she was. They built her up as much as they could in the three months that they owned the pony, before an insurance scam caused them to be forced to go into receivership and sell up.

Two-year-old Gypsy was then sold to a young family for their daughters, then aged four and seven, to learn to ride on. She was still fairly small, at this stage in her life only about 13.2hh, and the elder girl, Lesley, took to riding her. She rode her bareback in a halter, but the pony had a sweet temperament, and was not unduly worried about this. But as time progressed, she began to be harder and harder for the girls to ride. One Christmas, they were given a saddle and bridle for Christmas, and they would happily saddle their pony in the very badly fitting gear and ride her for hours.

Unsurprisingly, Gypsy soon began to rebel against this. She would refuse to be caught, then when she was, became very difficult to handle. The girls could rarely get onto her, and when they did, they were promptly thrown off. Consequently, the pony was put up for sale.

It took a long time for anyone to buy her, but a showjumping family from Gisborne were interested. The pony was unrideable by this time, and they could barely even catch her! But she had the makings of a top class pony, and so they bought her.

Three months later, she finally seemed quiet enough to ride. However as soon as Peter got onto her, she bucked him off. But he was a good rider, and he persevered with the mare. He got her to the point where he could do a collected walk, trot and canter on a circle without her bucking, and was looking forward to starting to jump her.

Then his younger sister Susannah decided to try and ride the pony without Peter’s permission, a plan which backfired, ending with a broken arm and a very sore pony. Their mother insisted that the pony was dangerous and should be shot, but Peter knew that she had a chance.

I first saw Gypsy after Peter approached me at a local show after I won a showjumping class on my other pony Silver Arrow. Silver was always a difficult pony to ride, and it had taken me a long time to train him to the level he was competing at (C-grade). Peter said that he had a pony with tons of potential that he had to sell quickly, and the next day, I went down to look at her.

She looked stunning, although she was immature in her muscle and bone structure development. She was still a little weak, but I could tell that she had a lot going for her. Peter rode her first, and I really liked her paces, even and smooth. He collected her canter stride a little, and extended her trot stride a bit, but nothing too spectacular. I wasn’t expecting much though, as he’d filled me in on her background.

As soon as I got on her, I loved her. She was very honest and tried her best to do what I asked her to. She hadn’t started any jump training, so I bought her unjumped. A bit risky, but I knew that she had it in her.

About two months after I got her, I began pole and cavaletti work with her. She was a little apprehensive to begin with, as this was something new to her, but once she understood what I asked, she was quite relaxed about it. I varied the exercises so that she didn’t get bored, and she began to love the work.

The big day finally came when I jumped her for the first time. She was quite relaxed as I worked her in, and did some low pole work with her. She was beginning to get bored though, so I didn’t keep her going for too long. Then I set up a low cross-rail behind a line of trotting poles. She trotted calmly over them, then tried to trot over the cross-rail and knocked it down, giving herself a huge fright! I set it up again, and trotted her back through. This time she leapt, high and wide, over the cross-rail so that she didn’t risk knocking it again!

Time went by, and I gradually built her up to jumping small courses of fences. Once she understood what I was asking her to do, she took to jumping like a fish to water!

Her first show was a rather big local event, and I had her entered in two showjumping classes in the afternoon, riding Silver in the morning. He went well for a change, and I was looking forward to riding Gypsy. However as soon as I got onto her, she was a wreck! She bucked, reared, and refused the practise jumps. I scratched her from her classes, and for the next few shows I went to, I just took her down to get used to the atmosphere.

Finally, her first competition. She was much more settled now, and did very well, placing in both of her classes. Many people commented on her, and I saw Peter at that show too. He said she looked great, and was very proud of her jumping.

As time has gone by, Gypsy has gone from strength to strength. She has competed at Horse of the Year, won classes at the Royal Easter show and even won her first Grand Prix!

Gypsy Dancer is now one of the country’s top competition ponies. So if anyone ever tells you that your horse/pony is hopeless, don’t believe them. Peter had faith in Gypsy, and so did I. And look how far she has come.

Laura Buckeridge, 16
NEW ZEALAND

Email ponies101@hotmail.com or bright_spark_nz@hotmail.com