Ooooooo hope this guy works out!!! Pictures please if you get him! It does sound like a better deal as you will be working with some one you already know, so can ask the dumb questions with out feeling silly, so in the end you will learn more. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Fingers crossed here that he's the one!

OMG

He's gorgeous, we took him out for an hour on the road and round the houses, he was brilliant considering he'd not reallly been ridden for ages.

We're more than happy with him, just got to have the owner come down and see where he's gonna be kept and it's all systems go The owner obviously wants to make sure he's going to be looked after. Long term loan basically we take him on and treat him as ours, we pay for all food, shoes, worming etc any minor illnessess and if he comes down with anything major we can either share the vets bill or hand him back in He an ex novice eventer so he'll have some go in him when he gets a bit fitter

So here he is - the Lush Jaffa




With me on top

Omg, he is huge , how long is it since he has been ridden?

Just a word of warning, make sure the fit version is within your capabilities as a rider.

Once he drops the weight and gets fit you may find him to much of a horse, given he was a fit event horse.

Yeah 17.1hh He was on loan to a riding stable and they just didn't look after him, I've seen the photo's of him and he was very skinny So they've been feeding him up for the last 6 weeks. The owners have stopped eventing now as they have a daughter who is showing promise so they're putting all their time and energy into her at the moment, they have Jaffa's brother there who isn't as steady even though he's older which mum uses for riding but all the other ponies are for their daughter. I'm hoping I can learn from him as he gets fitter although he is 18yrs old he doesn't behave like one. He's very responsive to you, turns on leg movement etc and has excellent brakes - which is also a bonus I can jump but will need a little brush up jumping anything higher than a couple of feet don't think I'll be jumping hedges anytime soon though - well not by design anyway

Sorry I meant fat not tall, , I don't want to sound cynical but there is no way a horse can get that fat in 6 weeks from being very skinny. He looks to me like he has been out of work for a while , and at grass.

You need to make sure when he is leaner, fitter and stabled and hard feed, he does not turn into a different horse , the slouch you tried out may not be what you end up with , 18 is not old so don't look at it as he has slowed down due to age.

I hope he turns out to be what you want.

Just a word of caution, I notice his reins are attached to the bottom ring of his bit, this is quite harsh, I'm not surprised he has brakes. If you intend keeping it as it is then you will need to make sure you keep your hands soft, or alternatively attach the reins to the standard snaffle ring (check you still have brakes before you hit the open road though!). When I was reschooling my ex racer I used a similar bit but attached my main reins to the standard snaffle ring and a second set of reins to the bottom ring (only to be used in an emergency! ).

Good luck with him, he looks lovely

Missed that , He has a Dutch gag with no d rings. As above no wonder he is responsive to your hands. It's the harshest setting , add to that it's a happy mouthpiece , so I would guess he has a soft mouth , but needs breaks, not an easy combination for a novice to deal with.

He is a chubster isn't he! I'd think you'd have to start very steady with the exercise if he hasn't done any for a long time and get advice about best way to try to get some weight off him to get him fitter.

My friend's very horse savvy and she has a weight / exercise plan for him

Her field is huge so we can school / exercise him in there as only about 1/3 of it is used at a time to get used to him and him to us initially