Oscar

by Megan Champney

Due to Mum having to travel a lot for her job, I don’t get to see her very often, so I ring her regularly to tell her how all the horses are, how we are, and general stuff really! But one night in early March 2009, I didn’t think that one phone call could allow me to get another pony on loan, but not any pony, a future superstar.

I was speaking to Mum and she was telling me about another forum member, Auntycath. I had heard of her but didn’t speak to her often online. My mum told she had a wonderful show pony in need of a home for the showing season of 2009. I was so excited and instantly fell in love with the pictures of him.

So on 21st March this year, I went over to Cath’s yard to meet Oscar and we loaded him up for a visit to Samantha Roberts, who broke Oscar in. My heart was buzzing but Mum was doing the usual speeches “Don’t worry if it doesn’t work out, we won’t mind” or “Remember he is a young stallion who hasn’t been ridden since the end of January”.

I didn’t care! I couldn’t believe I was going to get a chance to have a ride on an amazing pony.

He was unloaded, tacked up and Sam led him into the school where Os, let loose, bronked on the lunge for about 10 minutes. Then, after Sam had ridden him for 20 minutes, it was my turn.

I didn’t want to admit my stomach was complete butterflies.

After 20 minutes we were trotting, cantering and doing figure of eights. I had a beaming smile across my face!

2 months later……… To me, it was any normal Saturday, apart from Mum’s strange comment “Meg, don’t go on Horsebreeders this morning”, so I started to get a bit confused, especially when the stable was filled with 4 inches of fresh bedding, the rubber mats swept spotless, and a clean water bucket and haylage net filled.

Mum had supposedly gone out to buy me new jodhpurs but when I heard the engine of a horsebox I knew it was Os arriving! I dropped everything and ran to the horsebox where I was greeted by an EXTREMELY loud whinny!

Oscar and I built a strong relationship over the weeks, and after two weeks we appeared at our first show where we stood 1st in an in-hand CHAPS class.

At our first ridden show

We carried on getting more confident and we won our first ridden show where we also won a plaque.

Oscar and I learnt together, we became great friends and he always brightened up my days and I started to realise how well we were getting on.

I spent every night in the summer riding him or spending time with him. My life had changed, we were so happy together, whether it would be sitting in a grassy field watching the clouds whilst Os ate the grass, or galloping around the fields!

Our luck increased and we found ourselves qualifying for the CHAPS (Coloured Horse and Pony Society) national finals.

One of our main achievements was at a local show where we were held in first place against five other traditional horses, we then went on to win the championship!

CHAPS 2009

Two weeks later we found ourselves at the CHAPS championships where we got a 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and a Best Turned Out! To add to this amazing result we qualified for the evening performance!

Mum and Cath and I all thought I would still be with Oscar until the end of 2010, still together and qualifying for HOYS. However, due to me growing too quickly, Os needs to find another child who will enjoy him as much as I have. Although I am not too heavy, I look rather tall on him.

I would like to thank Mum, Cath, David and Horse Breeders Forum for allowing me to ride such a lovely pony with so much character. I can swear on my life that this is only the beginning to Oscar’s career and we definitely haven’t seen his full potential yet.

I love you Oscar, I always will.

xxx