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Zephyr 4 years on...

4K views 24 replies 15 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
HI Everyone,

I haven't posted in ages but thought I should give you an update on Zephyr. (2012 foal)

I had him started when he turned 4 at the end of last year and have been riding him ever since.
He is the most incredibly laid back horse I've ever owned. I'm totally and completely thrilled with him.
For those of you new to His Lordship I post a baby photy and a few of him being ridden now :)

I feel so lucky, he is truly the horse of my dreams :)
Cheers
 

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#4 ·
Thanks Trailhorserider & Waresbear,

the pics of us at the beach are his 4th ride ever and first time at the beach.

He now goes into the water and chases the waves - this is his first time IN the water a couple of weeks ago. This is the horse who will NOT walk into a puddle ;-)
We don't get there often enough - it's about an hour's float drive away.
Oh yes and we were with a group of riders and there were quite a few people on the beach and stuff happening and what does he do - has a roll! He was thinking about staying down there and going to sleep. We had had a big ride through the forest before we got to the beach but still ;-) World's MOST relaxed horse right there.
Cheers
 

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#8 ·
Nice looking boy, I can see why you would be super proud of him.

It's really cool to able to see him as a baby as my filly was born the exact color as him. I can see about what shade she will turn out to be.
 
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#9 ·
You're welcome, and yes I am ridiculously proud of my boy, it's been a long wait but well worth it.
I'm just doing light hacking this year, next year I'll step it up and start low level competing in CTR (no more than 20km) and by the time he is 6 we should be starting to get out with the big guns ;-)
And LoriF, his colour is absolutely stunning in the summer - can't seem to catch it on film but it shimmers like silk however in winter he looks like a polar bear on stilts lol
He is also quite possibly the worlds most spoilt horse - here's a pic of him asking for a tummy scratch.
One of him refusing to get up because he is warm and sleepy and why would he and one to try to show his colour a bit better ;-)
 

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#10 ·
He's gorgeous!

I'm curious, does the 'world's most relaxed horse' still have a good work ethic? Meaning easy to get moving, nice impulsion at trot and canter, etc.? My mare is super laid back and relaxed, but she's also stubborn as heck and can be extremely lazy and difficult to get moving. Regular tuneups keep her as a nice, light riding horse, and a little bit of hot feed helps keep her forward. Without those, she's like a 'grab grass' beginner's child pony!
 
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#16 ·
Oh I know your pain, apart from I don't have a stubborn mare.. I have a stoner type personality horse. He is all laid back and relaxed and slow... and then if you manage to convince him to move, though painstaking process of actually getting this horse to move his legs, he actually starts to have fun and forgets to be lazy for a while, but he won't do 1 step more than he wants, starts making small circles and ignoring all cues suddenly when he knows them all too well.

I hope Zephyr will be like I see him - a great riding horse.. laid back, relaxed and sharp, open for business :)
 
#11 ·
Yes that's the weird thing - he is extremely forward moving in his ridden work. A HUGE stride in all paces - awesome to ride and very soft however if I lunge him, it is more like him lunging me lol
I think the thing is for him, that he LOVES exploring and being out and about but is just way too relaxed at home ;-)
 
#15 ·
Look whos not a baby anymore! I can't believe he is 4 already! Seems like just yesterday he was born! He looks like such a sweet and loving horse! From the sounds of his temperament, he sounds like my horse quite a bit! So glad to see pics of him!
 
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#18 ·
Zephyr's first competition!

Hugely excited :)

On Sunday Zephyr competed in his very first competition - a CTR. We did it not to compete as such but for experience, on reflection, we could have easily competed ;-)

We only did the 12km (about 7.5 miles for you Americans ;-)) but he was incredible.

We cruised around in 1hour 35min in GALE force freezing cold wind and would have done it a lot faster if he'd had his way. The time given was 1 hour 30mins so we were penalised 5 time faults.

We had a bit of a hairy moment at the start as we were trotting down a hill and about 500 cows decided to gallop over and join us. Zephyr put in a few moves of his own (Spronking like a gazelle) which, I can tell you is a bit of a worry on a downhill slope ;-) Luckily he listened to me when I growled at him and breezed on past. We went past huge mounds of flappy plastic, big clunking metal gate things and up a very steep incline without hesitation. I was amused to note that his PAS (Puddle Avoidance System) was firmly in place however as we bypassed every single puddle.
I am absolutely stoked with him. There were 57 horses competing.
Here are some snapshots that were taken of us, Zephyr is the taller buckskin on the left in the group shots, the one without saddle is waiting for our heart rates to be taken and the one of just the two of us front on is us crossing the finish line :)
Horse Endurance riding Trail riding Outdoor recreation Animal sports


Horse Trail riding Endurance riding Bridle Grassland


Grassland Safari Animal sports Recreation Trail riding


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Pasture Mane


Horse Equestrianism Animal sports Bridle Mammal
 
#19 ·
Wondered what happened to you Merlot - good to see you back. & you may remember me commenting that baby Zephyr looked like my horse when a foal... well he has indeed grown into a rival for my gorgeous boy!

Only my guy's got a bit fat like his Mum these days - also scruffy-fluffy now & lighter than he is in summer, but only pic I've got of him on the computer right now...
 

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#22 ·
HE is still the ham! So glad to see this and the two of you enjoying life! I too pop in to to the Zephyr Files when I need a quick pick me up.
 
#25 ·
^Shh! Don't tell everyone, they don't need to know what I look like! ;-) But seriously, I only post pics rarely, but I'm surprised that you haven't seen me before - I do it occasionally.
 
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