I'm going to try and keep this updated as much as possible.. I have quite the short term memory so no guarantees!
My name's Marissa, and this is my horse Symbah. He's a rising 8 year old Norwegian Fjord x Thoroughbred gelding. He stands 16 hands high (I kid you not) and has the characteristics of the Fjord with a sportier build. I've known him since he was a yearling - met him for the first time on November 5th, 2005. When he showed up at the barn he was barely halter broke (they defined it that he had a halter on his face = halter broke) but we clicked instantly.
At the time I was part-boarding another horse at that farm when he showed up, but I knew he was mine. He was brought over because the barn owner's boyfriend thought I'd like him (and buy him). I was 14. I would've loved to pluck cash off my money tree - unfortunately I didn't own one of those so I was out of luck. Instead I spend hours at the barn every time I was up, simply playing with him and working with him. Now keep in mind I was 14 years old, and had been a simple lesson kid the past nearly 5 years - I didn't get hands on work until riding at that barn.
I had no idea what I was doing and by sure luck, I survived working with a barely handled stud colt. As time went on, that barely handled stud colt became a sweet heart, my sweet heart, of a gelding and I would take him for hour long in-hand walks along trails behind the barn.
Eventually I taught him how to stand in the crossties, pick up his feet, figure out how to lunge (as best as I knew how), to accept a saddle pad and eventually a saddle. I was a horse-crazy girl, so I so desperately believed that Symbah was my "heart horse".
Through a series of unfortunate events (aka I was a teenager with a big mouth) I spouted off about issues with the barn and that info was eventually relayed back to the barn owner. So I moved on, without Symbah as devasting as it was, and just stopped riding. I picked up a job that following summer at a residential horse camp a few hours away. It was during that time that the ex-barn fell apart and horses were being sold. One of which was Symbah. Thanks to two old barn buddies, my mother and myself were contacted and with the combination of our saved money (more hers than mine) we were able to buy Symbah and move him safely. That was July 28th, 2006.
I quit the camp job and returned home to see my long lost pony. What I saw was upsetting. He was about 150lbs underweight, his feet were curling, he was incredibly wormy and he had ringworm. Yet within a week or two he was already perking up and was getting a sheen to his coat (show sheen may have assisted this).
But I had a great barn owner, and she had him fattened up in no time and he was still the horse I remembered. He had a new fear of bridles thanks to the previous owner but it didn't take long to get past that with him. I was in horsey heaven.
Now I could bore any of you readers out there with every finite detail of the past 5 and a half years, but you'd be more likely to exit this page. Lets just say, as any horse owner, we've had our ups and downs. I've made my mistakes, I've fallen off of him more times than I can remember but I would never change the past. He turned out to be a pretty cute guy with a winning personality. He takes care of me better than I could ever take care of him. He's taught me trust, confidence and courage when you'd think there'd be none. I've been made fun of and insulted for having a horse like him but I've never been ashamed.
He's the definition of a saint. I don't know how many mistakes I've made on him (but it's plenty) but he's never disappointed me. He put up with my inexperience, even while he was inexperienced too and we learned together. For sure, I came out with plenty of injuries to show some of our "learning curves" but it's simply taught me even bigger lessons even about life in general. When I had a severe concussion (one of many), he stood by my side and carefully guided me out of an arena so I could seek help. When I got nervous on a trail, or on course, he took care of me. When I showed doubt, he showed me confidence.
Yes, yes.. it does sound pretty corny. But the point of it all - I love my horse, he's my heart and I wouldn't trade him for the world. He can pack anyone from friends, to kids, to even my mom around. He has more heart than any horse I've met, and while neither of us will ever be Grand Prix - who else could rock a mohawk has badass as his?
I'll try to keep the rest of this as short as possible before you fall asleep.
His show name is King Of The Jungle, pretty fitting eh? I thought so too. I've tried a ton of different things with him. Cowsorting, gaming, trails, hunters and now jumpers. He was pretty good at cowsorting, but I wouldn't classify him as a hunter. Have you ever seen a fjord move? Yeah.. they're not very flat kneed. But he loves to jump, and so we've recently (within the last year) made the transition into the jumpers.We've competed at local jumper shows last summer and did fairly well. Speed is not his forté, but he's got the power and the heart to try. And a surprising natural jumping ability that helps keep those pesky rails up. We even competed at the Canadian National Exhibition jumper show last August. We competed for the first time in the 1m (3'3) Jr/Am jumper division. What a thrill that was!
So this year we are hoping to compete in either the .90m or 1m division at the local Trillium level. This will be the first year either of us have competed at that level. I'm excited and nervous - I don't know if we'll be fast enough to be intimidating and at the same time, I don't want to be that yahoo who rips around the ring for the sake of a ribbon. We'll see how we progress through the winter and spring to be able to make that final decision. I intend on owning him until his final days, so I am more than happy to cap out at whatever limit he has.
OH! Here's a little known fun fact - Symbah is actually completely blind in his right eye. Two years ago he got dust/debris into his eye and while we thought that the medication he received had healed it - we were not correct. He'd progressively been going blind the past two years and so subtle no one had noticed, not even I. His personality never changed. Until this winter he never even tilted his head, but when we misjudged a distance to a jump I knew something weird was up. He'd approached a jump and passed a beam of light from a window on his left side, at that moment he went to take off and then hesitated. I don't know why, but I checked his eyes. There's only faint cloudiness in the eye but the pupil is constricted and the vet couldn't even see into the back of his eye. But no worries, he's in no pain and is still the same horse I fell in love with at 14.
Just another reason to root for the underdog?
Happy trails, everyone!
