NA Equestrian's video: 2019 This Is Your Story

Firstly, I must apologise for how horrendously late this ‘end of year’ video is. Believe it or not I did actually start it back in December, but life is extremely busy these days and I struggle to find a spare 10 minutes to sit down and edit. What a year though! So many milestones, so many memories made. In summary: I don’t have much to say about Maddy really other than that she was a total pleasure throughout 2019. I can’t believe yet another year has passed with my mare in a million, we have so much fun. Pimms started off the year badly, lame and with a bizarre head twitching behaviour emerging which led to multiple hospital stays for CT scans, endoscopes, gastroscopes etc etc. We were fearing the worst for a while, however everything came back clear so were able to put the twitching (which magically disappeared in spring) down to trigeminal nerve pain and her lameness turned out to simply be a flare up of her hock arthritis. She finally came back into work in mid-May and has been a total star ever since, back out winning dressage competitions against all the odds and having a great time mooching round with my mum. I can’t put into words how special that little cob is, she has a heart of gold. Then we have the newest addition, Lyra! I finally fulfilled a several year-long dream of buying myself a nice blank canvas in June (though you may notice from the video that I found her back in March, but complications meant she didn’t come home until June). I can admit now that I was apprehensive about my decision. I remember bringing her home, struggling to even lead her in a headcollar by myself and having a few “what have I done, will the horse even be rideable, have I bitten off more than I can chew” moments. I should’ve trusted my gut however as she’s proven to have a temperament to die for and has been a real joy to get started. Sure, there’s been more than a few sticky moments but all in all she’s a very safe ride and oozes talent, every ride makes me so excited about what’s to come! I did plenty of riding on a load of other different horses too in 2019, some of which are included in the video, which has been super experience and I do feel like my riding improved over the year. Personally, I graduated last summer with a 1st class degree in Zoology which I was very proud of, then made the decision to stay on and do a masters in Animal Behaviour (because deep down I do actually love uni). Life has been good! Thank you to all of you who have followed us for another year. I hope you are all staying safe now in these difficult times with coronavirus. Natalie x Follow us on Instagram: @skewbaldlife Maddy: 15.2hh 2006 skewbald Irish Sports mare Pimms: 15hh 2006 skewbald Cob mare Lyra: 16hh 2014 dapple grey KWPN mare