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Branston Pickle (Brandy) 14.1hh, bay gelding
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I was seduced by
Brandy. The power and beauty of him in action, took my
breath away. Here was a rather puny 14hh pony who moved
like a 16.2hh Thoroughbred. He was poetry in motion and a
joy to watch.
Jessie, at only 13 years old was
terrified of him, but didn't dare say so. She wanted to
please her Mum, who liked this pony so much. And anyway,
he could jump. |
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Jessie loved
competing and certainly liked the idea of an affiliated
show-jumper, even if he was already 14 years old. The
trouble was, she also liked hacking out around the countryside
and Brandy wasn't used to that. Let him go faster than
trot and he bolted - at the speed of a Thoroughbred race-horse -
or so it seemed. Poor Jessie, she struggled with it, rode
him a stronger bit and ran him up hills to try and slow him
down. But nothing worked.
One day, she came back from a ride in
tears. She couldn't cope any more. "That's
OK" I said. "We'll sell him. Can't have
you riding a dangerous horse". But Brandy didn't get
sold. Perhaps he was too old, or the price wasn't right,
but no-body phoned. During the week of waiting, a local
show came up. "I suppose you don't want to go" I
said, "since you're afraid of riding Brandy".
"Oh no", said Jessie. I
don't mind jumping him. He's perfectly controllable at a
show", which wasn't surprising, because that is all he had
ever known. If he wasn't in a show-jumping ring, he was
careering madly round an arena until he was all sweated up, then
back into his stable again. (We later found out about a
few of his previous owners.) Brandy knew all about
enclosed spaces. He also knew a lot about rearing.
Any effort to hold him back and Brandy went up, but Jessie
didn't mind that. It was a small price to pay for a pony
who jumped so well.
They did reasonably well in their
jumping classes, collecting the usual rosettes. But then
it came to the Chase-me-Charlie. (Jessie had always loved
gymkhana games.) At 4'7" they flunked it.
Jessie lost her nerve and lost the competition to a 13.2hh pony,
ridden by a full-grown man - which was astonishing in
itself. Brandy would have jumped it and Jessie knew that.
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| She came out beaming.
"If this pony can jump 4'7", I'm keeping him!"
she said and that was the end of that.
They went a long way together, easily
winning one of the toughest Cross-country competitions in the
area and reaching the regional finals in Affiliated
Show-jumping. He went like a rocket and could turn on a
sixpence and Jessie knew exactly how control him. They
almost always won. |
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Put
that pony to fences and he'd jump anything. It was breath-taking
to watch, this little, narrow-chested pony, with boxy donkey-feet and
his dedicated teenage rider. Had we found Brandy as a much
younger horse, they could have gone all the way to the
top.
But
then one day, he started refusing, coming to a dramatic dead stop in
front of a fence and sometimes ploughing though them. Brandy was
finally using his brain. He was too old for this game.
He'd had enough. He finally started thinking. But hacking
out was still a problem. He was so used to going at speed, he
found it difficult to slow down and would fire up at the slightest
provocation. |
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We persevered and he got the idea in the
end. In fact, he became so quiet and ploddy, we used him
as a teaching horse. But only for walk and trot. If
allowed to canter, he was still prone to bolting.
Even now, at 27 years old, he still has
a turn of speed. We just don't give him the
opportunity. We don't think it's fair on the old horse.
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Footnote: Brandy was put down this year
(2007) at the age of 30. One day, he just went down and didn't get up
again, although he wanted to. He was a fighter to the end, was
Brandy. A star through and through!
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