Agecroft D'Argent 

I’ve wanted a horse for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always wanted an Arab. The moment when I first saw Darcy, and I knew he was for me. He was advertised in the Horse and Pony as “unlimited potential, all disciplines” and priced at $1500. I convinced Mum to take me to have a look at him, and I fell in love as soon as I did.

He was already groomed and saddled when we arrived, for reasons we were soon to discover. The lady who owned him had bought him two years ago as a show hack for her daughter, but the daughter (now overseas) had had difficulty controlling the horse. She fell off invariably, and Darcy failed miserably at the few shows she took him to. However she always refused to allow her mother to sell the horse. On departing for Brazil, she instructed her mother not to sell her horse while she was away, but her mother decided to, as the poor horse was going to waste in the paddock.

The lady told us that “Sarah-Jane loves her horse very much, but I must admit that I ride him more than she does, and that’s not very often! He’s lucky if she so much as looks at him in a month. I knew that someone had to look after the poor thing, so I took to grooming and occasionally riding him to prevent him going insane with boredom! But he’s still a bit flighty, and he would need a confident rider to jump him, although Sarah-Jane jumped him a little and he’s very good at it.”

As soon as I got onto the horse, he bolted. I wasn’t scared. I know it sounds weird but I was having so much fun! At first I was a little bit worried when he headed for the fence, but I thought if I’m going to buy this horse, he is not going to refuse! So I rode him on and he cleared it easily and then we had the most wonderful gallop! I absolutely loved him. However I realised that Mum might be getting a bit worried, so I brought him back under control and trotted him steadily back down to the field. When I got to the fence I realised that the gate was all the way over the other side! I couldn’t be bothered going around so I sat down in the saddle and rode him at the fence. He cleared it beautifully, and I brought him to a steady halt in the middle of the paddock. We’d had our first battle, and I’d won.

We had many more battles, but I had to win them all, and I did. Despite getting along so well with him on our first ride, dressage was an art Darcy had yet to master, and he wasn’t keen on the idea at all! Many expensive dressage lessons later and he is competing very successfully in Elementary graded dressage.

Casey MacFarlane, 14
NEW ZEALAND

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