Posted: 6th July 2015 | Back to news feed
When Cyden Stallions owner and dressage rider Lara Dyson imported four-year-old Theo from Holland, she knew little about him, having only seen a video of him being walked, trotted and cantered.
On arrival at her yard in Lincolnshire, Theo was a timid pony, seemingly scared of life, and Lara soon discovered that he had only been very lightly backed.
Having worked closely with Guy Robertson previously for her stallions, Lara knew that Guy was the horseman to help Theo overcome his demons.
One of the major problems was that Theo didn’t seem to like being mounted; it appeared he couldn’t bare anything above his eye level and his legs would literally shake with fear.
Theo spent a week at Guy’s yard near Goole, East Yorkshire, where he worked on building Theo’s confidence with lots of groundwork.
The following weekend Guy used Theo in one of his popular coffee morning demonstrations.
Lara arranged for young, up and coming dressage rider Alex Jo Parsons to travel up from her home in Stoke-on-Trent to attend the coffee morning to see Theo being worked, with a view to taking him on loan.
During the morning session 14-year-old Alex worked alongside Guy to learn the techniques that she would need to build a trusting relationship with Theo.
Guy also explained how traumatising it can be for young horses and ponies to be imported and how this could be the root of Theo’s behaviour.
An experienced rider, Alex began competing in British Dressage competitions as an eight-year-old, and has been involved with BYRDS since she was nine.
Difficult ponies have become somewhat of a speciality for Alex but Theo was to be a whole new challenge.
Using the horsemanship skills that Guy had taught her, Alex spent hours working with Theo on the ground, to help form a bond between them and ease his fears.
Initially Theo was so nervous just to be touched, meaning Alex struggled to brush him or put boots on his legs. Alex gradually gained Theo’s confidence enough for her to try climbing on board, this again proved difficult as he couldn’t cope with more than one person around him at a time.
With progress the pair worked together to get to a point where Theo would allow Alex’s mum, Amanda to give her a leg up.
Within a month the transformation was astonishing and Alex and Theo were ready to attend their first competition at Beaver Hall P13, amazingly winning the Preliminary section on a score of 69.5% and has since gone on to achieve 70+% in numerous affiliated competitions.
Thanks to Guys help and an awful lot of hard work, time and patience, Alex is hoping to aim Theo at National qualification in 2015.
For Further information contact Lara Dyson on 07920 452739, visit www.cydendressage.com or like the Cyden Dressage facebook page for news of all three Cyden Stallions and other horses and ponies for sale.
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