It has been my biggest dream ever since I was a child to be able to ride my own horse in a professional riding lesson. I grew up riding other people’s horses, the stable yard’s horses or whoever they belonged to, but a part of me always eventually fell in love with one or two of them even though I knew they could never be mine.

Especially Jack Daniels, who I have mentioned before.

I have long since wanted to be able to have my own horse in my lesson, without leaving him/her behind or having to share with any of the other riders. And that dream of mine has finally come true. After so long, after so many years, I have achieved my biggest dream I had in life; having my own horses.

They may not be 16 or 17 hands tall, they may not be the world’s greatest showjumpers or dressage elites, but they are my horses, that I chose from SAID that now are able to live a better life, with me, on a big piece of land where they can run and roam free. And a horse that I can ride in riding lessons; Phantom. My sweet Phantom had outdone herself last week with how fantastic she was about the whole situation. From being tacked up, to walking along the dust road to get to the lesson, to actually having me on her and participating nicely in the lesson, she proved herself to be an absolute star.

I decided to choose Alchemy Stud for my riding lessons. George, the owner, is so nice and has top tier riders and horses at his stable yard. The only catch is that you must have your own horse in order to ride at Alchemy Stud, which I found out about a year or two ago. Now, I finally do. It felt amazing bringing Phantom to our very first lesson, which I was extremely nervous for considering her temperament and that she’s not used to doing normal horse things. I obviously dragged Da Vinci along with, well, special brand manager dragged Da Vinci along with who had zero fear and anxiety, simply the laziness of sloth to go anywhere.

The walk was a rush, since Da Vinci broke his halter two days prior to the lesson and we had to stop along the way at a horse shop to buy a new one. Phantom was in dragon mode the entire time, from walking to the shop, to walking to the stable yard, her ears were constantly pricked, her nostrils flaring and snorting and her head held high, checking out for any danger around us.

All the while Da Vinci was like a lazy Egyptian donkey who didn’t want to move or go anywhere at all. Still, he walked along and appeared to panic whenever Phantom was too far from him. Since we are ending in winter in South Africa, the weather was not on our side. A scorching sun beat down on us, reflecting beads of sweat off our foreheads and not a single hint of a breeze.

Somehow we made it on time, the gate opening before us as we stood outside. I was quite out of breath, trying to encourage Da Vinci to walk faster who absolutely refused. My lesson instructor was a sweet woman, who called a groom over to try help get me on Phantom, who initially kept stepping to the side, not letting me hop on. This was when my nerves kicked in even more. I understood her though, a new environment, strange people and strange horses around, she hadn’t a clue what was happening.

My understanding of her never made it any less nerve wrecking to get on her. The instructor asked how I normally get on and I had to explain that she only recently stopped letting me hop on. Eventually I managed, from the ground for the first time and I was afraid she may bolt at first, but she didn’t. She was still quite anxious herself, but when she realised when I was on her and nothing bad was going to happen, she began to calm down.

We slowly calmed down in sync, and as we walked to the dressage arena, our nerves became more and more relaxed. Da Vinci was led through to the side of the arena, where a luscious green patch of grass spoke a thousand words to him. He happily grazed as our lesson began.

We simply walked at first, getting used to the new environment, getting used to me even being on her (the last time I rode her was probably a month ago) and the general idea of a riding lesson.

She was so good that she surprised me, in a good way. I had flashbacks of her throwing Jean off in the very beginning and reminded myself she is not the same horse as she was then, and she has come a very long way in terms of being ridden.

We walked from letter to letter, listening to the words of the instructor and the guidance she provided for both of us. I was suddenly grateful that I had been riding basically all my life because I couldn’t imagine starting horse riding from scratch. At least one of us knew what was going on more than the other.

Eventually, after a while of walking, I was asked if I felt comfortable enough to trot. I wasn’t 100% sure that I would be and again had thoughts of Phantom freaking out or bolting to heavens knew where, but I said yes, I was comfortable to try and trot. And trot we did! We first trotted for a few seconds, letting the idea sink into her head that trotting doesn’t mean we are going to war. And then we walked. And then we trotted, until eventually we were trotting a full lap around the arena and creating patterns with the letters in the arenas.

I was so shocked and proud of her, I couldn’t believe how well she was doing! My Phantom was actually trotting! She has a unique trot about her, very bouncy and fast. I enjoy it though, I could immediately tell we were a right pair by her trot. She listened to my cues, she had her ears back to listen to me, she understood my body language and the entire lesson felt like an easy, fun breeze.

We didn’t do much else apart from walking and trotting, but the fact we even trotted without incidents is just outstanding! And that was all we really needed for our first lesson, was a simple walk and a trot! I wanted to cry from joy. I praised her, I patted her neck and gave her all the carrots when we eventually got back home. She was such a superstar. I am so proud of her, and I keep repeating those words but it’s true!

I could not have gotten luckier with my two brilliant horses that I have, and I cannot imagine a better riding partner than Phantom (Da Vinci is physically unable to do endurance riding, it is not favouritism).

Watch the full video here