[Horsegirl878]

OK, so there's this amazingly sweet pony at my stable, his name is Nickel. He's been at my barn since about September, and a girl who is an AMAZING rider owns him.

Yesterday, I got a HUGE shock. I was talking to his owner, we got onto the subject of gray ponies (Nickel is a gray pony), and it reminded me of this evil, evil, EVIL little pony I rode about 3 years ago, the only equine I have ever ridden for a stint whom I have ever hated. You see, the very first time I got on the pony, name of Hufflepuff aka Puff, the second my b.utt touched the saddle he took off around the arena. I had no reins, no stirrups, and I lasted a little over halfway around the arena before he turned a sharp corner and I went flying, crashed into the arena wall (it was an indoor arena), and landed on my right leg. I was limping for about a week. To put it bluntly, Puff was PSYCHO.

So imagine my surprise when Nickel's owner, upon hearing the name "Hufflepuff," says "are you serious??" and points to Nickel, who she's currently sitting on. Turns out Nickel is Puff!!! The same evil little monster I rode 3 years ago!! The thought NEVER would've occured to me that they're the same pony!! Nickel=Puff. Puff=Nickel. Amazing. I could not believe it. Psycho Puffy, Sweet Nickel? Wow. Nickel's owner is going to try the Ottawa Trillium circuit with him this season, it'll be her last season showing with him before she gets a horse, as she's outgrown him. Puff, showing on the Ottawa Trillium circuit?? And to think, I used to have to argue with him just to get him over a stupid rolltop. How ponies change....

Does anyone else know of horses who have undergone complete personality transplants? Please tell me it's happened before.... Anyone??

[HorseCraze120]

That's crazy, but funny at the same time. What a small world

Yes, thats acutally happened with my old mare. She was crazy, and went through a few owners - now the owner is showing her in the 4ft jumpers - Im like WHAT?

[Fiera]

It's a small world! Weird stuuf like that happens to me too sometimes..

But Oh yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. The pony I rode now was ridden by my trainers and various other super advanced students before she got passed on to me. She was 5 and crazy. She bucked, bolted, reared, had a turning radius if 5million, and liked to stop in midstride as much as she enjoyed takeing off at a manical gallop. She was an AMAZING jumper but she HATED jumping. She would approach the jump and totally back off. Eventually we got her to the point she would come up to the jump like she was going to jump it & then stop dead. With more work, she learned to approach, stop, & cat-leap. That became her jumping style for a long time. Finally, with some private lessons with Mr. Crop & some encounters with Mrs. Spurs she got over her cat-leaping and began jumping fluidly. She still slams on the brakes if you don't approach a jump right, but she's amazing now. She's 13.1 but jumped a 4ft oxer with a rider. She could even go higher. Her personality has completely changed & now she is playful and energetic rather than totally psycho. She is 6 now and is still jittery & likes to bolt off into oblivion bucking, spook at the air, prance threateningly up the hill, etc. but wow has she changed. She's a lover now. My my, how the ponies can change. She loves to jump now. She is selling for quite a tidy sum of money, but nobody dare buy her out from under me! She competed really successfully at an A rated jumper show we took her too a while ago too and jumps courses full of 3'6 verticles set at impossible angles (which is insane for how she was before)...So, if the market didn't suck right now, she would have been sold for like 15k as a child's serious hunter/jumper pony. I love her =]

[Chantal.]

wow what a difference different riders/people can make.
come personalities just go toegther.
some just clash.
lol

[Travis Rox]

I once knew a Trakehner gelding named Travis. He had grand prix training and all that. Before my instructor got him he was abused. Then she had him for about a year and was letting me work with him. I was twelve at the time, now I'm thirteen so ya but anyways I was the only person who could ride him at W/T/C/ and jump with NOTHING on him. Four people, all advanced, could ride him. They all had been riding for years. I had only been riding for four months!!!(Guess that says something about how I ride lol) Well, he was calm most of the time but you kicked him and you were OFF!!! And he is 16.3 hh. LOL. But he was sold for only 1 thousand. To my enemy none the less. I'm not even allowed to touch him. He is completely different now. But when he sees me he changes back and nickers and gallops up to me. True love never lasts forever huh??

[PonyCrazyGal]

My pony is like that!!!
I stopped riding him about 4 years ago, and before that, I rode him for about 2 years. Every day that I rode him, he dumped me ATLEAST twice! It was insane! He would spook off of nothing, he would stop at jumps that he had jumped FINE the day before, he would take off, and he would buck. He was sooo naughty. Well, by the end of my two years on him, that pony was packing me around like a 30 year old school horse. It was amazing! He jumped everything, even if I screwed him up or asked wrong, he never spooked, or bucked. So, we leased him out to a little girl at my barn who was a new, very nervous rider. You would not even believe how well he behaved himself with her! She kept a deathgrip on his face full time, and I know that I'd have been stopping, and being naughty if she was riding me! We don't have him leased out to anyone right now, but there are 2 or 3 itty bitty kids who have been riding him, and he's been absolutely perfect!!! I've owned him for 6 years, and it has been soo cool to see the change in him over the years.