Buttons – By Lisa Gregory
It’s time for our latest Horse of the Week nomination – and it’s the turn of our instructor Lucy Powell to name the horse who is impressing her most at the moment.
Lucy’s choice
Lucy’s pick is Buttons, our beautiful tri-coloured Standard Bred x Irish gelding.
Most of you know Buttons very well indeed. He is a wonderful, forward-going ride out on Cannock Chase and is a popular choice among my clients. And he is also a very reliable escort horse who is ridden by all my staff. Not only that, but he is the undisputed leader of the Cannock Chase Trekking Centre herd, and respected by all our other horses.
Buttons has even carried the Sheriff Of Lichfield on the annual traditional beating-the-bounds ride.
But it is not for his abilities out on the Chase that Lucy has chosen him as her Horse of the Week. It is because she rates Buttons as our most improved horse for his work in the indoor arena.
From baffled to arena superstar!
As you all know, trekking out on the Chase is our speciality, which will always be the case, but when I planned the redevelopment of the centre, I decided to build an indoor arena.
There are some excellent riding schools in Staffordshire, particularly Ingestre, which is not very far from here. I had no plans to try to compete with them – they are specialists in what they do – but I had many clients who were asking if they could possibly have lessons on their favourite trekking horses.
So we decided to give it a go, and it was clearly challenging for the horses. They were used to trekking on the Chase and were being asked to work in a way that they were not used to. Some took to it well, others were a bit baffled – and one of those was Buttons. On his first lesson in the arena he took his rider onto the centre line and planted himself there for 15 minutes! He was on strike!
Of course, we do not use whips or crops to get horses moving, so it was all a case of patient persuasion. Gradually, he began to realise that it was not so awful after all, especially if he was working with another horse.
Suddenly, it clicked with him, and he decided he loved the saddleless classes, where he was with a group of horses all having lots of fun.
The days when Buttons napped to the centre are long gone. He is forward going and relaxed, and has no problems working alone. He is great for teaching extensions, because he has such lovely long strides. He can be used for teaching all levels, from beginners learning to trot to more advanced riders working on their dressage.
Our polework clinics are where he really shines. He is like a cat through the most complicated grids, which involve lengthening and shortening strides. He never touches a pole. It is a great feeling for his rider and incredible to watch.
Yee-haw!
In the last couple of months, we have trained him for Western riding and he is now one of our go-to horses for Lucy’s Western classes. And when we staged our Western arena display for our Ranch Party Night, he turned out to be an ace at barrel racing too!
He is our most improved horse in the school, and both Karen and Lucy agree that he deserves this title.
We always knew he could do it – and now he knows it too. So step forward Buttons – our Horse of the Week!
