Capulate

On we go with our insight into our lovely horses and we’ve reached C, so I will start with a boy who has a special place in my heart.

This handsome chestnut Welsh Section D came from my favourite stud – Yswain Cobs – and his registered name is Yswain Capulate.

I had bought two of my original trekking horses from there, Emrys – who is still going strong – and Bugsy.

I went to have a look and found the most showy, stunning chestnut colt. I decided to try to keep him as an entire as I had always wanted to breed my own horses.

He had the most fantastic paces and movement but he was a very sensitive horse and I quickly discovered he was quite quirky. As time went on Capulate became more of a handful as a stallion. He spent a lot of time standing on his back legs!

I mated him with my mare Sophie and that match produced the fabulous Atlantis.

 

But as I started to break Capulate in I found I was facing quite a challenge, and in fact he is one of the hardest horses I have ever had to train. Not only was he very sensitive, but the fact he was still a stallion complicated matters and I really had to use all my knowledge and think out of the box to get through to him.

I spent six months without even hacking him out. And then I finally decided to have him gelded because it got to the point when I wasn’t happy to have my staff handling him. I would have loved to have kept him as a stallion because he is so well bred, but other people found him too difficult to manage.

My business head said sell him because it was going to be such a long road, but my heart said keep him because if he fell into the wrong hands he could be dangerous.

And now I am so glad I kept him, persevered and kept on working with him. I like to think that Capulate is my greatest achievement.

 

He has turned out to be the most fabulous, fun and beautiful little horse. He is so impressive to watch and is a fantastic ride. He is enthusiastic in his work, leaps into his canters, and is always happy and contented.

I never thought I would see Capulate develop to where he is today. He is one of the horses that has helped me the most in developing my training skills.

He made me think about things in a different way. I love all my horses, but Capulate will always be very special to me