Tia – Irish Cob Cross Mare

TIA – Irish Cob Cross

This gorgeous mare is my Apache war horse! That is what I think she looks like with her striking markings and I can just imagine her decorated with war paint.

But she doesn’t have a warlike nature at all. In fact, as anyone who rides her knows, she is the sweetest girl, with a kind and gentle personality.

Like many of my horses, she came to me via word of mouth. The people who owned her had bought her as a foal, but when it came to breaking-in time when she was about four they found she was too lively and a little bit of a handful.

I was about to retire one of my original trekking horses, Duke, who needed a happy hacking home. As Tia was kept nearby her owner suggested that I took a look at her, and maybe we could arrange a horse swap. And that is what we did.

With Chase as company I rode Duke down to their yard, and rode Tia back home. My first impression was that she was very sharp – rather different to the laid back and calm lady she is today!

The next day I took her straight out for two hours on Cannock Chase and I never had a problem from then on. She just needed to be at finishing school for a little while and push past one or two things she found scary.

Since then she has done everything to the best of her ability, from the Wales holidays to the Sheriff’s Ride.

As soon as I bought my Dutch Warmblood stallion Zidane I realised that Tia would make a great mother as she is 16.1hh and a strong, well made mare.

So in 2013 I put her in foal and she produced a beautiful filly we called Arizona. Her daughter was a perfect mini-me, looking exactly like her mum.

As readers of my foaling diary blog will remember, Tia was sneaky and caught me out. I had been watching her for days and she gave birth when I wasn’t looking. But I was quickly on scene and as she was a nervous first-time mummy, I helped the foal to stand and suckle for the first time.

Tia soon became a chilled out and relaxed mother. Nicoh gave birth three days later to Indiana and when the two mares went out together Tia was quite happy to let Nicoh watch both babies while she took a nap!

Because Arizona was such a big quality youngster I decided to put Tia in foal to Zidane again and in 2017 she gave birth to a fantastic colt foal. Colorado is even bigger than his sister.

Arizona is now broken in and is becoming a fabulous trekking centre horse so we are all very excited about Colorado for the future.

Meanwhile, as her foals grow up, Tia is still loving her cantering out on the Chase and is becoming so good at teaching lots of new riders in the arena. She is a gorgeous girl and is much loved by everyone here.