The Amazing Gazalle!

5yrs ago I was invited to go riding at a local stable, something that I had been avoiding for many years as I am not best keen on the state of the animals or the treatment that they receive here in Egypt.

But out of curiosity I went along, and once it was established that I could in fact ride was given Gazelle as my horse for the morning.

I'm not going to lie I hated him at first, he was so aggressive and just wanted to canter everywhere! His favourite thing to do when we went out was to try and hook me off in trees or round lamp posts!!!!

So needless to say, the next few times I went I asked for another horse!!

But a few weeks in and my children decided they wanted to join me, so I was asked to take Gazelle again this I was not looking forward to and said as much to a friend of mine back home. It was in that conversation she reminded me that I had obviously forgotten how to listen to my horses as the old Lesley would of seen this situation as something to be fixed and not something to run away from!

It was the kick in the behind I needed so when I went out on him again, I looked at him from his perspective.

When I watched him being tacked up I realised that he was in fact scared and very head shy he was roughly handled and every time he moved, he would be shouted at even if he wasn’t doing anything wrong! 🙁

When we went out, he spent most of the time trying to get away from the donkey that would come along with us and every time it made its signature sound Gazelle would get very upset and start to mess about!

It became very clear that he was unhappy and was just miss understood.

So, on my next visit I decided to take him out alone no others with me no lead donkey just him and me, it was like I was riding a completely different horse! He listened he loved my talking to him and stroking him we started a canter through the sugar cane fields and ‘A beautiful Day‘ by US filled my ears and it really summed up how I was feeling in the moment with this horse that only a few weeks previous had wanted to put me in the canal!!

The more I rode him the more I understood that this horse was a one-person horse so made the decision to rent him full time so that I would be the only one to ride him.

It wasn’t long after this that we made the decision to buy him and bring him home 😊

5 yrs on Gazelle or Master Gez is the love of my life my husband knows he comes in second to him! 😊

He has changed so much and gone from a horse who would not put on weight and would only walk and canter everywhere to being a horse that is long as mum is there to reassure him any one can ride.

He still thinks it's really funny to walk me into the trees!! And I know he thinks its hilarious because his ear prick forward as soon as he does it!!!

I could not ask for a better horse he wants to learn and do new things and who would of thought that a baladi horse would love to Jump so much!!

Gazelle is now the driving force behind everything I do when I see how much he has changed and how loving he has become it makes my heart swell with pride.

He has filled a gap where no other horse has touched for a very long time.

He will forever be my amazing Gazelle xx