Highland Rain is my ex-racer and first horse. He was born in 2008 and bred to be a National Hunt horse. He raced as a 4 and 5 year old a total of 12 times in National Hunt flat, hurdles and chases before retiring in August 2013. During his first year out of racing he was still very much treated like a racehorse with his owners wanting to use him for point-to-point. During this time he experienced many things including: hunting, cross country, show jumping and lots and lots of galloping. I think his owners realised that he would probably never win at point to pointing due to his lack of desire to be at the front and that he would probably be worth a lot more as a riding horse due to his fantastic temperament.
I bought Highland Rain (aka Scottie) in August 2014. He was my first horse, but I had shared other thoroughbreds in the past so I was confident I would be able to cope. I have been incredibly lucky with Scottie. He is incredibly gentle and genuine and he really enjoys his job. My aim for us is to event, but I am in no rush to get there and currently very happy working on our flat work (which he is much better at than expected) and building all the correct muscle we need. Especially as I know he can jump the height from his national hunt career, but the flat work will help his technique more than jumping lots of big jumps!
Our time together has been fantastic. We have taken things slow, getting to know each other, build muscle and just generally enjoy doing what we do. However, we have also been fairly successful, placing our first time out in dressage, showing and show jumping! More recently he has really turned a corner and showing a lot of potential in the dressage ring and possibly the show ring if he manages to not cut his legs open on a regular basis!
He is a very lazy, chilled out lad but does perk up when things get a bit more interesting, such as jumping or being at a show. Despite being chilled out, he is also a worrier and needs a lot of confidence from his rider. He always tries to do what you are asking, even when he doesn’t really want to or finds it hard and enjoys having a job, although would rather not do that job more than a few times a week!
Being a thoroughbred and an ex racehorse he has his moments of silliness for no obvious reason, but he is never dangerous or overly stupid and always looks after you and I think I am getting better and working out what the ‘reason’ was. He isn’t very brave, and takes a lot of his confidence from his rider and other horses around him. This is very rarely a problem, but can be difficult when out with other very green horses. However, with enough patience and convincing he will trust you to get you both through it.
Follow my Progress with Scottie via the ‘Our Progress‘ category.
Details:
Racing/Show Name: Highland Rain
Stable Name: Scottie
Gelding
Height: 16.3h
Birthday: 24/04/2008
Racing History: 2 years over national hunt as a 4 and 5 year old. No falls, no wins, a couple of placings.
