My horse, Monique, that I had owned and ridden for fourteen years was sick and the chances were she would never be able to be ridden again. Monique had earned a comfortable retirement.
My friend Sue was on the lookout for a young horse to educate and when she rang to see if I was interested in us working together with a horse I jumped at the opportunity. We kept our eyes and ears open, scanning newspapers, websites and the usual sale publications. We wanted to offer a young horse the opportunity of a good education and a certain future. We were happy to invest a lot of time and energy so we decided that an easy-going temperament along with sound conformation were to be our priorities. An ad in The Weekly Times showing photos of a pinto Brumby mare caught our interest and took us on a weekend road trip. If she would load on the float we intended to bring her home. She had been living wild on a station in South Australia until she was caught and trucked to Victoria when she was three years old. This little mare was now four and was living on a farm near Ballarat, where she had been handled but only ridden a few times.
Sue, our daughters and I rolled up to meet her. I don’t think she’d ever seen a group of people approach together. Although she was clearly worried, we sensed she had a good nature. We watched her ridden and organised to pick her up the next morning. Back in our motel we enjoyed a meal and a few drinks, pondering over what her name should be. After much discussion and a couple more drinks we voted for Razzamatazz. Anyone who admits to their age might remember an ad for stockings with the jingle, ‘Oh oh razzamatazz, oh oh razzamatazz oh oh’. This little mare had four white stockings, hence the name.
Next morning we loaded ‘Razz’ onto the float. She’d never been in a float before, only a truck, but she took it all in her stride and we were soon on our way. Surely it couldn’t be this easy!
Image 7: Independent and confident, Razzamatazz enjoys domestic life.
Razz lived with Sue for the first few months as Sue had easy access to a riding arena and some small yards perfect for groundwork. Over the next few weeks Razz survived all the usual husbandry procedures—dentist, farrier, worming and an introduction to rugs—all without fuss!
We had seen Razz ridden the day we bought her but we decided to take it slowly—she was after all a ‘wild horse’. We started with some groundwork and lunging. We thought that because she had lived in a herd she would suffer separation anxiety when we took her out alone or when she was left in the paddock by herself. Razz proved us wrong and was quite independent and confident, with or without company! She was inquisitive and naturally approached things we thought she should have found scary. We got used to her snorting in new surroundings and at unusual objects as her way of investigating things rather than being a sign of fear.
Sue was the first to ride her—she is much braver than I am! I still remember the ‘cat’s got the cream’ look on her face as she rode our ‘wild horse’ around the paddock for the first time! We shared Razz for some months between our two properties. She was floated regularly and we took her for trail rides and outings to our local riding club.
I was completely taken with Razz’s temperament. I also preferred mares and at 15hh she was the perfect height for me to ride, so we decided the ‘wild horse’ would become mine! I’ve had Razz now for almost six years and she is very much part of the family. We trail ride, have fun at riding club, enjoy lessons and compete in dressage competitions. She always knows where I am on the property and definitely sees me as a member of her herd. My husband calls her the ‘overgrown puppy dog’ because of how she reacts when she hears my car coming up the driveway or hears me come out of the house. She always seems to know what is happening, but while acutely aware of her surroundings, she is not fearful. Her Brumby nature means she seeks shelter from the hot sun while other horses still graze, and when we trail ride through the bush she wants to sniff all the different plants and knows exactly which ones are edible.
I often wonder what stories she could tell us. Has she had a foal? I suspect it’s most likely that she has. Does she prefer her ‘captive’ lifestyle? I think she does. I hope she does because she has a special place in my heart and will be with me forever.