Tyntynder, otherwise known as Super Ted is by the legendary Brentano II and when he was born, he already knew everything about the sport of dressage. Let's just say, we're all pretty sure Ted had been here before. Teddy is gifted with an almost prodigal intelligence but being the brilliant academic that he is, he can sometimes be a little bit grumpy, a tad anti-social let's say, and like some of my university lecturers, he might occasionally bite.
They say that every horse is a step on your journey, and whilst I tasted victory on the glorious Imperial Flirt, my first ride on Ted was the first time I got that feeling, you know the one I'm talking about, that feeling of DRESSAGE. More addictive than crack cocaine and twice as expensive, Teddy was the horse that got me hooked.
Luckily for me, Ted was owned by everyone's favourite Auntie Ri, the generous and endlessly benevolent Maria Gleeson and I had the opportunity to take him to ACTUAL competitions. Would you believe it. Ted was the best horse to compete in the UNIVERSE, you didn't get nervous before you rode your test, you got excited because Ted knew how to do EVERYTHING, thanks to the talented Kate Nash :-) and he was always with you in the ring.
The day dawned on the day of my first Elementary test ever (it was at Treehaven) and we all knew great things were going to happen. Ted, true to form smashed out a super accurate test AND we came second. The only person to knock us off was Matt Archibald but in the midst of our celebrations, we decided that was okay because a. Matt Archibald is a professional rider and b. riding fancy horses and winning competitions is like totally his actual job. Obvi. The fun didn't stop there and Ted carried me round my first Medium tests and I ticked that off the bucket list.
This story has a happy ending, Ted is retired at Greenvale with Ri and Gez and I still get to see him and give him a carrot whenever I use the M & G Airport Parking Service.
Postscript: Teddy has made his return to the competition arena with a lovely friend of Maria's and is currently taking the local ARC Level 4 competitions by storm.
