Horse Shopping Around the World

Breanna L
Aug 9, 2024
7 min read

The Riddermark Equestrian Centre presents

In association with KME Vlogs

Featuring…

Rebecca Matthews, Paige Price & Mark Moulin

with appearances by Leanne Forbes, Lily Forbes, and Ashton Jones

And Introducing…

Spartan REC & Syncopation REC

Mid-Morning Discussions…

It was cold; way colder than Rebecca would have ever imagined, being the middle of summer and all. She was no expert, of course, her degree was in Business Management, not meteorology. Still, having moved to Sweden all of six months ago, she was learning new things everyday… like the weather was just about as unpredictable as it was back home in Scotland. But, she needed a change, and so did her daughter, Lilly.

Lily’s dad, the infamous Keith Forbes had recently passed away. The equine world had lost a legend, and Lily had lost a father she barely knew and was taking it harder than anybody would have thought. Thankfully though, she knew her half siblings, Leanne and George. Leanne and her mom, Paige, actually lived nearby and worked at the Riddermark everyday with Rebecca and Lily. Paige was the Yard Manager and sometimes rode in competitions with both Leanne and Lily. The family drama though, is a story for another day.

It was just past 10AM when Paige sat down with Rebecca in the front garden of the facilities, both of them were enjoying their mid-morning tea, peppermint for Rebecca and earl grey for Paige, when she happened to mention that they’d be getting a visitor later that afternoon. “By the way, Beks, I’ve got a potential buyer coming this afternoon. You may have heard of him… Last name is Moulin.” startled, Rebecca looked up from the paper she had been reading. “What do you mean? The name does sound familiar.” Rebecca said as she furrowed her brow, trying to remember where she had heard the name before. “What horses do you think are ready to find new homes that I don’t know about?”

Without skipping a beat or even taking her eyes off of her phone Paige simply replied “Oh just Syn and Spaz”. It took all of her willpower but Rebecca refrained from spitting out her tea. She couldn’t believe that Paige thought either of those two stallions were ready. They were actually on Rebecca’s short list to be gelded; they were such a handful and that was saying something because The Riddermark was once known for its stallions.

Granted, she hadn’t been around the horses much since moving to Sweden because she had been busy handling everything on the business side. Paige and Leanne were now in charge of the horses and their care and training. Moving from one country to another with more than ten horses was very time consuming and took a lot of paperwork, more paperwork than Rebecca ever wanted to see again in her life.

“Does this Moulin person understand that these are stallions who have not been actively ridden or competed in almost a year and will therefore need an experienced hand?” Paige just smirked at Rebecca. “Oh yes, he’s very experienced according to his CV and is looking for a new mount that he can start competing at 1.60 with. Both of these boys are perfect for that, and you know it.”

Paige wasn’t wrong; both of these stallions were sired by the legendary Sail On By REC, who competed at 1.60 himself and earned the highest title a horse could with the Equus-Sims Hunter/Jumper Association back in the day. Most of his offspring that were still competing were doing so at the highest levels in both show jumping and eventing. Syncopation and Spartan were no different; before they had returned to The Riddermark they were both contenders for the Olympics with their riders. However, things were not meant to be. Tragically, both riders died in a car accident only a few months before the Olympic selections were to take place.

It was lucky Rebecca had been notified by the authorities after it happened, all thanks to the ID implants that all REC horses are given at birth, otherwise who knows where these two would have ended up.

The Arrival

It was just before 2 PM when a green SUV was seen pulling into the complex. Leanne, Lilly, and Ashton all stopped what they were doing in the main arena because it wasn’t often that they had visitors, being new to the area and all. “Oh boy, I hope it’s not some spoiled rich kid who wants riding lessons. I’m not sure I can handle one more thing” Ashton groaned. Leanne just chuckled at her friend. “No worries there, I’m pretty sure my mum would turn them away anyways.”

Lilly just stayed quiet and let the two older girls gossip and speculate as she continued to handle the golden palomino stallion standing at her side. “Who’s a good boy? You are! Yes, you. Good boy Ember” BHB Emberix was new to The Riddermark, having just arrived the week before and he was meant to be one of Leanne’s new mounts. However, Lilly had taken an instant liking to him, and insisted on being the one to care for him. She soon had plans to ask her mum and Paige if he could be her mount instead of Leannes. She was experienced with horses, it was expected given who her father and extended family was, but she had never really loved them like everybody else. Ember though, this boy just spoke to her.

All three girls stopped to watch, and when the car finally pulled in and parked in the parking lot, all three waited, rather impatiently, to see who would step out of the vehicle. They didn’t have to wait long because soon the door opened and out stepped a tall dark haired gentleman. “Oh my” Ashton said under her breath. “Who is that!?” “No idea, although he does look familiar. Maybe we’ve seen him on the circuit?” replied Leanne.

“We should probably get back to work, we have more horses to exercise.” Lilly said as she led Ember away from the arena and back towards the barn. As she watched her half sister walk away, Leanne noticed out of the corner of her eye, that both Rebecca and her mother had already made their way to the stranger and had obviously introduced themselves. Within five minutes the trio started making a beeline for the arena. “Heads up, here comes my mum and Rebecca.” Leanne said to Ashton.

“Leanne, Ashton. I’d like you to meet Marquis Moulin.” Rebecca said “Oh please, call me Mark, Marquis is too formal.” Rebecca smiled. “Leanne, honey, would you and Ashton please go tack up Spartan and Syncopation for me?” Paige said as she entered the arena with Mark and Rebecca. “Mark here is on the hunt for a new show jumper and he wants to give those two boys a try and see how they do.”

Both Ashton and Leanne raised their eyebrows at Paige. “Um, okay. We’ll be right back.” Leanne said as she walked out of the arena with Ashton and towards the main barn. She honestly couldn’t understand why her mum and Rebecca would try and pawn either of these two stallions off on this guy. Did they want the sale or did they want him to run for the hills? “He’s kind of hot don’t you think?” Ashton whispered to Leanne as they walked away. “Yeah, he’s not bad looking.” she replied.

Time to Ride!

Syncopation was up first. He was the oldest of the two stallions, looked the most like their father, and had the most experience. “At a young 15 years, Syn still has many years left in him to compete and earn ribbons. What’s more, he’s still intact and was sold as a stallion prospect so he could produce some champions too!” Rebecca exclaimed to Mark as they waited for the stallion to come to the arena. “To our knowledge, he’s not had any offspring to date.”

“I’ve got to admit, I love that you guys have him in pink.” Mark exclaimed as the dark bay stallion finally emerged from the barn. Paige just chuckled. “We like to go against convention here at The Riddermark.” Mark approached the stallion to introduce himself and it seemed to go well because Syn stood still for Mark to mount up. They started trotting around the arena and worked their way up to a canter before Syn fully took the bit and decided he was ready for more. When Mark gave the signal, the large stallion went straight for the jump Mark pointed him towards and sailed over it with ease.

Rebecca and Paige were both relieved that the stallion decided it was a good morning to behave. “You know, I feel like our issues with him, and most likely his brother, are that we aren’t working them enough.” Paige said to Rebecca. “I know, I know. I need to find more staff so that all of the horses can be exercised regularly. We can’t keep depending on Leanne, Lilly, and Ash to do everything.” Rebecca sighed.

After his ride on Syn, it was Spartan’s turn, hopefully to shine. If there was one horse Leanne didn’t particularly like handling, it was Spaz. He wasn’t a bad horse, his personality just got on her nerves. He didn’t seem to like women very much, and liked to push boundaries with them. Today, Spaz seemed to be in a mood and almost as soon as Leanne led him into the arena he decided it was time to act out.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't exercised in a few days, or maybe he just didn’t like Leanne.. We’ll never know. It took Leanne, Paige, and Rebecca to get Spaz back under control, but not before Leanne ate dirt from him dragging her a little bit. “And that’s it. I’m done for the day. Mum, I’m going to head home and shower. Mr. Moulin, it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope to see you in the circuit!” Leanne left the arena, with a slight limp thanks to Spartan stepping on her feet.

Needless to say, Rebecca and Paige were both nervous about this little ‘interview’. “Are you sure he’s ready for this?” Rebecca asked Paige. “Don’t worry, he’ll do beautifully. He’s spirited, which should help Mark reach the higher levels of competition, like he wants.” Letting out a breath “I hope you’re right and that this isn’t a mistake.” Things didn’t start off well.

Spaz was living up to his name and being well, a spaz. Thankfully though, Mark kept his seat through all of it and managed to wear Spartan out enough to have his mind turn to work rather than play and soon they were a team, moving flawlessly around the arena as if they were one. “That looks rather promising if I do say so myself.” Rebecca said to Paige, with apparently relief in her tone. “Yes, I just want the best for these boys, they both deserve the best and right now we just can’t give that to them.”