Lily's journey.
Lily's journey ;
from 'problem pony' to perfect partner.
08:36, Lily (Magic Millie)
Saturday, 21 June 2008

In July 2007 I had been without a horse for nearly 4 months and, after seeing 6 different horses that I had thought might've come home with me and being proven wrong, I was starting to get disheartened. After coming back from a failed vetting I said to my best friend that this was getting too painful, I was going to give up. She gave me one of her usual everything-feels-less-crappy-for-a-moment hugs and my mum gave me that week's paper and said it wouldn't hurt to look. I saw two I liked the sound of, rung both numbers and got no answer. A few hours later a lady rung back to see if I was still interested in 'Millie' (Lily's name at the time) and I don't remember much of the conversation except her saying, "she's not really a looker but she's a good, honest mare" so I had visions in my mind of a very butch, handsome piebald mare with a roman nose and a not-so-dainty body.
The next day we drove an hour upto the welsh border and arrived at a nice little cottage with a livery yard round the back. Her owner came out, pointed behind me and said that was Millie. I spoke without thinking "Are you crazy? She's stunning!" and then a warning light came on in my head; if she is gorgeous and as good as they say, why's she so cheap? But I thought that I shouldn't pass judgement 'til I see what she's like. She was a bit nervy to tack up and was fidgety walking to the arena but I shrugged it off...
Her owner's son who rides her was late coming home so I decided to hop on without seeing how she was like from the ground (I know, I know...) and her owner had said that "She was quick and not silly but by no means a novice or intermediate ride, she had to have someone experienced". I was a bit skeptical but got on, started walking round and thought she was a bit active but not too quick. As soon as I asked for trot though she bombed off. I managed to get her back to a walk and thought maybe I'd squeezed her a bit hard so I tried again and good golly miss Molly it wasn't a fluke! So I walked back to the gate to talk to her owner. Apparently several people had come and were put on the floor, including a riding instructor who critised her son then got on and fell off within 2 minutes. I now knew why she was so cheap but that warning light had gone off, in fact, I enjoyed the challenge of getting her to trot and canter sanely. See the fence around the menage? I found out that they had to get it refenced because when it was just 5ft, she kept jumping out!
Within 20 minutes of teaching a halfhalt and stopping my eyes from watering everytime she went off on one we were doing beautiful dressage work. If I had not seen her behave like that and her potential, I probably wouldn't have bought her.

I saw her another two times and bought her after her vetting within that week. She was delivered and as I was undoing the buckle on her headcollar her owner said "maybe leave it on a few days just incase" and I suddenly realised why whenever I went to view her she was already caught but it was too late! Oh my, how silly did I feel. I couldn't catch her for a few days after that and I wish I could say it was only that week she was difficult to catch! My first ride on her was fine until she bolted from top to the bottom of our field and did a sharp turn to avoid the stables, I stayed on but I got off after and suddenly realised that it could've been serious. Since then my confidence has never been the same and has only gotten worse now I have to be safety concious due to my health. If I fall off, it could be 'catastrophic' in the words of my neurosurgeon so thank god for Parelli for making riding safer for me and reassuring me that if I'm too scared to ride; it's okay. We started natural horsemanship in August, specifically switched to Parelli in January and Lily and I are all the better for it.

Edit: Incase anyone was wondering why I changed her name from Millie to Lily; her fieldmate is Molly and I thought Millie and Molly would be too twee! She was going to be called Melody but she already responded to the 'ih-lee' syllable so Lily seemed most suitable. :)


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