Saturday 15 September 2012

The Phone Call!

On Saturday night I hung around as close to the phone as I could without looking suspicious! No one knew what I was up to yet. For a while I thought the call wouldn't come. Then it rang and I leapt on ther receivier. The lady on the other end had her horses at a show and happily took me through all the horse's good points, including giving me her name, Ella. She'd been started and was in regular work, and had hacked. No she wasn't spooky for a youngster. No traffic wasn't a problem. She was settled well at the show. She was very sweet and so on.There really was little reason NOT to go take a look... and before I knew it that's what I was doing. The viewing was booked! When I hung up I couldn't believe what I'd done, but I was so excited!

Meanwhile, Ella herself was at the show at Aintree racecourse, taking in her surroundings...


Sunday 9 September 2012

How it all Began...


November, 2011. Friday night. After a hard week at work I was getting merrily tipsy at my computer with a bottle of White Zinfandel. I loved unwinding on a Friday night; I worked hard in a full time job, wrote in the evenings and every morning I visited a local stables to muck out and exercise some friend's horses. It was demanding but I loved it, and it meant that, even though I loved riding, I didn't have to be fully committed to one horse, my own horse, or spend loads of money. I felt I was in the perfect situation. Sure I wanted my own someday, but I was really in no hurry. I'd already secured my 'horse' fund for five years in a high interest savings account, knowing that I was going to delay getting my own for some time yet.

Browsing the net I began putting some of my favourite searches into google. One of the standard is checking horse sale ads for my dream horse, so I always googled for a 'black andalusian mare'. I just loved these Spanish horses. Dressage was my favourite equestrian sport but at a compact 5' 4 I struggled to contain the power of big warmbloods so felt better off with the smaller, athletic breeds. All my life I had wanted a black horse, and I loved mares, so I kept searching for that perfect animal, checking prices and day dreaming about them. And that night, this popped up:

I dribbled over the ad for a bit as I had with so many others in the past, thinking what a sweetheart she was, but something different happened this time. Just as I went to click away from the page, I noticed a map under the advert. Most Spanish horses I'd viewed had been located right down the country, an almost insurmountable distance, but this one was different. The horse was closer, in the lower North West area of the UK. I am in the North East. Suddenly going to view her wasn't so impossible...
Don't be silly I told myself, clicking away from the page. But soon I was back just looking at her. And suddenly, buoyed by a touch too much wine, I emailed the seller! I asked a load of questions and almost immediately had a reply. She would ring me tomorrow to discuss her as they were at a show. I agreed.
I reassured myself that the horse would almost certainly come up with a black mark somewhere and my enquiry would not go any further. Little did I know that this enquiry would change my life forever...