Lucy’s Companions: Stella & Millie

About two weeks ago now I answered a Craigslist advertisement for a Super Smooth Spotted Saddle Horse on the other side of town and made the acquaintance of a delightful horsewoman who moved south for work about ten years ago. Coming from Maine, and before that California, she knew about as much as I do about saddle horses and gaited horses: practically nothing. This worked to my advantage because she understood what I don’t know and was able educate me.

I left there with the conviction that I’d be buying her little black-and-white mare once I’d had the chance to return and introduce our operations manager to the mare. Now named Stella, the horse was everything we’d been looking for: not terribly tall at 14.1 hands, gentle enough for a beginner (she’d been purchased as a school horse), trail savvy (she was for sale because she prefers trails to working in a ring), sweet and easy to manage. As calm as Lucy has become while here, she’s still young and more suited to an intermediate or advanced rider. Stella is 12 years old and her years show in her calm demeanor. And, talk about smooth! That gait is a dream!

I remember the first horse we looked at last fall over in Fairview. Also a spotted saddle horse, she had a sweet smooth trot unlike any I’d ever experienced, but was a tad difficult to manage at a canter for a middle-age woman who’s not been on a horse in 30 years. Over time, I had managed to forget that sweet trot, assuming it was an anomaly; however, I now know that that’s the gait these horses offer. When I was trying her in the ring that first day I learned that her current owned had never asked her to canter because these horses usually just showcase their gait. Upon learning that, all the confidence of my youth returned: I’d not need to be concerned about falling from this horse and we could traverse trails all day without a concern. Or, we might if she weren’t being purchased for my partner in farming.

Last Sunday we made it back to the pretty farm on the far side of town and I watched as Stella sold herself and clinched her spot at P&CW Organic Farm. Watching the joy of an adult who has ridden before but has never had a horse of her own was delightful. The light that came into her face when she realized that this was to be her horse, her first horse, was a pleasure to witness. (Our New England visitors agreed.) We left having put a deposit toward her purchase and with the arrangement that she’d be delivered later in the week (as our trailer needs a tire replaced and I wasn’t likely to get to it soon). For the next three days I told Lucy about the companion we’d chosen for her, and I thought about how life could be if I had a horse like Stella, too.

Lucy and I have not been trail riding together yet because I have the utmost respect for her ability to dump me even unintentionally by starting at something on a trail. With a horse that moves like Stella, and the knowledge that her gait is so easy, I’d go out trail riding tomorrow without a second thought. So that idea bubbled around in the back of my brain all week. Stella arrived Wednesday; our guests left Thursday; and on Friday I found a listing for a 4-year-old spotted saddle horse mare, 14.3 hands high, in just the next town. Owned by a nice young man who actually lives just a few houses from our farm, Millie joined our herd in short order. (Her name may change, but Millie will do for now. Both of our newer horses had their names changed by their last owner, so the switch to Stella was easy and any switch for Millie will be as easy.)

Millie is a pretty horse. Freshly bathed by her former owner, she shines beside our other two. But of our saddle horses, Stella is the looker. She has a slender stripe down her face and a long forelock that sweeps below her eyes. Millie’s face is black, her muzzle is white, and she has a Roman nose that is noticeable when she stands beside Stella.

Lucy in the herd boss, our Alpha mare, but now Stella and Millie have each other for more pleasant companionship. Lucy is a good companion until food is delivered at which time she bares her teeth (laying them alongside another’s neck without actually biting) and clearly says, “Me first.” Now that her udder is beginning to swell indicating that the arrival of her foal may be close, I support her preferential treatment when grain is present; we feed grain in three separate bins to allow each horse a fair chance.

Now we are three. Three is enough; we won’t be buying more horses. These three can work around the farm and take us out to play as well—which is more than I can say for those silly geese or the busily browsing goats.