list 43 things about my horse so that I won't forget

Portia did her fair share of standing on people’s feet. I think she sometimes didn’t realise just where exactly her feet were, because once she got my foot, then acted as if she wasn’t even standing on me. I used to give her a great big shove to get her off :) She only got my feet a few times over the 4 years, and once got a friends foot. Not bad compared to some horses :)

She was a show off. I remember when I had her grazing in the neighbours paddock, and everytime the neighbour walked past her she would canter about, bucking, and then stop and roll. Complete and utter show off. :) She used to show off for other horses too, like this funny time she stopped and tried to do a roll on a hill. (It didn’t work out for her :)). She probably would’ve made a great show horse, but I always preferred to go riding cross country and let her have her head and get completely covered in mud, rather than spend hours making her look her best so we could ride in a circle around a judge. :)

I remember the day she was seperated from my sisters horse (when I brought her), and put in a seperate paddock down the road. I wasn’t there when she was seperated, but I visited her that afternoon. She looked so incredibly lonely. She stood under the pine tree and hung her head. From then on she became more attatched to me, and also better behaved. Having her away from my sister’s horse meant that she wasn’t lead astray by his bad behavoir. And because she was by herself while I was at school, when I visited she would be keener to see me. She went from being difficult to catch to running up to me and neighing :)

34. I had her in the neighbours yards one day, and she was grazing while we waited for the farrier to arrive. She suddenly coughed really loudly, like she’d eaten something she shouldn’t have. She did it again, and I hurridly began checking which types of grass she’d been eating. She didn’t cough again after that, which I was relieved about. She did nip at her stomach though, and I thought she may have colic, but she was probably just eating too fast, because she was fine afterwards. :)

On my fathers property there is a big Granny Smith apple tree. She loved that tree. When I had her loose on the property she would spend all her time eating apples. I went riding one day, and after visiting dad she didn’t want to leave. I also remember a time my sister and I had a picnic near the tree, and watched her horse and Portia eat their own lunch of apples. She really liked my dad, because of all the apples he gave her. I think her idea of Horse Heaven was under that tree.

When I put her bridle on, ot take it off, she’d lower her head for me, and tilt it to one side so I could get it over her ears easily. :)

I rode her bareback for a year and a half. After that I brought a saddle (they are expensive). Bareback riding can be fun, but she was young, and a saddle gave me more stability until she grew up and settled down. I like both types of riding, but rode with the saddle mostly. It makes the trot more comfortable because you can post to it, and I loved taking her running.

When I saw her after school, i’d often stay with her until it got dark and I had to go home. It was fun in the dark, but i’d have to watch my feet :) She wasn’t spooked about me being there if it was dark, but she didn’t like the torch. Once I shone a torch and she ran away. I guess they are pretty freaky for a horse.

Once when I was with her in the dark I was playing this game with her, and I ran into a stick. I still have a scar just below my knee. It was totally worth it, to be in the dark with her.

She was 3/4 quarter horse and 1/4 thorough bred. This means that technically, she would be quite a fast horse, but compared to my sisters horse who was thoroughbred/arab cross, Portia was quite slow. I guess it was just her little legs :)

Whenever we were riding, and we saw rabbits, they wouldn’t run away. If they saw me by myself they would, but for some reason, a human on a horse wasn’t as scary.

She had extremely tough hooves. When she was being shod once, the farrier had trouble getting the nails in her hooves. It’s good for a horse to have hard hooves :)