I remember it like it was yesterday - I was having a lesson on one of my other horses at Wyronga Park Equestrian Centre and I saw Grace fresh from the breakers and immediately fell in love with her HEAD as I’m a sucker for a beautiful head!!
I had been wanting to get in to the dressage world and Grace had the potential for both with the breeding of a dressage pony and the eye catching looks for the show ring.
At the time I saw her she wasn’t for sale but before too long circumstances saw her put on the market. It was then that Mum and I jumped at the opportunity to buy her.
Grace had some quirks, especially her expressive canters that my inner circle nicknamed ‘Oh What a Feeling, Toyota!! jumps’. Grace has a willing and professional attitude to her work - she knows when she’s got a job to do and she does it well.
Don’t let that fool you though - Grace can be just like her mum and be a real diva in the work arena but without fail she knows it’s game on when you enter the show ring or dressage arena! It’s fair to say she’s well known around the stables as Princess Grace!! She demands to be the first to be put away at night and if for some reason we don’t, she sure lets us know about it!!
Just over a year ago we almost lost our girl due to a badly infected tendon sheath and she was only given a 50% chance to pull through. The amazingly talented vets at Ballarat Equine Practice Veterinary Hospital said if she pulls through she will more than likely never again be a ridden pony. With hard work, determination and a little bit of luck, Mum, my sister Paige and I would walk her 45 minutes each day in ice vibe boots and stuck to her physio and strength building exercises like clockwork.
It’s hard to believe where we are today, just over 12 months later, but she’s my lucky number 7, my Princess, and I wouldn’t change anything about her for the world
Grace sporting her lucky Number 7 marking
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