Songbird

I had always wondered why whichever horse I had something bad always happened to him/her. But to be honest, the horse of my dreams is still here, a gift of pleasure and joy. 

Songbird was bred out of a fine, handsome stallion by the name of 'King Perry' and her dam, well she was an innocent grey Arabian cross who was mainly used for breeding. Songbird was brought up on a welsh farm, where the gales blew strong and brought stinging tears to anyone's eyes as they walked through the weather for no emotional reason. 

I never could take Songbird on myself, but I was lucky to hear of a nearby groom who desperately needed a hand with a handsome, purebred Arab. 'She' turned out to be a part-time groom by the name of Lesley Copper. She looked after showjumpers at a local stables but decided that she wanted a horse of her own for a change. 

I was quite chuffed to help her out with Songbird. I had seen the horse's advert in a local pony magazine months ago and becoming quite interested at the prospect of actually becoming half an owner to her. I told Lesley that I had a troublesome horse in the past, also an arab who had true potential. 

I helped Lesley every day of the week, weekdays after school and weekends all day. Songbird and I really got to know each other well. As every day I got used to Songbird, the little grey mare showed me more respect and soon treated myself and Lesley equally. 

One day, Lesley and I met at the stables on a cold, frosty Saturday morning. Lesley looked awful. She had huge dark rings under her eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She wore the same clothes as the day before which was quite unusual for such a hygenic person like Lesley. Straw was tangled up in her uncombed hair and her hands were speckled with dirt. 

"Lesley, are you alright?" I asked her, looking deeply concerned. "You look, um....well..tired." 

Lesley turned to look at me. "Oh, it's so bad, Anna. Songbird.....she, she...." Lesley broke off. 

"Lesley, what is it? What is the matter?" I was more concerned than ever. 

"Songbird collapsed in her stable last night. I had taken her out on a long-winded hack last night. I knew I shouldn't have done but she was box walking and so fed up in that tiny stable." Lesley's expression had turned as sad as a puppy dog's face when he was upset. "Anyway, I took Songbird out on this hack and we approached a set-up cross country course. It had logs and all sorts in it so I decided to give it a go. When I took Songbird back to her stable she was terribly exhausted so I gave her lots of water and a rub-down with a tea towel. When I closed her stable door behind me she rolled her eyes, reared up and crash! she fell down and collapsed." 

"Oh, but Lesley that's awful!" I exclaimed. "How about the vet? Is he going to come?" 

Lesley nodded. "He said he would come right away." 

Sure enough, the vet came half an hour later. He took one look at Songbird and shook his head. 

"She won't make it," he confirmed. "We'll just have to call it a day." 

"But you can't!" Both Lesley and I chorused together. 

The vet agreed he would give Songbird one more week. I was controlling myself quite well, despite all the bad memories of my old pony Oliver going through my head. He had suffered from a chronic foot condition and the vet just had to put him down. I could never face another horse again if this was to happen to Songbird. 

A whole week later and Songbird was not in the least a bit better. She could not even lift her head up, let alone stand. The vet explained that he had expected her to be standing up for even a minute at the maximum. When the vet drew the shots into the gun, I felt everything going hazy. I held onto the stable door for support and managed to prevent myself from fainting. 

"Wait!" Yelled Lesley so loudly I could feel the stable shake. "Can't you just give her that one little chance? I mean look, she's trying to lift her head." 

It seemed a waste to hold onto Songbird for one more week but she ate and drank and for once, lifted her head. 

"She's certainly improving," admitted Lesley, a grin starting to spread across her unwashed face. "I think it was worth holding on to her for another week." 

And it definitely was. You would never believe that two whole weeks later she was galloping over cross-country jumps over 3ft high and enjoying a good roll in her field!!!

So, never give up at the worst of times. If Lesley hadn't stopped the vet when she did, I probably would not still be going down to the same old yard every day and seeing my favourite little 'buddy.' We even have entered ourselves for Badminton next year!!! Lesley tries not to get jealous when I mention that but for the up and coming shows before Badminton, she is allowed to ride Songbird.

Lesley is a great person to share a pony with and she has become like a great big sister to me. The horses who she cares for at Henbridge Farm Stables are all in excellent health thanks to her. Also thank you to Songbird who tried so hard to get her self well again!!!!

Miss A. Sterrett

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