A New Home for Pia

I've been totally silent on the blog about Miss Pia for the last couple weeks mostly because I didn't want to jinx anything, but I think it's time for an update.

The Boy and I mentally committed to finding P a new home before the baby arrived in an attempt to curtail some of the horsey expenditures since people keep telling us that kids are spendy too... (what?)

The fact is, re-homing P is a hard thing.  The control freak in me had a hard time even writing that dreamhorse ad and contemplating someone else being in charge of her.  But one cannot collect all the horses all the time (damn), so the ad went up and I got LOTS of responses.  Most of them were not great for one reason or another (one lady wanted P for her 6 year old grand kids to ride..) but a few sounded like good homes capable of working with a Pia.

One in particular jumped out at me and seemed like a good match.  An Adult Ammy, looking for their next low level eventing partner, who has her horses at home, in a pasture all together, no stalls... She trail rides, hauls out a couple times a week and all in all sounded like a good amount of variety for a mare with a clever brain.

She came to try P (P was good) and we loaded her up for a trial.  I agreed to a three week trial because a) she lives 4 hours away and it seemed mean to make someone haul back and forth for anything shorter.. and more importantly b) I really wanted a long enough trial that someone would get to know the mare and have a chance to see her be good, but also maybe deal with some of the challenges.

P settled in great, and in during her trial was able to haul out for all sorts of lessons (including some jumping) and the only misbehavior that I heard about was the mare pulling the lead and running away on the ground a couple times (a trick she tries on EVERY new person).

Anyway, long story short, it was a good match and P has officially found her new person!  They had another jumping lesson this past weekend, and it sounds like her Eventing trainer thinks that they are a good march and will enjoy each other.

Honestly, I'm so relieved to have found her a home I think she can succeed in, and I'm so thrilled to see her being a good mare and getting to work.  I know how quickly P can get sour if she's in a bad environment, so I think that if she weren't happy (or relaxed) we'd know it by now.

So, congrats P.  I'll miss your pretty red face and your clever brain.  You brought me back to horses as an adult and taught me how to trust my gut again, ask for second opinions and adjust my expectations.  I'm a better owner, rider and person for having had the last four years with you and I can't wait to see what you do next.

And because I don't want to post pics of her new owner without asking, I'll leave you with some of my all time favorite Pia pictures.

Pretty bird (before I got her)

First ride! March 2010

When supermom delivered her

first ride at the Dressage Barn

Mare love

stoic black and white :)

such a pretty face

Valentines 2011

Grumpy face

Summer Camp Snack

My favorite face!

Mountain Trail 

Field Gallops

Tackling the teeter totter at Mountain Trail

Our First/Only Beach Ride

Mountain Trail 2012 with Prair too!

Summer Camp :)

Cowboy Man and Summer Camp

(heart)

mares!

Back to work (briefly)

Up north at D's

Such a brilliant mare.  I hope I continue to get updates from her new person and that they stay on the happy, positive path they started on!