When I was eight years old I was talked into leasing my Standardbred mare, Skater out to her former half-owner to be bred. He wanted a foal out of her sired by Direct Scooter. Skater left in January of that year and didn't return until the end of August.
During this time, I started riding lessons with a family friend that rode Grand Prix level Dressage. I was too little and too inexperienced for her Grand Prix dressage horse, but her step-sons had an old camp pony that they never rode and so my riding lessons started on Sea Star.
Sea Star's head was too big, her back too long, and her legs too short, but she had the patience of a saint and more experience than you could ever imagine. Sea Star knew all her cues, did flying lead changes, put all her heart and soul into everything she did, and she loved kids. Sea Star was an ugly pony, but I loved her.
That spring, the family friend became too busy to teach lessons and I started riding lessons at another barn. I missed Sea Star, but enjoyed riding the school pony, Dutchess. Dutchess was sweet, but I still talked incessantly about Sea Star. Show season hit and with my horse out on lease and the family friend's step-sons not being very interested in the pony, I ended up bringing Sea Star home on a free lease about mid-summer. Sea Star did have some health problems and drank a lot of water and soaked her stall. I had to strip her stall and re-bed it everyday, but I still loved her.
I rode Sea Star everyday. I could tack her up and go without anyone's help. I rode her in the paddocks, in the hay field, on the 1/2 mile track. We walked, and trotted, and cantered. We went to horse shows and on the Saddle Up For St. Jude's Trail Ride. I loved that pony.
Sea Star stayed with us through the summer, the fall, the winter. I cleaned her stall and brushed her daily. Trudged through the snow with my dad to the barn and turned her out. Sea Star's health issues didn't end with the coming of winter. Her stall still had to be stripped everyday and she had to have two clean, ice free water buckets at all times. She required a little more time and work then some other ponies, but I still loved her.
The next spring, we took care of her coggins test and vaccines. While the vet pulled her blood for the coggins, her age came up. How old was Sea Star? Hemphill's had told the family friend she was 20, but when the vet checked her teeth, he whistled loudly, looked at me, and said "This is a very old pony you got here". He then went on to say that he was positive Sea Star was older than 35, but if he had to guess, he'd guess she was possibly in her early 40s. Sea Star was a very old pony, but I still loved her.
My own horse, Skater had her foal and I spent a lot of time with them, watching the young foal grow, but I still loved the old pony. I was riding Sea Star around the track and she decided that being an old reliable pony was getting boring and that the green grass looked nice. She jumped a banking, dove for grass, and I fell off, but looking up at her from the ground, I knew I still loved her. I took Sea Star to horse camp and for the first time since I'd had her, she turned up lame. I was disappointed and had to ride another horse there, but I still loved Sea Star.
I learned to braid and braided and bathed Sea Star myself. She looked silly and gave me pathetic looks, but stood forever and never put up a fight. We showed that summer and never won, but that was OK, I still loved Sea Star. I was planning to go to the St. Jude's Trail Ride again, but then the family friend called and soon after, came and got Sea Star.
I went to the St. Judes Trail Ride with a borrowed pony named Jackson, who acted like a complete ass and I cried for the first time out of frustration with a horse. I turned back early after being run into a tree and nearly "clothes lined" off. I wanted and missed Sea Star. The family friend was called and she told us that she had sold Sea Star back to Hemphill's. I skipped school and tagged along with my dad to Hemphill's to go see Sea Star. We got there and were told that Sea Star had died only a week before during the night. It broke my heart, but to this day I still love Sea Star.
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