Who is Lilli?
Lilli was originally my sister’s. We went and saw this little fat dumpy pony that a saddle wouldn’t fit. My sister test rode her bareback, with no steering, brakes or accelerator, and came back and professed she loved her and just had to have her. And therein starts her story with us.
It was my late dad’s birthday this week, and one of my favourite photos came up. It is the only photo I know of where he has posed nicely for a photo… and it was with our pony Lilli. Lilli is a 13.1hh, 33 year old registered quarter horse, and still in my paddock.
Dad and Lilli (and Glen’s hind end)
Lilli was originally my sister’s. We went and saw this little fat dumpy pony that a saddle wouldn’t fit. My sister test rode her out in a swampy paddock bareback, with Lilli head up scared of the bit and frantically moving around not understanding much of anything. My sister came back and professed she loved her and just had to have her. And therein starts her story with us.
Lilli was born on a cattle station in outback Northern Territory and while sold ‘broken in’, I think the process consisted of putting a bridle on and sitting on her while they mustered cattle. She had no clue of anything.
My sister originally wanted to play polo x on Lilli, but she was too small, so with Shorty out of work, I took the reins and duties of training Lilli. She learnt that the bit wasn’t scary, all the aids and that she could canter under saddle. Lilli was the best student and tried her best always. I had to be careful not to put too much pressure on as she was so eager to please. I loved training her as she was much like Shorty in that aspect, and in a short period of time we were training lateral movements and competing in pony club, low level dressage and some show hunter classes.
Lilli loved to work and when I moved on to my next horse (another blog story), Lilli was very bored. We tried to sell her to a younger girl, but while Lilli was small and easy to ride, she wasn’t a childrens pony. My sister still can’t tell this one story without laughing. This young girl was trialling Lilli and trotting in a small area. She then turned her into the fence to stop her. Except Lilli did whatever was presented at her, so she jumped and sent the girl flying.
I moved from Darwin to Brisbane and brought Lilli with me to find a suitable home. We sold her to a family who promised the world and unfortunately fell very short. After promising to let us know if they were ever to sell her, I did a google search on her one day and found a for sale advert. I contacted them and she had already been sold down to Sydney. As fortune would have it, they contacted us back a few months later asking if we were interested in buying her back as the Sydney owners life had changed. With a quick call to mum, we said yes and booked her on the first truck we could back up to me in Brisbane.
Lilli arriving and saying hello to… Elvis (who she travelled to Brisbane with from Darwin all those years ago. He’s a couple of horses ahead in this story)
Lilli arrived, the life gone from her eyes, rude, long overrun hooves and a different pony. I started working with Lilli on the ground, got her hooves right (well the trimmer did) and her sparkle came back. She was 19yo a this stage, so we just wanted to look after her for the rest of her years.
Lilli has since done not much, except be a lawnmower, give the odd pony ride and side eye all the younger horses who are well beyond her wisdom.
She was trucked down here to Victoria with me 5 years ago and has proved that little Territory bred horses can infact grow a winter coat that resembles a yak.
Lilli has a bunch of nicknames… the real proof that a horse is loved. Lickle Pickle, Pickley Pony, Lil, Pickles and Blackboard (she sounds like Blackboard from Mr Squiggle when she is asking for dinner - sound here).
