Their Story

A while back I posted about how my boyfriend got his very first horse, Lilah Rose. Well, this is their story...

Evan has always been allergic to horses (in fact, the first day I came home from the barn and stepped in the house he began sneezing immediately as I walked in the door!) but as he became more and more interested in horses and natural horsemanship, we started researching possible options for him. Naturally, we came across the only hypo-allergenic breed in existence, the American Bashkir Curly Horse. Relatives to America's Mustangs, Curly Horses are a rare breed. Eventually, Evan's horse fever got this best of him, and his parents knew they were going to have to do something about it. After doing a lot of research and promising his parents he would make an appointment with an allergy specialist, Evan was finally given permission to buy a curly horse of his own.

Unfortunately, Curlies who have had any formal training or have been in the show ring are very expensive, so our only choices within price range were untrained brood mares or babies. So, despite Pat's famous saying of "green on green, makes black and blue," I pushed for getting a "fresh canvas", rather than a horse who has altered opinions of humans. Lucky for us, we found Silver Storm Farm in Tennessee who seemed to have exactly what we were looking for. The choice was between a 1.5 year old mischievous colt, and a slightly younger sweet little filly. It became clear during observation that Lilah is an introvert, but Left or Right brain we weren't totally sure. Regardless, she stole Evan's heart, loaded perfectly and took the 9 hour ride back to Ohio like a champ!

It didn't take long to figure out the Lilah is a LBI/LBE cusp. She has so much energy but only wants to use it if it's her idea! Evan began teaching her the 7 games and soon enough she had them learned and was figuring out ways to get out of them. She was smart, and we knew we had to increase our knowledge if we were going to keep up. This June Evan decided to participate in the Level 1/2 clinic with Jesse Peters. It was such a great decision and a huge confidence builder for Evan.

Focusing on learning

A private lesson with Marie

Using phases effectively.

The bareback pad is a non-issue.

Her headband says "princess" :)

Post clinic, we are focusing on the basics and getting Evan prepared for his level 1 audition. Lilah has already learned so much, I am so excited to see just how far they will go in the future!!