Lilly Bear’s Story

(Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2015)

As we enter into this adventure of breeding my Thoroughbred mare Lilly Bear, I thought it would be great for you to get to know her a little bit. As I write this blog post, it’s exactly one year ago this week that I bought her. Believe it or not, I found her on Facebook. I had been looking for a new horse after the sudden passing of my previous horse Ed, in December 2013. It had taken me a few months to get over his death, but I was finally ready to get back in the saddle. There is a vibrant buying and selling of horses business on Facebook. Lilly was posted on “Just Hunters, Jumpers and Equitation Horses for Sale or Lease.” Normally, I would have looked for a horse locally in Virginia, where I could ask my trainer to look at and ride the prospect in person. Lilly’s information came across my Facebook page in mid-March. The only issue with trying her out was that she was in Ohio. I was heading out of town for spring break with my family. In many cases, good horses move hands quickly. On a whim, I sent her information to my trainer Terri Young, and asked her to reach out to the seller. It wound up that Terri and the seller had mutual acquaintances. Lilly could potentially be all that we had been looking for. Once again the issue — she was in Ohio. The seller agreed to let us have Lilly on trial, if we paid to have her shipped to Virginia. We took the chance. Lilly arrived at the barn while I was away, and I got the call that she was everything we had hoped for. When I returned home from my trip and met Lilly, I wholeheartedly agreed. I don’t think Terri would have allowed me to say no anyway! We spent the year going to horse shows with my daughter, and achieving my goal of competing in classes jumping three feet. Many times, I got to be the proud horse momma and watch Terri and Lilly compete in higher level classes. Alas, showing and competing require time and practice, neither of which I have in abundance these days, with managing my businesses and family. While researching information for “The Calm Before the Storm,” I started to dream of breeding my own racehorse. I started to look at Lilly in a different light. This also raised the question of, “What is her back story?” Look for next week’s blog to find out a bit more about Lilly, her heritage and her life journey before landing in my barn. My daughter Codie and Lilly at one of our first shows together. Have a great day! Kimberly

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