Our Lulu died today..

Stone to Car House Bridge 89, Trent and Mersey Canal, 2 miles 1 lock

It started out a good day, just like any other day really, then a phone call to say that one of the family’s beloved ponies had died.

Our Lulu, or Ovington Lucretia her full and official Welsh Mountain Pony name.  She had taught all my children how to ride. She arrived in the family in 1981/82 when she was 8 years old.

She was never easy to ride, and at the shows always had her own ideas about having to stand still so judges could look over her as a lead rein pony.. Sometimes she would end up at the bottom of the class when she just kept showing her rear end to the judges no matter how much the judge moved round, round would come her bum again!

So we decided that maybe a perfect lead rein pony she was not, and we trained her from that to a gymkhana/mounted games pony.

Now she was in her element!  She taught the children balance, how to hang on, how to vault on and how to gallop flat out with or without a saddle, a perfect riding start for any child.

It culminated in 1985 with a 6^th place at the Great Britain Mounted Games Championship for under 10s at Great Malvern and a team member of the Prince Phillip Cup Mounted Games team.

Also in that year she managed to win 34 gymkhana championships out of 34 entered, and that was in under 10’s, 14’s and opens.  She was awesome!

Once all the children had learned to ride her they grew bigger and went on to other ponies, and Lulu was retired, only to come out of retirement just to let my grandchildren get the feel of riding, just walking round the field.

Now the grandchildren have their own pony called Whinney.

We will miss her a lot.. she was a bit special was Lulu, one in a million.

Ovington Lucretia (Lulu) 1973–2008 35 years