Geek & Jake: My little pony, Willoway Stardust

When I was in Munich I got a sad text from Birgit that "my" little Stardust died.

I worked on Birgit and Vetle's farm Meltvedt New Forest Stud for almost 8 years.

I had three big crushes:

Willoway Goldleaf, Meltvedt Black Boomer (Tassen)

and

Willoway Stardust (with her foal Meltvedt Star Luna, I think)

I can't believe my baby girl died.

She was the prettiest, kindest horse you could imagine.

Stardust was born in 1991. Vetle and Birgit bought her from Willoway Stud in England when they started up their own New Forest Stud here in Norway. When Stardust came she was so scared and insecure. She would always just stand in a corner looking terrified when we came into the stable. Outside all the other horses were always bossing her around not allowing her to eat before they were full. I remember we always had to give her extra food during the winters when she was inside for the night cause she was so skinny.

She went to a show hosted by the Norwegian Pony Association in '98 (it's common to take breeding horses to shows to get them approved for breeding). They judge on different things like breed features, movements, legs, head, body, etc.

Stardust's score was 9-9-8-8-8 = 42 points out of 50.

This made her the highest ranked New Forest mare in Norway at the time.

Stardust at the show in '98

After that we sent Stardust away for someone to break and train her so we could ride her. At that time Stardust was older then most horses are when they're broken, and it's harder to break an "old" horse, but we decided to give it a go since she had such a nice temper.

Turned out she was amazing. The lady who trained her wanted to buy her.

Her trainer rode her in a show and did a "riders test" for breeding horses to further improve their score and get even a higher status as a breeding mare. Stardust was amazing, but as usual a little too nervous.

As Stardust got older she got a lot more secure. But she had a lot of personality and always knew when to act scared when it gained her. Haha. Like for example when I went to get her in the fields to go ride. Oh man, she was SO scared of me and I had to run after her for a while. But as soon as I caught her she would be like "Heey, where's the carrot??"

She was just the best horse I've ever ridden (and I've ridden a lot of horses), so sensitive and honest, so willing and positive. Riding her I could just think in my mind what I wanted her to do and she would do it only based on the signals my body sent out just thinking about it.

In the stable she was so kind and patient. She loved being brushed and cuddled with. She would stand completely still while I hung around her neck hugging her for 10 minutes at a time.

I thought her a trick too. When I gave her a treat she would "beg" for it by putting her muzzle between her front legs. But that kind of went overboard. Haha. Every time I walked past her and looked into her stable she would stand like that to get a treat, so we had to step it down a little bit.

After I moved from Skien in '05, I've always came back to visit the farm every once in a while. Vetle and Birgit are such amazing people and their horses are as beautiful as always. Almost every time I've gone back to visit Stardust have still acted all terrified, and she wouldn't let me come cuddle her when she was outside cause she was still scared I would take her out for a ride (cause she would much rather stand in the fields and eat). Even Jake was allowed to come over and say hi, but not me!

The last time I was there was in July with Jake. We stayed over at Meltvedt for one night on our roadtrip vacation. I went to see the horses and to shake down some apples from the apple tree in their field, and for once Stardust came over to say hi. That was nice. I even got to cuddle and talk to her a little bit.

Turned out Stardust got really sick when she gave birth to her foal this year. She was in a lot of pain and they had to put her to sleep.

It is horrible. But for the best.

She was 19. Getting old, but it would have been nice to have her around for a few more years.

Stardust has produced a LOT of fine foals. Her offspring has always been very, very popular because of their good temper and pretty looks. They've all done very well in shows and contests and several of them has entered/won county championships.

I want a horse with some Stardust in it for my kids one day.