Principles? What principles?

I have to confess.
I am not a structured person.
You know the saying "life is what's happening to you when you're busy making other plans"?
Well, that's me.
Apart from that I did not make any plans in the first place.
So I am not a person of many principles either.
I mean, not regarding important principles of life like in trying to be a decent person and and that kind of thing, but more in the smaller personal aspects of life. Like not squeezing the tooth past tube in the middle. Eating your dinner before your dessert. (Well, it does taste better that way)
I find it unnecessary to set rules for oneself when something can happen that makes you completely change your mind about things. A sensible comment from someone else, for example.
But I have a few principles though.
One of them is to never to buy a horse that isn't started.
To buy a horse that has not been backed is like buying a bag of sweets, and not knowing what you get. Might be something in there that you don't like at all.
After all, the reason for me owing horses in the first place is that I want to ride on them. So it's nice to know what you are to buy, that's what I've always thought.
"If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody" (Agatha Christie)
"I can resist anything but temptation" (Oscar Wilde).
How nice that people have formulated your thoughts for you, and in a much better way than you would be able to do it yourself...

So here it goes.
The story of how my present horse chose me.

In 2006 I went to watch the yearly main exhibition of the Norwegian Pony Association.
My daughter was 10 years old at the time, she had a cross Shetland-Gotlandsruss with the name of Felix.
They had a lot of fun together, doing everything from pony racing to dressage.

(Picture showing Elin/Felix and Hedvig/Springtime.)
We had also bought a larger pony to Elin from the breeder in Denmark, a connemara named Haahr's Springtime. Elin was not riding him yet, I was educating him further in dressage and we had Hedvig, an older girl, jumping him. Good ponies are hard to find, so I thought it better bring on an own one under controlled conditions...
I had also my old dressage gelding, who was turning 20 that summer. He had been retired the last two years due to bone spavin, was not getting better and I was wondering whether that summer was to be his last.

Anyway, I was into ponies, and went to the exhibition to meet my friend Gro who was going to participate with some ponies of her own.
One of them was a pretty 2 year-old sports pony filly of good breeding, Electric Fame.
That day she won both her class, and BIS for the younger ponies. (picture from that day)
Gro asked me if I was interested in buying her, which I of course declined.
Principles, you know.

Then we jump a year forward.

We had sold Felix to my friend Gro, and went down to visit him. The family had not yet returned home, so we found Felix, had some quality time with him, and then took a tour around the facilities.

Elin was now riding Springtime, and I had started to look actively for a next pony to her. Kids grow, unfortunately.

And there she was.
She was standing on a hill, eyes focused somewhere on the horison and my heart was just LOST. Boom. It was not only that she was beatiful, but she gripped the inner of my heart in a way that I can't even understand to this day.

Electric Fame.

You know, I actually believe that she chose me. Don't ask me why. Normally I am a sensible person, but this was only heart, no reason at all.

And resulted in a firm conviction that she was to be mine.

So when Gro finally came, I was pregnant.

We spoke about Felix, about all other trivials that you speak about when you've not met for a while, and all the time I just had one question in my head. Finally I asked (in a casual tone of course) if Fame still was for sale?

"Yes" Gro said, "and for a reasonable price because we need a new horse trailer".

In a mist I heard someone say: "I'll take her", and realised that very moment that I'd said it myself.
A 3 year-old, unbroken, that had been living 24/7 outdoors all her life.

Principles? Whazzat?

This candy bag was going to be mine.

Fame as three-year-old