To sell or not to sell?

Sooner or later every aspiring rider comes up with the same question - will this horse take me to where I want to go?

And I am not talking "from point A to point B" here. I am talking in terms of competitive ambitions.

I ask Anna. "I think you will outgrow her within the year", she muses. "If I sold Princess, what would I be looking for?", I quizz. "Ha!", laughs Anna. "Something not too old, not too young, going at least Elementary level". She gazes critically at Princess as the horse walks around the indoor arena. "A lot depends on how much you are willing to spend", she trails off. "What about height?", I ask. "Huh?", Anna looks up at me, as though she's in another world. "Oh height. 16.1hh is the maximum I would consider. Small horses struggle to get the marks in competition, but they are much easier to learn on." I nod. I can't help but notice that Anna is fully pre-occupied with Princess though. More so than normal.

Then half way through the lesson Anna chooses to ride Princess. She's ridden her once before, but now another dimension to Anna appears. She disciplines the horse, and makes her get on with the job. She walks, she trots, she canters. She does small circles, large circles, shoulder in and quarters in. She rides with real zest and audacity, the likes of which I haven't seen for a very long time. She gets ... well ... serious. Princess still pretends that it's all too hard, but Anna just keeps asking. I feel full of attitude.

"Jump back on and have a feel", she says as she hops off. To me, the horse doesn't really feel that different. But I do. I have now seen how much "cootash" Anna gave that horse, and I do the same. The lesson becomes punctuated with "yes" and "good". We do a final halt. Anna looks up at me. "Sell", she says.