The story had all the makings of a made-for-TV-movie: girl meets horse, horse is injured in an accident, girl sticks by horse, horse goes on to win the big championship.
It’s a true story that happened to 27-year-old Coaldale, Alta., resident Lorena Laye and her six-year-old horse, Billy.
Laye and her husband travelled to a farm in Central Butte, Sask., in 2001 to find a new colt for their farm, but a six-month-old Paint colt chose them instead.
“I was standing beside the truck because I’m afraid of cows and I felt a nibble on my arm,” said Laye. “And then he took off. I remember thinking, ‘what a cool little horse.’ “
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Laye named him Billy and began making plans to show the bright little colt when the couple settled into their new home at Quesnel, B.C.
Laye boards horses, teaches riding lessons and competes in show jumping and dressage.
“The plan was to keep him a stallion, but I was a little afraid of him,” she said. “He was very strong.”
Billy’s headstrong temperament meant he didn’t get along well with the other stallions stabled at Laye’s farm. To curb aggressive behaviour and get ready for more serious training, Laye had Billy gelded when he was three years old.
One cold winter evening when the mercury plunged to -30C, Laye had a premonition that she should check on Billy in the barn.
A picture of Billy on her fridge had suddenly fallen off and smashed.
“I just knew it meant I had to go and see him,” she said.
Laye found Billy with a seriously damaged eye after a fight with another horse.
“The vitreous fluid had frozen to his face,” said Laye, who transported the horse to a veterinarian at Williams Lake,
B.C., at midnight.
The inch-long cut on Billy’s left eye had ruptured his cornea beyond repair, so the veterinarian removed the injured eyeball.
Though friends and family told Laye that her plans to train Billy for show jumping and dressage would have to be shelved, she never gave up hope.
Laye said the horse adjusted to the disability.
“Billy bumped his head a few times, but he learned to turn his head and adjust,” she said.
“He really is a miracle horse. (the accident) didn’t faze him at all.”
Laye trained Billy, trotting over low rails and teaching him basic jumps. Three months later, they were in their first competition in Quesnel, B.C., in June 2005 with few expectations.
“It was like he’d done it a thousand times,” Laye said, citing the first place ribbons in every course but one that day.
“A lot of people didn’t even notice the missing eye until the last class. Everyone was amazed.”
On the last course, every horse was stopping at a brush box and two riders got dumped.
“I said, ‘OK, Billy, we’ve got to jump.’ He looked at me, and I said ‘just do it,’ and we cleared that jump,” Laye said.
“The judge cheered ‘good for you,’ when we were done.”
In September, Laye entered Billy in a dressage competition, where the pair received a trophy for the highest points.
The couple relocated to Coaldale, where Laye planned to start competing with Billy, but fate again intervened.
On Sept. 22, 2007, Laye found Billy lying on the ground dehydrated and suffering from abdominal torsion.
His intestines were twisted in three places, so Laye and her husband were forced to euthanize him.
“Sometimes, the great ones don’t stick around,” said Laye. “But Billy taught me a lot about trust. He trusted me, too. I was the only one who was ever able to ride him.”
Billy’s story ends here, but Laye’s doesn’t: she is now training a two-year-old Trakehner mare named Kadence and plans to start competing with her this spring.
“It’s good to have another horse to work with. It’s like therapy for me. Horses teach us so much about life.”
