The surrounding area include Hemmant, Lindum, Manly and Tingalpa. This is a short story about a miniature horse named Wilson who has captured the heart of many and lives in one of the surrounding areas and visits the others on his weekly adventures.
“Will”, as we call him, came to this area from the Redland Pound aged 2.5 yrs old, bought by an older couple as a surprise for their Grandchildren. O
ne of the Grandchildren especially had an unbelievable love of horses and spoke of one day owning her own, but Will was for all the Grandchildren. Initially his new home and owners were strange to him as he had never left his mother (who was adopted the day before) and Will had to get used to it, and his new owners had a big learning curve also. All never went smoothly first up. For instance he bit the oldest Grandchild who loved horses and her Pop (“The Old Fella”) had to explain to her what she needed to do to discipline him. She went straight back and Will tried to bite her again. She did as she was told and they instantly became friends. The Grand Daughter was 8 years old at the time but the mutual respect from that day on was apparent. Even a little 200 kg horse needs to know who is boss. After a few days in his new home, Will started to try and exert his authority at feed time by turning his backside towards the Grandfather and kicking, but with a little more persistence with teaching him the rules, they also became great mates. After Will realised what the rules were, he settled in quite well and the Grandchildren would go into the fenced area and pat him at first, then they started to brush and comb him. At a later stage after much time together they were able to sit on his back. As is natural with children, for some of the grandchildren the novelty started to wear off except for the oldest Grand Daughter who spent most of her time with Will whenever she came to visit and he loved it. As time went on, she broke Will in, she taught him how to take a bridle and bit, put on a pony pad and she rode him around the yard. They both had a ball and a special friendship had begun. Across the road from the Grandparents house is a large paddock and that’s where, at a later stage, the granddaughter rode Will. This is a great open area and Will still feeds there to this day, meeting new friends and dogs while The Old Fella has a quiet relax. The oldest granddaughter grew into a petite teenager and as her legs grew longer, she would still ride Will but tuck them up as they were now dragging on the ground. At the age of 14 it was time to hang up the reins for the Granddaughter much to both their disappointment but Will still needed his exercise. So The Old Fella decided to buy some harness gear and a cart (Sulky). First off the Granddaughter and her Pop had to learn how to fit the harness gear to Will and after a lot of enquiries, determination and good old Google, they got it together. Will just stood and ate grass while the harness was put on and adjusted and readjusted until it looked right, then they put the cart in place and fastened it to the harness. Will took to it like a duck to water and we led him around the yard with a halter and lead. The next day the Granddaughter and Pop set up the harness and cart and led Will down the road with the halter to see how he would react with the traffic. Once again he was perfect so we progressed to the bridle and bit with reins and he surprised The Old Fella once again. As was stated earlier, Will got his exercise from being ridden and knowing that a miniature horse can pull 2-3 times his own weight, they started off on a small walk of approximately 1km to test him with the traffic and get him used to pulling the cart. Slowly we built up the distance over a period of time. As Will got used to slightly larger distances they found themselves moving out of the normal grazing areas to places he had never seen before. Before long, he met many new people and he loved it because every time someone would stop him for a pat, he would get to eat some more grass. Slowly over time the walk got even longer until one day they found themselves in Hemmant where people have horses in paddocks and Will was beside himself as he had not seen another horse for 6 year from the time The Old Couple had bought him and he was separated from his mother. As time wore on they kept going further, all the time meeting new friends and experiencing new places for Will. Some days they would go down to the Wynnum Foreshore and other days they would go into the back neighbourhood blocks and just wander down different streets and parks all the while meeting all sort of people from very old to very young. Some would take photos of their children with Will or in the cart and sometimes The Old Fella would take photos for them so Mum or Dad could both sit in the cart with the children. It always brought great joy to see the happiness that Will brought to their faces. There is another partner in this incredible story who comes along for the walk. Her name is Sally and she is a black Labrador, part Kelpie, and she walks beside the cart on a lead and attracts as much attention as Will. Sally loves getting out and about. Sally comes over to The Old Fella’s place on Fridays from his daughter’s house and stays for the weekend to go travelling around the local areas. Sally goes back home on Monday and it all starts over again next Friday. There is a lot more to Wilson’s story but I don’t want to bore you too much. I have written this story and started this page to share Wilson’s experiences. I hope you enjoy reading it. I love stopping and meeting new people as much as Will and Sally, so feel free to say “Hi!” and take a photo to share on our page. By the way, my name is Norm and I am “The Old Fella” A place to come together and share the love of Wilson. Please feel free to share your photos and stories.
