Prodney, horse in a million, has died at 44
By Natalie
It’s hard to remember the age I was when I met Prodney but I could not drive so must have been around 17. He was a livery at the stables where I would loiter hoping for a ride. When I saw him, my heart skipped a beat and I was well and truly in love.
His owner wasn’t around much and a girl named Helen was tasked with looking after him. I begged her to let me ride him but we both knew we would be in trouble so she rode him to the back fields where we then swapped. I can still remember that feeling, the most magical feeling, like floating. Prodney was responsive but soft in the hand and it felt like two pieces of a jigsaw coming together, him and me. From that moment I was smitten and could think of nothing else.
Prodney’s owner decided to sell as his daughter was not taking interest, and he was advertised in Horse and Hound for £4000! I had no hope but I scraped together what I had and knocked on the door of the owner who laughed in my face and shut the door. It was winter and livery bills are not cheap... and the owner realised my few quid was better than paying livery so unbelievably Prodney was mine!
I would muck him out before going to work at the dentist. Some winter mornings he point blank refused to be turned out and would foot-plant at the gate making me late for work. I would then have to take him back to the stable for the day and ride him in the dark after work.
A dappled young Prodney with Natalie in the early days
“When the big things feel out of control... focus on what you love right under your nose.”
I had no saddle so rode bareback while I saved up to buy one, which probably made us connect even more. It was not all plain sailing and he really challenged me in those early days (he was always very opinionated), and through our whole lives together, but he taught me so much and in all those years I only fell off him once.
So many memories! Teaching him to stand still to be mounted, and then to wait. When I first got him he would charge off the second you swung your leg over the saddle. I taught him to pick up his feet without waiting for me to lift them, he certainly was very clever. Galloping over fields in the Warwickshire countryside, jumping many jumps and taking part in lots of competitions. He must have taught hundreds of children to jump and given them their first experience of competition too. Many of them have gone on to do really well in the horse industry – another legacy to be proud of.
He was a very sociable soul who never bit or kicked, but could drag people around when he disagreed with the direction they planned to take. He adored being groomed, cuddled and scratched by humans as much as he adored rolling in the mud, getting his thick Russian coat thoroughly filthy.
He always had a friend, and fell in love with many mares and geldings. His best friend for many years was a little pony called Seb and when he arrived in London he fell in love with a black mare called Breeze. And in recent years he and huge Belgian draught mare Abella have been inseparable, waiting for each other and whinnying their welcomes whenever one of them had been away from the yard.
A poster boy for our 2021 fundraising campaign, he was interviewed on live TV on multiple occasions and was always calm and stately even with cameras in his face. He loved the time we all spent in Petersham, where he was able to roam freely and safely behind the yard gates, embracing his self-appointed ‘meet and greet’ role, and keeping us all on our toes. He cheerfully followed me round, and that included into the stable that was my office, where he’d look at my computer screen over my shoulder as if checking up that my sums added up.
This year, Prodney has been living a quiet life in the field with our other retired horses, checked up on, fed special food and cuddled every day. But we’ve been watching him decline, and in early August we knew that it was time we let him go.
Prodney has been a constant friend through many difficult times, and always there for me. For me he will always be the horse in Charlie Mackesy’s gorgeous The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.
Charlie said: “When the big things feel out of control... focus on what you love right under your nose.” That was Prodney. I like to think he’s now galloping around a glorious pasture somewhere, free of his aches and pains, but taking time to watch over me too.
Prodney’s memory will live on at Park Lane Stables in his many blog posts over the years. Read the first two of these from back in 2021: A Horse with a Name and Proud to be a Russian Trotter
There is a Prodney Much Loved page where pictures, videos and stories about him are shared by some of those lucky enough to know him. There is also an option to donate to his Memorial Fund, so that his legacy at the heart of Park Lane Stables will live on.