Magical Flight

2007 thoroughbred gelding 💜

Almushtarak x Kenmare

Magic was supposed to be the horse of my dreams. Flashy, spirited, sensitive, and ridiculously talented, he’s a smart, willing horse with a very big heart. He’s one of the most generous horses I know and will try his best every time, no matter how frightened he gets. He is the most anxious horse I ever handled, and yet still one of the most courageous. He is also a gigantic wuss.

Magic raced as Gadsfly, but wasn’t much good and was retired from racing when he was just three years old and promptly snapped up by his previous owner as a jumping prospect. This was way back, around 2012, and my teenage self was still thoroughly convinced that I wanted to be a showjumper. I used to ride him for his owner from time to time, and from the first moment in his saddle, we were friends. There was just something about him that spoke to my soul.

In early 2013, his owner switched from jumping to Western, and Magic was for sale. I persuaded my parents that I absolutely needed this half-wild grey horse just a few months off his last race, and, bless them, they bought him for me. (Of all the horses I've ever owned, Magic still remains the most expensive one!)

He came home to me in the autumn of 2013 and changed my life. I had big dreams for him, but God’s dreams were bigger. His jumping career was brief and ignominious, with two graded shows on his record; one with two wins, and another with two RF’s. He ruined my nerve, but he also changed my soul. He is my mirror and he was the key that the Lord used to unlock the door I’d kept closed so tightly against who I am. Seeing Magic face his demons helped me to understand – and to beat – my own. For that reason, when it became evident that he’d never be a jumper and he didn’t want to be a riding horse either, I turned him out to a pasture prepared to feed him for the next 20 years. He spent four years in joyous retirement, and the only magical flying done in relation to him was the money that magically flew out of my bank account.

It was the least I could do for that wonderful animal.

Magic had a habit of colicking melodramatically once every two years or so and specialized in eating treats and finding inventive new ways to injury himself. He was cute, quirky, super loving and still not completely clear on what species he was. I loved him to bits. Curious and friendly, he loved people and had a goofy streak a mile wide. He was impossibly photogenic and had a really annoying tendency to chew stuff.

In July 2022, Magic colicked for the last time, and even his specialist vets couldn't save him. We set him free to run on Heaven's green pastures, his heart and his guts healed at last.