MEET THE TEAM
Howdy! My name is Alex, and I am a proud equestrian. Being a riding instructor and sharing the joy of horses has been a dream of mine for years, and I am beyond thrilled to see it come to life!
The name Millennium S Equestrian holds a special place in my heart. It is well known in the equestrian community that sometimes you find that special, once-in-a-lifetime horse that you bond with like none other - and I'm lucky enough to have found that many years ago. My heart-horse was a 25-year-old off-track thoroughbred named Max, who raced under the name Millennium Prince. I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for him, hence where the name came from!
If you ride with me, be prepared - I'm not the gal that will take you to shows. I'm laid back, relaxed, open, and goofy; it's common for me to dance and wiggle during lessons to help students loosen up! Safety and fun are my top priorities during lessons. My goal is to not just be your instructor; I will be your friend, your therapist, and your biggest cheerleader! When you overcome an obstacle, I will cheer you on like you just made the game-winning goal.
OUR STORY
It's a long one - buckle up!
Max and I first met way back in 2007, when I was just a nervous little girl with a dream of becoming an equestrian. I begged my parents for years to let me keep a horse in our backyard (I promised to walk it every day!), but settled for getting to take riding lessons after I read every horse-care book in the library and wrote a whole book on caring for horses.
Fast-forward a year, and I was riding Max for lessons. I'll be honest - I was scared! Max seemed so big to me, and once lifted me straight off the ground when I was trying to bridle him! I refused to canter on him, as he was too fast for my taste at the time and I was slightly terrified.
Long story slightly shorter, I had to move barns after a couple of years and didn't see Max for a while. I eventually went back to visit my first instructor, and as I was bigger and more skilled she asked me to come work with Max for her! I was thrilled with the idea of more riding time and jumped on the opportunity. For a couple of months we worked together, and absolutely loathed one another. After those first couple of months, though, things started going more smoothly - we started to figure each other out and work as a team.
Eventually, Max went up for sale. I begged my current instructor to come see him, juuust in case she might want him for her lesson program...
Lo and behold, she bought him! To say I was thrilled would be an understatement. I leased Max from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2020, when I was finally able to buy him and have him closer to home. The two years I owned him were easily some of the best years of my life so far! We went on so many adventures together, and I'll always be thankful for the time we had.
Max passed away unexpectedly on May 6, 2022. In the end, it was the best way for him to go that I could have asked for - he had clearly laid down to sleep, and it was quick and painless. I'm devastated by the loss of my sweet boy, and will always kick myself for not giving him one more kiss before I left the barn the night before, but I know that he's pain-free and waiting for me at Rainbow Bridge. Hold your babies extra tight, and always give them an extra kiss before you go.
Props if you've read this far! To finally wrap this novel up, let me share a list I wrote down when I was somewhere around 8-10 years old...
"What I want in a horse, by Alex S.
-I want a plain bay gelding
-He needs to be big but not too big, so that I feel like I'm on top of the world but can still mount bareback
-I want him to be the same age as me
-I want him to have the same personality as me
-I'd like him to have a long, pretty show name to match my full name, and a short n sweet barn name to match my nickname
-I want to have him by the time I turn 16"
I wish I could go back and tell baby Alex how she'll get exactly the horse she dreamed of! Max was everything I could have wanted - the perfect size, the perfect color, just 5 months younger than myself, and he had the exact same personality. I even started leasing him the month I turned 16! We did our first (and only) show in July 2021, and my heart did flips when I finally got to hear our names announced over the loudspeaker! "Next up is Alexandria Spaller on Millennium Prince" - and to our friends, we were just Alex and Max.