How did I get to this point in my life? Easy and real basic
answer...........It's all about the magic. What IS that magic thing
that happens between a pony and a child? I'm not poetic enough to give
you the answer in words but I can tell you, from personal experience,
that it exists. As a child I was lucky enough to end up with a pony of
my own. His name was Rusty and it was more or less a rescue situation
but to this day I cannot tell you who was rescuing whom. I learned a
lot from Rusty. Things I could never learn in a classroom, but no less
valuable. I spent every possible moment I could with Rusty. We made a
connection that was magic for me.
Fast forward to many years later and I find Personal Ponies Ltd. while
cruising the internet and I was hooked within seconds. I had been
looking for projects that served children because I wanted to use the
children's characters I designed as a means of generating funds for
kids projects. The next Barney of course. While still positive that my
characters have a strong market value and future place in kids hearts,
as well as huge fund raising potential, the Wannabe project oozed
itself into the background. The excitement of the one on one magic of a
child and pony took me straight back to Rusty. Maybe I was a PPL
success story long before PPL existed.
Since finding PPL, we sold our "city" house,
bought a place with a bit of land and hit the PPL trail. Life has never
been more fun! This past year has been the most fun of all because we
had our first foal, Tilly.
Tilly was named after Pat Tillman, who was raised in
the Almaden Valley, where we live, and is a local and national hero.
Mr. Tillman’s story so touched our hearts that we felt it fitting that
our first foal have such an awe inspiring name, since the ponies are our
hero's too.
Tilly's working hard to live up to his namesake and doing very very
well. He’s come a long way in his short life. Tilly, a tri colored
pinto, was born on June 9, 2004 at 5 A.M. and weighed in at a whopping
9 pounds! Imprinting began within minutes of birth and he began
having visitors within hours. He had so many that a friend provided him
with a guest book that ran full after only a few weeks, including the
press! He proved to be a very independent and adventurous soul right
from the start. The day he met his first reporter he dove though the
fence line to greet her. What a ham!
That was Tilly then ...... This is Tilly now with his new best friend
Charlee.
THIS is why we do what we do!
A~
Annie Boulet Norvelle
PPL California State Director
PPL National Media and Promotions Director
