Mia wasn't really rideable when I started riding her a few years ago.  She had/still has occult spavin in one of her hocks plus other arthritic joints.  Debbie, the stable owner, begged me to ride her just to get her moving again since it looked like she was freezing in space.  The first time I trotted her she felt like she was going to fall apart right under me!  With LOTS of walking during my rides (just two 30 minute sessions a week) I started getting her stronger, I also gaited her (fox-trot) to start building her wind and endurance until she got strong enough to trot.  At least now she is fit enough to serve as an emergency beginner's horse if necessary, though the beginner should be relatively advanced.  Debbie does not jump her, a great limitation for a hunt seat lesson horse! 

She was essentially dumped at Debbies long ago by a boarder, she had been saddle broke Western badly, used mostly for trail rides, and could be a real handful when she got anxious (most of the time.)  Since I have MS and am pretty disabled and going nowhere fast I do not mind keeping Mia going.  Hey, I get to ride an Arabian mare!  So what if she is crippled, I am too. 

You see the bay horse next to my post here?  That is Mia, she isn't mine, she belongs to the hunt seat stable I take lessons at.  She is old, probably around 30, deep sockets above her eyes and every year she is more grizzled around her ears, eyes and coronets.  She has recently "fallen in love" with a recently arrived pinto TWH mare, with all resulting complications.  I feel like I am with her like I was years ago when I started riding her as far as spookiness goes, and will have to retrain her all the way.  Horses.

Did Samantha understand spoken English?  Sometimes Mia does.  Years ago I rode another Arab at this stable, Glow, and I swear Glow could understand English.  He did not like noise on his back when I started riding him so I started talking sort of loud about riding theory and explaining everything I was doing on him.  That ended up one day with me telling my teacher about a movement I wanted to try, something I had never done before, and by the time I came to the end Glow had done the movement, no aids required!