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Paddington* ~ "Teddy"
Thoroughbred gelding |
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Teddy is the first horse I ever owned; I was 24 when I got him. So for all those horse crazy ten year olds whose parents will not buy them a horse... it really is possible to make this happen on your own. It may just take longer than you had hoped!
I was taking lessons from Linda Labrousse (now Linda Worley) and had been fantasizing about having a dapple grey hunter. Then Karri moved into the barn from Chicago with her horse Teddy and Linda told me, "that is the horse you want but you will never be able to afford him". Teddy was for sale for $15,000 and I was looking more in the $5,000 range (and even then I was going to have to do it creatively and/or make payments). Karri ended up getting pregnant with her first child and silly Teddy went and got a splint that required surgery. Since Karri knew I loved the horse and she just needed to get out from under the bills she made me an incredible offer. |
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Karri gave me these two photos of Teddy. In this photo he is about three and you can see that he used to be a bay. |
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In this photo Teddy is about four. Grey horses do not usually shine like this; I don't know what Karri did to him! |
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Teddy was insured so that covered the cost of his surgery. After the surgery I bought him for a fantastic price and did all of his post-surgical care and about half a year of rehabilitation. This wasn't easy since Teddy is a bit of a bucker... (Karri told me he bucked her off so hard one time that she peed her pants.) The first time I rode him after his months of stall rest and hand walking he stood on his hind legs for a while, came down bucking, and slammed me hard into the dirt. After the second time he bucked me off (that time he sent me to the hospital) we decided it was time to get serious about the bucking... |
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| Teddy is around his sixth birthday in this photo. It was about four months post-surgery and I had just started riding him. |
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Being lazy in an eq on the flat class during the summer when he was six. |
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He turned into a great little hunter... he never moved good enough to place in the hack but over fences his form was beautiful and he was quite competitive. I kept leasing him out to children and juniors who needed show mounts since I was going through a divorce and did not have the money to show him. |
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... and then in Juniors (3 foot 6 inches). Teddy is seven years old. |
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Jamie showed Teddy first in Childrens (3 foot)... |
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Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Teddy and Stephanie, who leased him the year he was eight. I am working on getting a photo of Teddy and Laura, who showed him when he was nine.
After three show seasons of being leased out, I decided that it was time to sell him since his niche seemed to be in the Children's Hunters divisions. Here is a photo I got from his new owner, Lauren, from their first rated show. They are at the Hood River Classic doing Pre-Childrens (2 foot 6 inches). Isn't he a sweet boy? He will never be a point and shoot horse but as long as you give him an honest ride to fences he will make an honest attempt to jump. This makes him a great teacher because you must always keep thinking and riding. He is ten years old in the photo. |
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*Teddy's registered name is "Two Stooges" which is something I am sure he would rather forget so I used his show name at the top of this page. |
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back to horses... |
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