l am 24 and live in Southern California. I’ve always dreamed of riding and owning horses. I grew up with a strong horse influence, everyone is my family has owned a horse and ridden at some point. Dressage is all I have ever dreamed about. Being the niece of the late Grand Prix rider, Carol Plough (Google her) , it is no mystery why.
In July 2005 (when I was 19) I began taking riding lessons at a local boarding stable. I quickly learned that the instruction wasn’t as great as I thought it was. They knew nothing about English riding none the less dressage.
Since then I have been studying and training on my own with the help of online training videos from DressageTrainingOnline and magazine articles. In my humble opinion I am doing rather well on my own. I attempted to take lessons from a near-by dressage instructor but her outlook and method clashed with mine. She took off my flash stating that she doesn’t ride with a noseband at all.
Want to learn more about me? I’m on Facebook the URL to my profile is http://www.facebook.com/ndmccain (you have to friend me to view the whole profile)
Penny is an 20-year old Appendix Quarter Horse mare. She was given to me in September 2005. Despite the many neglectful owners she’s had in the past she is a very personable horse. Always wanting to steal all the attention, love and kisses. She has possible done almost every discipline including gymkhana, trail, western pleasure some say she even jumped. That could not prepare her for her latest career as a dressage horse.
Standing at only 15.1 hands. She is by most standards an average sized horse. She is a chestnut to English riders or a sorrel to western riders. She has a copper coat, which apparently some breeders spend a lot of time trying to achieve. The only white marking she has is a big three-dimensional star.
While I was taking lessons, there was mention of a horse that was being given away by her owners. After taking a lesson on her and coming out to the barn nearly every day to ride, groom and generally giver her love. My heart was set. I wanted her.
My mom kept be on edge for nearly two weeks on rather or not she was mine. When she let me purchase her a halter. I knew she was mine. I officially became her owner on September 3, 2005.
In August 2009, I decided to move Penny down to Shadow Ridge Equestrian Center in Highland, CA so that we could be in a less “toxic” environment and improve ourselves. We currently take the occasional lesson and do the occasional clinic. We showed in our first schooling show in October 2009 in Intro Test B where we scored at 53.000%.
Find out more about Penny at her Squidoo page at http://www.squidoo.com/aspca/luckypenny.
