Remember that time when a pony finished on the podium at Kentucky? You can watch all three phases of this Super Pony’s memorable performance above.
Most eventing fans will recognize the name Theodore O’Connor, the legendary, small but mighty partner of Karen O’Connor. Standing just 14.2 hands, “Teddy” may have been small statured, but you wouldn’t have wanted to tell him this.
Theodore O’Connor was a unique mix of Shetland, Arabian, and Thoroughbred (Witty Boy – Chelsea’s Melody, by Honestturn), bred by Wynn Norman. The story of Wynn’s breeding career is quite a good one — you can go down the rabbit hole in this Chronicle of the Horse write-up from 2008, and her program was built from the Thoroughbred she purchased off the track and a Shetland/Arabian mare.
Partnering with Karen from 2005 until his early passing due to an accident in 2008, Theodore O’Connor picked up a win in the then CIC3* at The Fork and added a Pan American games individual and team medal in 2007. He inspired a full generation of eventers, and even a Breyer Horse, and we’ll never tire of watching these archive vidoes of him at his peak.
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