Joyceann Solomon shared the story of how she found a new move-up mount for her daughter after exhausting searches. She was so touched by the eventing community as a whole that she wanted to pay homage to those who "pay it forward." Thank you, Joyceann, for writing, and thank you for reading. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Send it to [email protected].
Cady Solomon and Royal Guest. Photo by Joyceann Solomon.
From Joyceann:
My kid has been eventing ever since taking her trail pony, who is a 16 hand APHA named Madden’s Airforce, to a small event at Oxer Farm here in Georgia. After “touring” the outside of the dressage arena twice during their first test, they successfully completed the competition and were hooked! I can still remember overhearing the dressage judge asking her scribe, “What is she doing down there, taking a siesta?” while my daughter waited her turn to enter the arena but did not hear the bell. Well, things have improved, and a few mounts later, she is competing at Training level and hoping to move up, while also hoping to ride on a local college eventing team.
Our sport is full of the most kind-hearted, supportive, hilarious, loving people that I have ever met. I have personally found out just how fabulous some of them really are!
You all know that the hunt for the “move up” mount can be the most arduous search there is, period. We were hoping against hope to find the equine partner that my daughter could learn from for her next level. During the 2013 show season, she was able to borrow some wonderful horses and have fun learning experiences, while still looking for “her” horse. These “loaners” were all rock stars owned by friends who were willing to share their fur babies, and we were thrilled for her to have those rides while still looking.
We were on a budget some might call a shoestring, but we were hopeful. We had tried a few semi-green horses, a jumper turned eventer, entered an OTTB retraining program competition, but were still looking at a spring Pony Club Rally season without a new partnership.
Enter the Fulton Family at Full Moon Farm in Finksburg, Maryland. Near Thanksgiving, I just happened to be taking my lunch break on Facebook when I saw a posting for a mount looking for her new partner. To say she was exactly what we were hoping for is an understatement! I was unbelievably in the right place at the right time and managed to be the first one to call. Long story short, we left that same night, drove twelve hours, and had a wonderful meeting of hearts with both the mare and her family. We successfully brought her home with the help of two friends who were also in the right place at the right time. On top of all of this, our new girl came home without the price tag she could have commanded, but with the well wishes of a family who wanted to “pay it forward”! We couldn’t believe it!
It does not escape me that a contributing factor in our story is the Pony Club family that established a standard of care that my daughter has learned and applied to the care of her mounts. We are forever grateful for that support. We hope to continue to enjoy many more events throughout Eventing Nation, and we would like to pay homage to those “paying it forward”!
