My Heart’s Desire

Pony power!! We will be celebrating ponies of all breeds on YourDressage through the month of June! Did you know dressage riders who choose ponies as their mounts are eligible for many Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards as there are several pony organizations on our Participating Organization list!

We recently asked our social media followers to share a photo of their favorite pony and let us know what makes these compact mounts special to them for a chance to be featured on YourDressage! We will be sharing stories from folks who love these pint-sixed equines all month long.

Here, an adult amateur from Region 3 shares the two ponies who found her, and who ultimately changed her riding trajectory.

By Ginger Gilmore

I am a 55-year-old adult amateur who grew up riding Hunters. I made the switch to dressage, however, because of Pony #1, Killian’s Red. 

My career in sports has spanned 34 amazing years, with the last 17 of those having been spent working closely with University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, as the Athletic Trainer and Director of Behavioral Health and Wellness. My career has taken me to multiple championships at the highest levels in football, and other sports. I work long hours and, due to football practices and game schedules, can only show during the hottest months of the year. I love all of my athletes. 

I work to ride and I work to serve others; it is my life. Horses have always been my outlet and I’ve tried many things, including Fox Hunting, Hunters (from the Short Stirrup division to Adult Amateurs), and even a wee bit of cross country and jumpers. I also love riding bareback and reliving my childhood. 

My first pony partner, Killian’s Red, found me. I was without a horse while looking for my next 3’ Hunter. I had just returned from a mission trip to Africa with Jesus Film, when the barn owner and manager, Lynne Day, said she had something for me to ride as I “was the shortest person at the barn!” 

Little did I know, this was a set up. I came to the barn, and found this 14.3h pony waiting for me. I was not interested in a pony! On top of that,he was off at the walk. 

I thought to myself, Seriously?! But, wow he must have been nice at some point, look at that head! So I messed with him, rode him at the walk bareback, groomed him, and knew he only had a few weeks to stay here to find a person. 

You see, he was on the trailer to go to “the sale” when my friend just couldn’t let him go there. Instead, he landed at another place, then they brought him to our barn. I saw he was scared, like he knew he didn’t have a person anymore, and he knew he was being sent off because he was “of no use to humans.” 

I saw something in his eyes, so I paid the $500.00 for the cost of his feed, and he became mine – or rather, I became his. I was the owner of a slightly lame large pony that I had no real history on besides, “He’s crazy and he won’t jump anymore.”

After the purchase of my unknown pony, I started to research his past. I had one contact and I went from there. Finally, I learned of his breeder’s farm name. So, I Googled it, and found a name and a phone number: Nancy Reed of Lands End Farm in Maryland. When I contacted her she said she cried, as she did not know where this foal of hers had landed. He was “lost” to her. 

She told me of his beginnings. Sired by her champion stallion, Carolinas Red Fox, a Section B Welsh pony, he was out of her daughter’s unregistered Section B mare. They named him Lands End Ragtime, and he sold “on the line” at Devon as a yearling. 

He was trained, shown, and then sold for an enormous amount of money as a large pony hunter for the A circuit. He traveled everywhere to show. At some point, he was mismanaged and became a “nasty stopper” who “won’t jump anymore” and “could not be trusted.” There were other rumors that he was dangerous. Eventually, he was put out to pasture for six years, and then culled out to be sold at a livestock sale. 

How heartbreaking to have such a glorious start in life and to end up being thought of as worthless. It is at this point in his journey we found each other. 

As we spent more and more time together, I could see his prior glory coming back to life, and he began to show me his more positive attributes. At our first dressage show, I decided to warm up in the jumper arena, away from everyone. Here is where I saw a glimpse of his previous trauma: the minute I entered the arena with jumps he stopped abruptly, and then backed up for 30 feet in a straight line. It was the fastest I’ve ever gone backwards on a horse. His eyes were wild, and he looked ready to fight for his life. I could feel his heart pounding. 

I promised him right there that he would not even have to step over a pole – much less jump anything – for the rest of his life. Years later, we were doing free work in the small arena and he jumped for me on his own, just to show me. His form had such a beautiful bascule. Even more beautiful was that he did it for me.

Over the course of my partnership with Killian’s Red, he won the 2016 Adequan®/USDF All-Breed Awards from the Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America for the First Level Open Half-Welsh division, and the 2016 National Dressage Pony Cup Championship for Training Level. We competed together until he was 25-years-old. 

Killian’s Red had to be euthanized due to colic two weeks before going to the 2019 National Dressage Pony Cup (NDPC), and I was devastated. He now has a perpetual award, created in his honor by Kelli Agnew and Jenny Carol, at the NDPC Championships: The President’s Choice Award, which the NDPC prize list notes, is “given each year to acknowledge a competitor or organization that exemplifies the spirit of the National Dressage Pony Cup, honoring extraordinary enthusiasm, perseverance, and dedication to furthering the participation of Ponies and Small Horses in the sport of Dressage.” I received it the year he passed away.

After losing Killian’s Red, I vowed I was out of the horse business, it just hurt that bad. Then, one day, while browsing the internet, I came across an In Search Of (ISO) ad, posted by our barn. As I read it, I realized this was an ISO ad for ME! I couldn’t believe it, I was so mad. I was not ready for another horse, and no one had asked my permission to post this. 

As I read the responses, a cute red pony came up. Despite still being devastated about losing Killian’s Red, I reached out and made plans to see him while on a business trip to South Carolina. 

Then, my husband lost his job and I backed out of the visit. There was no way I could get another horse after that happened, right?

But Red Zone, or “Bouie” as he’s fondly referred to, was meant to be.

Red Zone had been seized by law enforcement, along with a menagerie of other animals. He was severely starved, neglected, and abused by a man in South Carolina. The man was jailed, and the records subsequently sealed. 

Red Zone (then known as PJ) was taken to Big Oaks Rescue Farm in 2014, where he was gelded and stayed for four years. He was adopted once, but was ultimately returned. No one knows his specifics like his age or his breeding, and while he had basic training, it was minimal. One thing that was for sure was that the man he had been rescued from had hit him. Horses can tell you a lot without the ability to speak, if you just take the time to listen. When I met him, Red Zone was with a lovely trainer named Katie Erpel. She insisted that we could work something out, despite my situation. She allowed him to come home with me for a trial, and then we would work out some kind of payment plan. 

Bouie and I hit it off immediately, but the pressure to afford a horse after a disruption in income was looming. We still had no job prospects, so I made the difficult decision to let him go back to Katie. 

I am a spiritual person, so I prayed in the moment before calling Katie to tell her that I couldn’t do it. My prayer was, “God, I give up this whole horse thing to you because I have to just let it go.” 

Little did I know, my work family was creating a GoFundMe with our staff behind the scenes, without knowing about my husband’s job situation. Katie was contacted by “a person” from my work, who bought the pony without me knowing…they will remain nameless (hmm). 

I found out when my work family, Jeremy Gsell and Jeff Allen, called me in their office. They put a picture of me and Killian’s Red on the table, and I broke down in tears. All I could do was cry, and say “I miss him so much.” They immediately shouted, “Read the page, read the page!” I gathered myself and read what was written on the page. It said that the pony had been purchased by an anonymous staff member, and the rest of staff and team doctors had created a fund which raised enough money to pay for three months of board. All of this happened while none of them knew our situation! 

Ultimately Red Zone was chosen for me, wouldn’t you agree?

Red Zone pulled off first place in Training Level Test 2 at the NDPC last year, on day one of the competition. His score in this test was the highest of the day, across all adult amateurs, open, and junior riders! He has won the Adult Amateur High Point Pony Award from the Georgia Dressage and Combined Training Association (GDCTA) for the past three years. This award is generously sponsored by Janie Kerr Pride, who is a great advocate for ponies in dressage! He’s taken me to Second Level, when I had previously never ridden beyond First, and we recently made our Musical Freestyle debut and received a qualifying score for regionals!

I am learning how to do this crazy hard thing called dressage because of these ponies… and it ain’t easy! Because of these ponies, I live by the saying that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” These ponies have given me a place to be myself and to recharge my mental health, while giving them the best I can afford – because they deserve the world.

These ponies gave me their heart, and they are ALL heart. Their gaze follows me, they recognize my truck, my voice, my mood. They look for my approval, they offer their soft nose and warm gaze, peering into my soul as I stare back into theirs. They supported me through serious illness, and horrible marriage issues that led to a heartbreaking divorce. They have provided stress relief while working in a high profile occupation, and unconditional and unwavering partnership. They are used by God to minister to my heart and, in return, I will love them to their end, and beyond, as they will have a forever home with me. That’s my promise to them.

When asked what I would say to another dressage rider considering a pony, well that’s a simple answer – try it! All the excitement and power in a small package won’t let you down, I promise. These ponies were put in my life for a reason, each one for such a time as this… each one bringing me one more step that I needed to be a better rider and a better person. They are “my heart’s desire…”