Heavy Hitters! Throughout the month of December, we are featuring heavy breeds and heavy breed crosses!
Did you know that dressage riders who choose a heavy hitter as their mounts are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the Draft Cross Breeders & Owners Association (among several others!) is a participating organization!
Here, a junior rider shares the Percheron cross gelding who has become her safety in the choppy waters of life.
By Peyton Bass Ward
Trueman and I met when I was sixteen. I was a wreck with little stability in my life, and Trueman was a dorky little three-year-old painted Percheron cross.
I had grown up around horses, loving everything about them, but I was a part of the “lower class,” so the idea of actually owning a horse wasn’t even in the realm of possibility for me. Despite having had little stability in my life, I was provided some in the form of a woman named Gabrielle Hibbert/Ward and her husband Matthew. Gabrielle and Matthew eventually ended up taking me in and becoming my parents.
Trueman was born into the Ward family in August of 2020. His dam was a former bucking horse whom my parents had rescued from a kill lot. He was born a few months after they got her, and despite his mother not being very friendly, he was a goofy little love bug with a heart big enough to fill the property. Gabrielle had joked about what the foal would be like before he came out, and she said, “As long as it’s not a colt, and it isn’t a paint.”
The universe laughed, and of course, Trueman popped out as a little paint colt.
I didn’t meet Trueman until he was three and I was sixteen. When I met him, I thought he was the goofiest horse ever. Then the first time I rode him, I was actually disappointed. There wasn’t an “instant connection” or feeling of trust as people describe. It took work, time, and late nights, but now he’s five, and I’m almost eighteen.
Trueman taught me how to love unconditionally, to appreciate flaws no matter what size they are, and to accept the fact that you can’t change things sometimes.He also thaught me that you may end up cherishing the things you once didn’t like. I give Trueman credit for who I am growing into, because without him, I wouldn’t be who I am today. He has taught me an immeasurable amount of patience and understanding, as well as showing me that life doesn’t have to be so serious.
I’ve been told time after time that Trueman won’t make it very far in dressage because of his breeding and an injury. He’s a little Percheron cross, with a wonky hock.
One of my favorite mantras is, “For the love of the horse.” I do not love this sport more than I love the partnership I have with my greatest friend, and he will always come first. I love dressage deeply; it is my childhood and my future, and being able to do it with such an amazing horse is a gift. I will forever cherish the days I simply braid his mane, or hand graze him, or even just sit with him in his stall.
Some of my hardest days have been handled by finding Trueman out on the property, hopping on him with some music, and just forgetting everything else exists for a while. He puts all of his effort into whatever I ask him, even if he doesn’t understand fully. What he lacks in brilliance and expensiveness, he makes up for in heart and love. Some of my biggest accomplishments with Trueman have been quite simple: schooling shows, learning new movements, seeing new muscle growth, and improvement in the way he moves his clunky body around.
When Trueman was very young, he got caught up in a fence, doing a number on his right hock. The hock then developed Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) as he grew, and now it’s making his training slightly uneven. Surgery to remove the lesion is more than we can afford right now, so, for now, I will take Trueman as far as he can handle. The moment he shows me he is done, we can be done.
I knew I’d dedicate a lot to Trueman the very first time he laid down with me. I often sit in his stall or run-in with him, and he eventually started laying down beside me. After he started doing that, I began learning and reading up on how emotional horses are. I enjoy the thought of him being as emotional as I am. Trueman really has changed my life for the better, and I hope everyone is able to experience the love of a horse at some point in their life.
