The White Lady of Tulipside Farm

This July, we are highlighting “Small But Mighty” breeds on YourDressage! 

Riders who choose a pint-sized partner as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as there are a number of pony breed organizations that are participating organizations.

By Emily Maki 

Growing up in the horse world, surrounded by the respected riding instructors of our area, I knew I was destined to continue down the path of riding instruction, like my mother before me. 

The ponies that were presented to me were slightly more challenging than maybe they needed to be, with the exception of a few saintly steeds when needed. As a result, I developed a bit of a confidence issue in my riding.  As I entered my twenties, I started a small working student program so my (now) husband’s little sister could learn and be around the horses. Little did I know then that this would spark an entire career path. 

My personal horse at the time, Gilded Mist (“Gilda”), was still a little green. I made a few rider errors and training mistakes, which unfortunately affected my own confidence. After a few years of leading my sweet trio of working students, I referred them to a next-level instructor and jumped full-time into my chosen career: massage therapy. 

While I knew what I was doing and instantly had a full book of repeat clientele, I found it incredibly hard to be tucked away in a dark room all day. I found myself longing for barn life so much more than I thought could be possible. 

Desperately craving that time spent in the barn, I replied to an ad from my mother’s dressage instructor, Becky Langwost-Barlowe, of Preston Horse Farm, looking for barn help. While working there, her training inspired me to begin riding more at home when possible. I even left my full-time massage job to work part-time closer to home, so I would be able to ride and work for Becky more. 

I couldn’t get enough, adding a second barn, Jackie Kinney’s Horses in Harmony, to my weekly chores. 

The first day at Jackie’s, I met this sweet little grey pony mare who was being utilized to babysit (teach field manners to) the young horse at the farm. Her name was Lena, and there was something about her that caught my heart. She left the following week for a trial, and then another one afterward. 

About a month later, the little grey mare returned, neither trial having worked out. Jackie was packing for her winter season in Florida when I asked if I could have a sit on her while she was gone. Jackie got quite excited and replied, “Of course!” 

The very next day, I brought my “matchy set,” which consisted of the Amazon polos that my husband had bought for me, trying to match the used saddle pad I had found on Facebook Marketplace (which had arrived miniature-sized and did not fit Gilda). However, the polos fit Lena’s front legs, and I was ecstatic. 

Upon our first sit, she proved to be a challenge, but her sillies were pint-sized, and instead of feeling fear, I felt the need to giggle at her tricks. It took a few rides, but once I figured out more about my balance, her balance, and being able to be softer in my body, the rest was history. 

Lena came home with me less than a month later, due to COVID-19, and I officially purchased her in June of 2020. She provided a peace of mind I hadn’t had in a long while. We thrived on long hacks around my family farm, Hundred Acre Wood, LLC, jumping all the fun logs in the woods. We even got a little jumping instruction from a friend, and decided to add a few little riders to her weekly list. 

By spring, Lena had three students and was in a full training regime with me preparing for the jumpers. I’d never tried it and had always wanted to, but feared deviating from my familiar dressage and hunter rings. We entered a few jumper shows and had a blast over the summer, where she even earned me my first champion ribbon as an adult. I was so grateful to her for her heart. After our fourth jumper show, Lena had a field accident and needed a little time off.  

As all this transpired, I gained enough confidence to get my other mare, Gilda, back into full training, and was riding with Becky once or twice a week. By 2023, I was looking forward to entering my first-ever USDF-recognized show with Gilda. A goal I had never wanted before meeting Lena. 

I also found out that I was pregnant with my first baby just before our first show, and was extremely anxious upon our first weekend showing. Our rides were tense, but we received fair and respectable scores, and even a blue ribbon. We entered one more USDF show for the summer, Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA) Ride for Life, which had been a longtime goal of mine. We were both tense and experienced more challenges, as the venue was bigger and busier. This being said, we got through it. 

We took Gilda and Lena to a PVDA schooling show the following weekend. The first horse off the trailer was Lena, and I was SO pleased as she performed the most solid test I’d ever ridden in front of a judge, ending with a 10 for our halt. The judge couldn’t have been kinder and said how clear it was that my pony loved me. I was SO excited to bring Gilda out next! 

However, that thing that happens when you have two mares in season on a trailer together happened – Gilda came off the trailer and was feral. I warmed up as best I could, and we got to the arena to give it a try. We made it down centerline with a few rear hops, but looked at the judge with tears in my eyes and said, “I scratch.” 

Still pregnant, it brought the worst fear I’d faced since meeting Lena, and I was so upset that all our hard work and consistent outings meant nothing in the face of mare jealousy. 

I took a break from riding Gilda for the remainder of my pregnancy, but continued riding Lena for my own sanity, and to keep her sane enough to teach the kiddos. 

We attended a Halloween schooling show, and I entered two tests on Lena to ensure she would be quiet for the girls at a new venue. I was about seven and a half months pregnant, and it was POURING. The judge was none other than Lena’s previous owner, Jackie Kinney. Jackie did not even recognize us until I trotted by, and she was so surprised to see us. Maybe it was a great test, or maybe it was Jackie being kind for a local show, but the world will never know, because Lena earned us a 76% in Training 2, and I cried with joy when I saw the scores. I had never felt so proud.

I had my first baby via C-Section the following January, and was back up on Gilda and Lena on the day my obstetrician okayed it. We all returned to shape slowly, and I was able to enter the final PVDA Ride for Life show with Lena – at just five months postpartum. 

Somehow, this pony went from taking three hours to load on a trailer to trotting herself onto it from the grooming area and parking herself in the box stall. She LOVES to show and always knows we are coming back home together. She unloaded at the venue like she’d been there a million times, warmed up beautifully, and was an absolute doll for both tests. We earned respectable scores in good company, and even brought home a giant blue ribbon. 

After Ride for Life, I didn’t ask much else of Lena. Between being a new mom, setting bigger goals for myself in dressage that I knew she wouldn’t be able to help me reach for, and working with the students we had, it was enough to hack around the farm and enjoy each other’s company. 

Lena routinely takes the winters off, telling me exactly when she requires her annual “break” by doing something too playful in frozen mud, and tweaking a small something here or there. I was able to bring my first official dressage horse, Soloman, home in December of 2024 and have since been able to achieve my USDF Bronze Medal scores for First and Second Levels with him. Something I always secretly dreamed of, but never even tried to reach for due to lack of confidence in myself. 

In December of last year, I was able to bring my string of lesson horses home to my next adventure, Tulipside Farm LLC. Lena was the first one to set foot on the farm, as the manager of our pony collection. She has the job of protecting our herd and keeping my students on their toes, as she loves to escape and wreak havoc on a cookie hunt. 

In the past six years, Lena has given me, all my students, my son, my husband, and my farm helpers a great amount of respect, love, adventure, knowledge, balance, and most importantly, friendship. She has been the most powerful little pony, always giving her honest opinion. I am currently nine months pregnant with my second baby, a little girl, and I am so excited to try to bring Lena back into shape one last time for light workout time for our toddler lesson program. 

Her show name, Le Dame Blanche, comes from Outlander, French for “the white lady”. This is also a historical term, used in French, Celtic, and Norman folklore, comparable to “White Women” in mythology, known as healers tending to travelers. In the Outlander series, Le Dame Blanche was known as a white witch, and a healer. Which, to me, is what Lena did most: healed me, showed me my path, and brought kindness and love to those who needed it most.