Ben
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We rescued Dansey (AKA Ben) from a local horse auction on November 28, 2010 where he would have been sent to slaughter had we not been able to purchase him. As soon as we saw him in the pen, we knew we had to get him. He was an absolute sweetheart, polite and gentle and immediately followed Julie around the pen as she tried to look at him. When no one else bidded for him in the ring, we put our hands up and ended up taking him home.
During his stay at J&M Acres, we broke him to ride and took him out on the trails and did some work with him in the ring. All the videos and photos caught the attention of his now-Mom, Allyson, down in Washington. We chatted about him for a week or so and then she made the decision to take him home. After some complicated planning, we managed to arrange to meet her at the border and hand him over! That was on February 2, 2011. |
Now, over a month later, Ben is in the best of hands and has charmed his new mom.
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Letter From His Mom:
I never expected to have Ben in my life. I found his ad on the horsegroomingsupplies.com forum, a community I frequent about one time per week. It was just by sheer chance (and error) that I accidentally clicked on that site's "Rescue" Forum and saw the J & M post regarding their available Standardbreds. Being a lover of the breed, I just had to click on that posting. I was so excited to see that Standardbreds WERE on the west coast, and just a few short hours from my location. This was an amazing revelation to me- being from New Jersey, where Standardbreds are very common. When I moved to Washington, there seemed to be very few- and when I inquired about them, I met a lot of false myths regarding the breed. I thought it strange to be hearing such things from people who seemingly never worked with a Standardbred in their life! I knew I was in trouble when I continued on to the J&M website as well as the Mare Diaries blog- I just fell head over heels for that silly bay Standardbred named Dansey. Having trained and ridden Standardbreds in my past, I knew his easy-going nature was going to lend himself well to my needs. In addition, I thought Ben could be the perfect poster child to show the Pacific Northwest what a great partner the Standardbred could be. This was a win-win! |
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Bringing Ben to the United States was incredibly easy and inexpensive, which sealed my resolve to bring him across the border. A simple vet check, some paperwork, and organizing a hauling date was all it took to get him home.
While I wasn't exactly looking for a new horse, as I have 2, 1 currently on a long post-operation lay up and the other unrideable, Ben has filled the gap. His sweet nature has won over everyone (myself included!) at the barn, and his desire to work and play has been great to work with.
To date, Ben and I have done quite a bit of ground work as well as a few rides in the round pen. Due to his age we've been taking it easy, keeping our sessions short and to the point.
My intentions with Ben in the short term is to go through the levels of dressage. In the Spring we will start bi-weekly lessons with our trainer. My hope is that we can do some Intro & Training level classes this year and in 2012. From there, when he is fully physically matured, we'll try cross country and jumping- and hopefully become low level eventing partners!
Ben's full story,progress, & updated pictures can be found on his blog: http://changeofpaceotsb.blogspot.com/
We hope to see you there!
While I wasn't exactly looking for a new horse, as I have 2, 1 currently on a long post-operation lay up and the other unrideable, Ben has filled the gap. His sweet nature has won over everyone (myself included!) at the barn, and his desire to work and play has been great to work with.
To date, Ben and I have done quite a bit of ground work as well as a few rides in the round pen. Due to his age we've been taking it easy, keeping our sessions short and to the point.
My intentions with Ben in the short term is to go through the levels of dressage. In the Spring we will start bi-weekly lessons with our trainer. My hope is that we can do some Intro & Training level classes this year and in 2012. From there, when he is fully physically matured, we'll try cross country and jumping- and hopefully become low level eventing partners!
Ben's full story,progress, & updated pictures can be found on his blog: http://changeofpaceotsb.blogspot.com/
We hope to see you there!
