Marehaven Farm

Kelton
1993 Percheron/TB mare. 16.2h

Update 4/08: Kelton and I go to another show

Update 9/2/07: Kelton and I go to a real dressage show!

Kelton Photos

When I bought Kelton in 2003, she was my absolute once-in-a-lifetime dream horse. I couldn't have asked for anything more. She had been successfully shown at Second Level and was wonderfully easy to ride, light on the aids and very cooperative. She still remembers all of her training and would gladly offer to do what she knows, but about nine months after I brought her home I discovered that she has an old suspensory ligament injury, which limits her quite a bit. I've tried having it injected and giving her stall rest with light hand-walking, but each time I've tried to bring her back, the old injury would show up again.

I decided to just put her out on pasture because I couldn't bear to part with her, and about two years later I noticed that she was starting to look sound. So I've been slowly bringing her back into work, to see how it goes. She's doing very well at Training Level work, although I'm not yet doing a lot of schooling at the canter. I'm hoping we can do some schooling shows this summer at Training Level Tests 3 and 4, and then who knows, maybe in another year we can try First Level! But I'll continue to go easy. No hard-core "dressage queen" riding for the Princess! She'll also get plenty of "mental health breaks" in the form of trail riding.

Check out the Farm Blog for info on what I've been doing with Kelton.