My love for welsh ponies
started when I was a little girl. My Grandpa would take me out for
rides in the fields on his welsh pony Pajon’s Wee Lass (nickname
Gaylass). Gaylass is a section A Welsh Pony. She was born on May 11,
1988 and will be turning 19 years old this May. She now has a white
body colour with a white tail and mane.
My horse riding started
in Western so that I had a horn to hang on to while my grandpa lead me
around the yard. But that horn didn’t help when the whole saddle slide
underneath of Gaylass because the girth wasn’t tight enough. When
Gaylass realized that I had fallen to the ground she just looked at me
as if to say "get up already". While my grandpa fixed the saddle and
helped me back on, Gaylass just stood there eating grass very calmly.
Before long, my grandpa would hang on to a lead rope attached to
Gaylass’s halter while he rode his other horse Rosie. Through the
fields we would go. As I grew older my love for ponies grew too and I
wanted to be around them as much as possible so I asked him if I could
borrow Gaylass for riding lessons. After we mastered Western lessons
we eventually moved on to English riding.
My
Grandpa passed away in 2002 when I was 9 and Gaylass became my very
own. Gaylass and I were a team. We went to many of shows together and
won many, many ribbons and oh yes a lot of money for a young girl. We
were inseparable and I benefitted from her calm attitude. Her size was
perfect for me to saddle her by myself with only a little help from my
dad to tighten the girth.
Gaylass’s dedication to
me is true. It would take hours for anybody to catch in the pasture
especially my father. All I had to do was call her name and she would
come running. Now she is better for people to catch she doesn’t run
away that often anymore especially when it is lunch time. She loves to
eat.
My family had been asked
many times to sell Gaylass but we simply can’t as she is part of our
family and a gift from my grandfather. She had one foal on May 22,
2004. The filly’s name is TMZ Matisco Wee Lass. She is named after her
dam and is a section B Welsh Pony. Matisco was born brown, turned
black and is now dapple grey. These color changes were the same as
Gaylass’s when she was born. I am in the midst of training Matisco
under saddle and for the cart. I have out grown Gaylass for riding but
she still gets ridden by new riders and I’m also training her to pull
a cart as well.
I love my ponies very
much and hope to breed Gaylass again in the spring time. Please email
me if you have any suggestions of names for the foal.
Teneil Ziegler, Age 14
Vegreville, Alberta,
Canada
Dear
friends,
I have been
keeping a diary of my experiences at Spruce Meadows and thought I'd
share it with you. Just to back up a bit, Pat Clay purchased me from
Cathy Josephson, Vancouver Island, in April of this year. Since I
had been busy raising foals, I was rather out of condition but Pat
undertook to leg me up and three weeks after arriving here, I was
sent to the trainer. This is the same trainer that Tartan, my full
sister, is with and we have the same rider, Kim Berenbaum. A month
later, we journeyed to Edmonton for a week of showing. That was my
first experience with a jumper class and I must tell you, I
absolutely loved it. Next at the Magic in the Air show, I was
Reserve Hunter Pony, placing over 17 other ponies, all larger than
me. Then it was Spruce Meadows time! Well, of course I had no idea
what to expect. We, Tartan and myself, arrived Tuesday afternoon,
had a bath and got settled into our stalls just before the
thunderstorm. We are in a huge tent with over 100 other horses in
it. Wednesday was a schooling day, we had another bath and then the
rain arrived. I doubt that it has stopped raining for more than 4 or
5 hours in the past 6 days. One day we were at the schooling ring at
6:30 a.m. and didn't finish our classes until 12:30, and it rained
the whole time. I must say Leslie and Pat are very good about
whipping our blankets and rain sheets off and on although I wonder
how they can do it with all the layers of clothes they are wearing
(I counted 7 layers one day). Out of the 700 horses and ponies
entered, I am the smallest animal showing here. There are several
other Welsh ponies, including one from Colorado who tells me she is
for sale for $30,000 US. Five of us are showing as mediums, the
other 13 are large grades or Connemaras. This means that either
Tartan or I have to be first in the ring, then the other mediums go
and then another Pajon pony goes. The hunter classes were okay, we
placed in all of them. But then came the jumper classes. They are
huge fences and we have to gallop up and down hills to some of them.
Well, Tartan wants to be a hunter pony, so she decided to not do the
jumper fences what with the bad footing and all. However, I
certainly was game and my first round was clear. Then to the timed
go - hey this was great, I could go as fast as I wanted and turn on
a dime. There was a lot of excitement when I placed first. Mrs.
Southern pinned my ribbon on my bridle, then I went to have my photo
taken with the sponsor and Mrs. Southern. I also got a stable plaque
and a leather halter. After that, I led the Victory gallop around
the ring. That was great and I felt very important. On the second
class, I had a clear round but knocked a rail in the power and
speed. This time I only got sixth. The next day was jumpers again
and once again I placed first and led the Victory ride. In the
second class, I was fantastic but this 14.2 Connemara took first
from me with a difference of 1/200th of a second. After the second
day, I stood third in the Championship standings, moved to second
and am now solidly in first place but we still have 7 classes to go.
I am writing this on our days off. We showed at the Canada One for
four days and start at the North American on Thursday. I can only
hope it soon quits raining. We have been watching them sand bag the
tent and tow cars out of the parking lot today. The sand arenas are
covered with about 4" of water. Good thing I am used to bad weather.
Some people from Mexico are talking around me moving there, they say
it is warmer and drier. I'm worried though because I don't speak
Spanish.
Yours truly,
Pajon's Royal Tapestry, Strathmore, Alberta, Canada
