The first horse is actually a pony and some of you already know him. His name is Admiral John and he is more commonly called AJ. He is a ten year old, 13.1 hand, Haflinger gelding owned by Terri Roberts. I got him in August of 2006 and have been driving him in CDEs since. Terri leased him to me as a preliminary pony. In '06 I showed him at the Katydid CDE in Prelim and placed third. In '07 I took him Intermediate and we started to win in many of the shows of this season. He has surprised some people with his successes. In September we hope to go Advanced at the Laurels. He and I have a very good relationship and he will do anything for me. We will see what happens in the future!

Another of my equines is Brocksbuels Brondo. We call him Brondo and he is the newest addition to our team. He is a fourteen year old, 14.2 hand, German Riding Pony gelding. He is a registered German Riding Pony, a registered Welsh Cob, and a registered American Sport Pony. I must thank all the people that helped me be able to get Brondo this past July. He is hopefully going to end up being my Advanced Pony for the Worlds in '09. I will be showing him in the prelim level for the rest of this year and hope to go Intermediate in Febuary.

My final driving pony is Petey. Petey is a seven year old, 12.2 hand, Hackney Pony gelding. Petey was my first CDE pony. He does not like dressage at all but even with bad dressage scores he won a couple of his prelim shows by making up, up to fourty points in the marathons. Petey is now with one of my trainers, Sterling Graburn. Sterling has him in pairs and even the leader in a unicorn. Petey is now a happy pony. He seems to really enjoy having partners.

Mauritious Song of Joy, AKA Ritzi, is my Dutch Warmblood. He is Nineteen years old, 16.1 hands and was my ridden dressage horse. I have had him for about nine years. He has taught me a lot, and will be with me for a while. He has taken me to the 4-H State Championships twice and the USDF Regionals twice. We missed two of those do to horsey illnesses. He has put up with all the costumes and other assorted tortures of being a 4-H horse and he has done it with a smile. So every now and then I hope on bareback and we just go for a ride, and I can tell that even though he is getting older his spark is still there.

Elena is a fifteen year old, 15.1 hh, Lippizan mare. She is absolutly gorgeous. She was supposed to be my next ridden dressage horse but when you put a saddle on her she is ever so slightly off. If you ride her bareback she is perfect. Because she couldn't be ridden in the ring she became our brood mare. Her first breeding was a success and we had Danni. We sold him because he wasn't going to be big enough and Elena has been a brood mare for us and our friends since.

My mom's horse is actually a horse but is only 10.2 hands. Cyman is a seven year old Caspian gelding. He drives and rides. When my cousin is over he allows her to ride him, as she is about four foot four and might weigh seventy pounds. On the other hand anybody can hook him up and drive him. Now if you don't drive him for a month and a half to two months the first drive can be a little interesting. But once he realizes he has to move and not just stand in one place he is an angel.

Finally there is Donkey. Donkey is a five year old miniture donkey gelding. He is named after the donkey from Shrek because he is very vocal. When I decided I wanted to drive we stumbled upon a yard sale. The lady was selling everything. As we left she asked if we needed anything else and my father said, "Only if you have a driving pony." The lady told us the she didn't have a driving pony but she did have a driving donkey. So I had to look at him. When we rounded the corner of the barn, there was a mini donkey sprawled out in the sun with a huge orange tabby cat, asleep on his belly. For two hundred dollars I took him home and drove him. I don't drive him much anymore but he is still on the farm as a companion for everyone.

They might not be horses or ponies or even equines but they are a part of our family. Jodi is our twelve year old Golden Retreiver and we have had her since she was three. Jodi has been through everthing. When I was four I would hook her to the laundry basket and she would pull me around the house. Our other dog is an eight year old Doberman named Jessi. We have had her since she was four. Both of our dogs were rescues. About a year ago I found two abandoned kittens in our pole barn. Their eyes were still closed and their mother had been hit by a car on highway 301 in front of our farm. We took them in and started bottle feeding them. They seemed to be doing great but we lost one. The one that survived seemed lost without its brother so we rescued another one. Both of them are now about a year and a half old and have turned into healthy cats. The original one is a black tabby named Black Kitty and the second one is an orange tabby named Orange Kitty. Original, huh?