It kind of hit us the other day that Reba MIGHT be the last pony we show that isn't from our very own breeding. I was working on the stall signs for this year and as I scrolled through them, every sign starts with "Berry Sweet..." except the last one where is proudly states "Dutch Country". Anyone who has known us for any length of time knows that we LOVE our Dutch ponies. Over they year we have owned/shown PVP Quick Impulse (before they were using Dutch), Dutch Rhythm N Blues, Dutch Major Cutie, Dutch Rock N Roll, Dutch Diamonds in the Ruff, Dutch Peach and most recently Dutch Mercy. It was Dutch Mercy that led to us getting Dutch Country.
Dutch Mercy was Sophie's first show pony back after a few year break from horses. When she made the tough decision to let her favorite red headed girl go, part of the deal we made with her is that we would buy her full sibling, Dutch Country. Mercy and Reba look so much alike that even now, going through pictures I have to do a double take. Reba would take Sophie into a whole new adventure - showing the in hand classes.
Reba and Sophie were a fantastic team in the lungeline classes, taking home many first place finishes but they were a force to be reckoned with in the the in hand trail classes. Sophie had big plans for showing Reba under saddle and gave her a great start. We were looking to get down on numbers in the spring and sadly listed Reba for sale. We showed her to one buyer and I watched them go around. Thankfully those buyers decided not to buy her because a month later, Sophie was kind enough to hand Reba's reins over to me and the "back up" pony became my show pony for 2023.
Reba quickly showed us that she is "back up" to no one. Cue the quote from Dirty Dancing with just a quick name change - "no one puts Reba in a corner." She was a fantastic ride all year long, getting better with each show. I won a few buckles, a few high points, many classes, including Reba's first Congress trophy. The two highlights of our summer (for me though) came towards the end of the show season. We had been showing WT all summer because I don't like to force our ponies to go slow until they are mature and ready. Reba and I had been practicing our lope/canter but we weren't show ready. On a whim we entered a couple of futurity classes at the end of August. I cried tears of joy at our amazing ride but even more so, in IA, one judge gave us a 2nd so we finished 3rd over all and in WI, Reba won our first ever "big check" with a first place HUS futurity ride.
Reba and I had a great season and we look forward to taking on new challenges, new classes and new opportunities this year. We know that we won't always have Reba in our pasture. She will be moving on to a show kid/family eventually but for now I'm going to cherish every ride on my favorite red headed pony. She always makes me smile and I'm blessed to have such a good minded and hard working pony to share with Sophie.
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