Oh Mercy! No, I'm not asking you to forgive me and take pity on us, episode 7 takes us up to the years where Sophie got her first training project of her own; Dutch Mercy. Mercy came to us with about 30 days under saddle, a little bit of an attitude and a few tricks up her sleeve. Looking back, maybe she was kind of a lot of project for a kid who had only been riding again for a couple months after years out of the saddle. She was kind of a lot for a first training project ever. But also looking back, I combined my sassy, stubborn, born "feral" child with a red headed mare who needed to be told what's what. It was either going to be match made in heaven or a cage match to the death.
Sophie has admitted later that Mercy honestly scared her the first couple of weeks. She tried all her tricks with Sophie. There was a day with the rearing, the day with the bucking and Sophie's personally favorite day - the duck and jump day. That was the only day that she managed to get Sophie off. I've never seen anyone get up off the ground and back on a horse so fast in my life. I'm still convinced to this day that she wasn't on the ground long enough for Mercy to even realize she hadn't been on her the entire time. Sophie's only comment after was, "what even happened?" I'm pretty sure Mercy had the same thought. Mercy had met her match. Once she realized that Sophie wasn't going to give up, it was all over except the winning.
We weren't ready to POA show yet, so Sophie took Mercy to the first open show only intending to do a couple of walk trot classes and get her new project out and about. Little did she know that Mercy would draw plenty of her own attention at the show. I think everyone in the entire Minnesota Equestrian Center knew Mercy was there as she screamed for her buddies the entire show. I know Sophie was beyond frustrated and embarrassed but she didn't quit. The next show Mercy cried for her buddies a little less and Sophie added more walk trot classes. By the third show they were showing in every class and Sophie was even commenting that entire classes went by where Mercy never whinnied once.
That was just the beginning. Halfway through the season, Mercy and Sophie were showing in all the lope classes and winning. They qualified for the WSCA Champ Show in every event that they could possibly want to show in. Mercy not only was loping, but she had this amazing slow lope that came to her naturally with the help of Sophie showing her. Mercy had gone from being a sassy project pony to looking like a finished snaffle bit pony, doing patterns, in just a few short months. One of my favorite videos from that first season shows Mercy, who was green as grass herself, calmly walking up to the cone and executing her pattern while a black horse is rearing and trying to break away from his rider directly behind her the entire time. Once Mercy decided she was broke to ride, she meant it.
I'll never forget the show where they won that first buckle for the pony division at our favorite open show circuit. How does a pony go from barely broke to buckle winner in just a few months? They wouldn't settle for that one buckle either - that first season they took home 3 buckles from that series AND were in the top 5 for judged horse overall.
The hard part was convincing Sophie to show at Champ Show. Since we weren't showing in POA, this would be our biggest show of the year. Also since she was over the age of 13, Sophie would have to show her 51" pony in the classes against all of the horses. If you have never seen a 51" pony showing against a 16 hand AQHA, it is quite a difference. We knew that many of the judges would struggle with that but what a great experience it could be for the two of them. It was an experience, that we can tell you. To this day we still talk about that Champ Show and how we don't care if we ever go back. Maybe it will be like childbirth and the bad memories will fade? I may or may not have gotten lost and accidentally driven down a bike path in St. Paul, to this day we aren't sure. We came back from practicing in the warm up to a strange gray horse in China's stall. Took us a little while to find that horse's actual owner. Sophie got forgotten by one judge in showmanship so just missed placing after a knockout pattern. There was China being terrified of the photographer. I could go on... They didn't bring home any of those ribbons, but they did bring home a boatload of memories. It was the end of a crazy year of growth for both Sophie and Mercy. They were ready to hit the show pen in 2020.
And then... COVID. The show season got put on hold and we decided to go trail riding for the year. We made it to one off farm trail ride. Sophie and I quickly realized that trail riding wasn't going to be China or Mercy's favorite pasttime and therefore, not a whole lot of fun for us either. We stuck to riding around our farm and hoping that shows would start happening again. When China had a lameness issue I bought a POA of my own and we decided that when show season 2021 kicked off we would be showing breed shows again. We made a few shows in 2020 towards the end of the year but truly Sophie was gearing up for her first year back in a POA show pen in 2021.
Sophie and Mercy had new goals and big plans for 2021. This would be the year of her first ever Congress. They were going to go one handed for the first season and they would be showing in the tough 14 - 18 division. I could go on and on about all the individual accomplishments they had during that season but I would be here for a while. They had an amazing season. Sophie was out in the arean with her pony practicing before school or after sports practice. She spent hours turning Mercy into a finished pony and they were ready for Congress. As we prepared to leave, Sophie and I came to the realization that it was time for Mercy to find a child to take to the winners circle. We wrote her ad and Sophie started the process of mentally preparing herself for the day in the future when she would have to say goodbye.
Congress always has its ups and downs. Sophie's classes were huge. 40+ riders and still they were placing. They even took home Sophie's first Congress trophy. And people were interested. We made folks wait to try out Mercy until they were done showing for the week. It was just too hard. Sophie couldn't bear to be there, but as I watched Mercy carrying around her tiny rider and got to visiting with the family, I hoped she had found her family. It was a couple weeks later and it was official. Mercy had a new rider and Berry Sweet Acres had a new little unicorn trainer.
While we were so happy for Mercy and her little girl, nothing was harder than watching Sophie at their last show together. Watching that little redhead load into someone else's trailer and drive away was definitely a big girl moment for Sophie. Life is full of these tough moments and she handled this one with grace beyond her years.
Luckily Sophie was going home to another unicorn that she had spent the year starting under saddle. With Mercy leaving, it was time to focus on Pepper. Oh and another redhead would be headed into Sophie's show string. Guess what - this new redhead would be a little like Mercy. (Or a lot like as she was Mercy's full sister.)
Episode 8 will be the year of Pepper AND Reba.
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