Happy 34th Birthday Valentine or is that 33 1/2

We thought that out pony Sweet Valentine turned 34 on February 14th due to her birthday. So we took come pictures of her, gave her some treats and wished her a happy birthday. Then we looked at a photo that we have of her from before we owned her and we noticed that it was dated February 1978-Valentine's First Horse Show-2 1/2 years old. Which means that our guess about her actual birthday was off. Since we missed her birthday we are still wishing her a happy birthday now. Her actual birthday was around August of 1975 and that makes her about 33 1/2 -still the oldest pony at our place ever! She has had several close calls that could have cost her, her life, but she made it this far and is the oldest pony we have ever had here at Gusty Wind. She had 1 major colic, 2 strokes and one major injury to her stomach, all of which she recovered from. (Praise the Lord!)

Valentine was purchased for me when I was 9 years old (and she was 6). We had been looking for a pony for a long time and had just about lost hope of finding one when I found a small ad posted at the Deluxe Saddlery near Baltimore, MD. We called and they had forgotten they posted the ad, but they let us go and look at her.

We went to see her, but it was close to dark and by the time we went to see her it was dark so we walked her down a road and then my mom rode her under a few lights mounted above an outdoor ring.

We liked her and decided to buy her. However her owner insisted on delivering her to us to make sure that we were legitiment. Apparently someone had come on the pretenses of buying her and "took her on trial" but left no indentifying information or deposit. In reality they stole her and the state police found her several days later still on the same horse trailer she had been taken in. Apparently they thought they had a buyer for her but the deal fell through and they didn't know what to do with their "hot pony".

Valentine is indeed a hot pony. She is 1/2 thoughbred and 1/2 welsh pony. It was a real challenge to learn to ride her because she likes to go FAST! She also loves to jump. Before we got her she had already gone fox hunting with her owner Carol West, had been to some horse shows and knew the basics of Dressage. I was the one who had some catching up to do.

I rode and showed her for a few years, even did pony club. Then she got a year off and then my sister Suzanne started to show her. Like me, at first she was over mounted on Valentine. However pretty soon she learned how to ride her. Unlike me she became more interested in Dressage than hunter or eventing. Since Suzanne was interested in Dressage Valentine had to develop an interest too. In the end, Suzanne rode and showed Valentine through third level and earned her Bronze Medal from the USDF. At that time, at the age of 18, Suzanne was the youngest rider to earn that honor in Western Pennsylvania, and on a 13.3 hand pony-that made it even better! What an accomplishment.

Suzanne eventually outgrew Valentine and retired her. So Valentine started teaching beginners how to ride--on a lunge line. Once the kids were ready to ride off of a lunge line they had to ride someone else because Valentine was too quick off of the lunge line for a beginner to ride.

Then finally we retired her from doing that too. However we continued to allow interested students to ride her to help her to keep in shape and happy. When I was young and was transitioning to my next horse (Autumn) I stopped paying a lot of attention to Valentine and she started to lose weight. So my mom made the rule that I had to groom Valentine at least once a week so that she didn't become depressed. That is why we continue to have people ride and play with her. She's an excellent Dressage pony, so the rider get's the benefit of learning some of the Dressage movements from a school master.

Recently (on her alleged birthday) we took some video of her. Feel free to click below to see her play with Abby.