My family tells everyone I was born this way...Horse crazy.
As a young girl, I said a prayer every night wishing for a pony of my own. I played with plastic model horses and dreamed of the day I would ride a REAL horse.
Nobody in my family had horses. Nobody my family knew had horses. Riding lessons were not in our budget. I learned about horses by reading books.The fabulous classic horse books like the ones by Sally Swift and illustrated by Sam Savitt. The horse of my dreams was a grey Welsh Pony...just like in the childhood books I'd read... I read about Pony Club. I dreamed of owning a Welsh Pony and fantasised about jumping and being in Pony Club. Occasionally, I would save enough allowance and pay to rent a horse for an hour. I was completely captivated by them. My parents were certain this was a passing phase I would soon outgrow.
It never happened.
We moved from Florida to Kentucky when I was 11 years old. My parents reluctantly bought me my first pony. A homely little tri-colored pinto pony mare named "Murph". She was not my grey Welsh dream pony but that smart little mare was an excellent teacher and she taught me many life lessons. At age 12, I talked my parents into buying me a second horse: An untrained two year old 1/2 Belgian stallion. I promised to earn the money to pay them back and to pay for his feed. I trained that horse myself in part using the methods I learned by reading books, and in part by pure instinct. I was riding that stallion around in a couple of weeks flat. There is no shortage of horses in Kentucky and it did not take long for word to get around that I was good with horses. A neighbor hired me to train Wild Mustangs they adopted from the BLM. I trained more than twenty of these Mustangs over two years. I observed their behavioral herd patterns. I befriended them, starting them slowly; NOT by BREAKING them, but by earning their trust and gradually introducing them to new things...today, they call it "natural horsemanship" but many of us were using those same techniques before natural horsemanship became popular.
I moved back to Florida in my late teens. I studied pre-nursing and pre-veterinary science in college. I worked many odd jobs while I continued training horses, managed a pet store, and worked as a veterinary technician. I planned to attend college for veterinary medicine at University of Florida in Gainesville. I knew I would make a career working with horses.
In 1989, I acquired my first rescue horse, an emaciated QH gelding named Peaceable. (I still own Peaceable to this day.) He is a thriving, healthy 27 year old who gives basic beginner lessons at our farm.He inspired me to rescue numerous other unfortunate horses; there never seemed to be a shortage of rescue horses. I rode and showed my horses in Western competitions; placing second as rodeo queen in 1989 at Lee County Sherrif's posse. I rode on Dixieland Express mounted Drill Team in which we became state champions. I rented stalls at a local facility to house my horses.
I longed for a stable of my own...in my own backyard.
I met my husband and he helped make all my dreams come true.At the age of 19,my future husband gifted me with a horse-drawn carriage business which I ran for two years in downtown Fort Myers. I drove these carriages in traffic without incident offering carriage rides to the public. I offered guided tours and catered weddings and private corporate parties for such establishments as the historic Burroughs Home and Edison/ Ford Estates in downtown Fort Myers.
I began riding lessons at a local hunter/jumper stable in the early 1990's. I imported a horse from Germany in 1997 and achieved many riding goals with this horse. I won the Prix Du Loiret out of 140+ riders in Orleon, France in 1997. I rode my horse, Cascadeur, in Zone finals and placed second in our division in Zone 4. We won many year end awards and received numerous invitationals. I had occasion to lesson with such American legends as George Morris, Kathy Kusner, Ann Gribbons, Michael Page, and many others....
My husband and I purchased a 22 acre parcel of land in 1998 and Hunter's Sound Stable became a reality. It had a wonderful structurally sound abandoned stable building that was badly in need of repairs. Together, we set to work on refurbishing the stable, fencing, and revitalizing the overgrown property. Soon after, we built a home on our property. Together, we made it beautiful. My own stable. In my own backyard. It wasn't a degree in Veterinary Science as I had planned, but a beautiful facility; a boarding, training stable where I would realize my chosen career working with horses. I achieved an ARIA certification for riding instruction in 2000 and began riding and teaching professionally. I developed an "eye" for young hunter/dressage prospects which I trained and later sold. I trained several zone contenders and showed up to Level 5 jumpers.
A spinal cord injury in 2003 ended my high-jumping goals.
In 2004, I FINALLY purchased my childhood dream pony; a SUPERIOR Canadian bred registered Section "A" grey Welsh Pony I named Fancipants...the total package of beauty, brains, movement, presence, courage, and perfect temperament. By then, I was in my early thirties, and had three children of my own.. My fondness for Fancipants led me to purchase two more Section "A" mares from the same bloodline, tracing back to Twyford Dollar Money. I had sought to find a stallion of similar lineage to breed the Welsh ponies that little girls'dreams are made of; Champions that will excel in the hunter ring and add to the betterment of the Welsh Pony breed. I eventually located the perfect stallion, My-Mar Dunvegin. I found him after an exhaustive seach . He was located in Alberta, Canada...a mere 44 hours drive from our farm. We purchased him without hesitation and my husband, Jim, drove to retrieve him for me. He arrived in March, 2006 and thus began
"Ever After" Welsh Ponies. I have since added a string of Section "B" broodmares and a fine Bristol bred Section "B" stallion, Briarfair Casanova, to our herd... "Ever After" Welsh Ponies.
And they lived happily ever after...
~Gemini Brittany Pledger
