Reader Horse of the Week: Dewey
Our featured reader-submitted horse this week is Dewey, loved by Mary Dooley!
We at Horse Nation know that we have the greatest readers in the world — so by extension, readers’ horses must be the best as well! We’re featuring a different reader-submitted horse every week: if you’d like your horse to be featured, please contact us at [email protected]!
This week’s featured equine star is Dewey, much loved by Mary Dooley! Mary tells their story to Horse Nation:
“Dewey is my 1o-year-old OTTB I’ve had for about a year — it’ll be a full year at the end of February! He’s gained about 300 pounds in that year: he’s gone from sad, skinny pony to happy, ADHD goofball! I made him an Instagram because I didn’t want to keep bothering my friends and family with his pictures.”
We’ve all been there, Mary!
“I ride English: I used to do three-day eventing and show jumping, but I broke my back (not horse related) and so now I take it kind of easy. Plus I’m old now!
“Dewey ran two races in NY at Finger Lakes as “Ghost Who Walks;” he didn’t do very well in either race, and somehow ended up abandoned in a North Carolina field. A woman rescued him, but she’s a vaulter and vaulting trainer, so she had no use for a skinny Thoroughbred. I bought him off of her, and my main goal was and has been to keep him happy. I want him to enjoy being a horse and feel good!
“I don’t ride as much as I would like, as my school schedule keeps me crazy busy, but he is in a lesson program and is a barn favorite. We do a lot of flatwork currently; I’d love to get him jumping but we’re slowly working up to it. He currently still refuses at cross rails sometimes, so I’m just trying to get him comfortable and feeling good. His tongue sticks out all the time as I believe he was tongue gagged as a racehorse, but it’s one of my favorite features about him. He’s a goofball, loves to play with his jolly ball and the lead line and cross ties.”
“He tends to injure himself (what horse doesn’t??). I had owned him for a week when he cut open his side on a stall door and needed stitches and stall rest for a month. Then he crashed through a fence, then a gate, then another gate… He definitely still has some issues around rushing through gates and doors, but with my current barn manager (Laura Rose at http://www.toplinenc.com/), he’s really learned to slow down, play with other horses, and be as goofy as he wants — well, almost as much. He’s lost food bucket overnight privileges as he will slam it against the wall over and over again, waking up Laura throughout the night and early morning. Whoops! But he’s grown so much. The woman I got him from said he was a struggle to get in from the pasture and to ride, but over this year he now comes to the gate when I arrive and the little kids in the lessons thoroughly enjoy riding him.”
Mary, thank you so much for sharing Dewey’s story, and we wish you all the best!
Go riding!
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