 November
2006
Erin Casper
My T Rex, Cookies Evening Treat, Tough Girl in Town
and Mission Impulseable, these are the pony names that
go with the rider named Erin Casper. We discovered that
in the “show world” sometimes the pony’s
name is more recognizable than the rider’s name.
Erin was the fortunate girl that had the opportunity
to learn, train and compete with these wonderful POA’s.
Erin’s riding career began at the age of six with
a fat brown pony named Drifter. He packed her up and
down the hills of Northeast Iowa trail riding. At about
the age of 10 Erin went to a few open shows with her
grade trail riding horses. Some how Erin’s mom
heard about the POA breed and contacted LeeAnn Haack
for lessons. Alise Dykstra tagged along for lessons too.
Leo and LeeAnn didn’t know what they were getting
into with these two giggly Decorah girls. Going to the
Haacks’ is one of our fondest memories.
We give a lot of credit to LeeAnn and Leo for picking
out Erin’s show ponies. They introduced us to Linda
and Tracy Schonfeldt of Wisconsin. My T Rex was Tracy’s
junior pony that she rode her last year as a youth and
then “Ty” became Erin’s first show
pony. The first time Erin rode Ty it was a disaster.
She had never “cued” a well trained horse
before and couldn’t quite get the “body language” needed
to communicate with Ty. Finally, after 45 minutes they
understood each other and Ty loped off around the arena.
Those two never missed a lead after that. Thanks Linda
for being so patient with us and for teaching Erin everything
she knows about showing. (And about playing marbles!)
Leo Haack helped Erin’s parents, (Jim and Bridget)
pick out a nice yearling filly at the 2000 International
Sale. Cookies Evening Treat was a new project for the
Caspers. Erin worked with “Eve” to get her
started and then Linda Schonfeldt finished the mare’s
training. Erin showed Eve in the Jr. Pleasure classes.
What a great experience Erin had with this wonderful
minded, good moving, young pony. It was a difficult decision
to sell Eve in order to go onto the next junior project;
but knowing that Eve was going to the Scaffidis’,
along with Linda’s guidance, made the decision
much easier. Eve and Alex Scaffidi have been an awesome
team.
So now, Tough Girl in Town (Lovie), enters the barn
as Erin’s new junior project. Let’s just
say that Lovie wasn’t always so lovey. Erin had
to learn to ride this mare every step of the way and
to never give up when they were down. Lovie proved to
be a great pleasure and equitation pony for Erin. In
2003 they brought home the Elroy Latch stock seat traveling
trophy from the Midwest Regional show in Lincoln, Nebraska
and six – 1st place trophies from the World Show
in Loveland, Colorado. Erin and Lovie were also the first
recipients of the Leonard Lewis Memorial Futurity trophy
in 2002. Lovie is now a wonderful brood mare that will
be at our barn for years to come having babies for JPFC
projects for Erin.
Last, but definitely not least, is Mission Impulseable,
aka Leo. Building trust with this new pony was important.
But once that was established Leo tried his hardest for
Erin. Many thanks go out to Tracy and Linda for helping
with Leo’s training. He would do his soft western
pleasure lope all day long for Erin and then take a lesson
kid around the arena too. We loved Leo for his cute wrinkled
brow and his wonderful disposition. Leo’s laid
back personality caused Erin to become so relaxed while
riding him that Linda had to constantly remind Erin “NOT
TO SLOUCH”. Mission Impulseable won the International
Jr. Western Pleasure class the past two years in a row.
We extend our best wishes to Leo’s new owners,
Ted, Sarah and Becca Trout. Becca, good luck in your
show career with Leo and have FUN.
Happy Trails from Jim, Bridget and Erin Casper. See
ya in 2007 in the 19 and over classes. |
Pony Of The Americas Club, Inc.