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Thanks for visiting! Please be sure to visit our adoptable horses and other pages (menus are above)
(click to enlarge pictures) Meet
Victoria's Sandy Cross,
affectionately known as Sandy.
Sandy came to us via auction in July 2001, rescued from slaughter.
Sandy was 2 years old and had been born wild in a large pasture
and never had any contact whatsoever with people until she had
bloodwork drawn pre-sale and then was forced into a trailer to go to
the sale.
Sandy stood shaking, terrified, in an auction barn stall, in a halter
for the first time, tied for the first time, away from her mom and
around other horses for the first time. A few hours later she went for
her second trailer ride of her life, and ran in terror out of the stock
trailer into the huge 12x25' box stall, where she met things she'd
never seen before.....buckets of fresh water, sawdust, stacks of hay,
and a handful of sweet feed. The following day, after a clean bill
of health from our vet, Sandy met her new family -- ZeeZer and Laddie,
and settled into our pasture.
Over the next several months, Sandy continued to be terrified of
adults. Those terrible humans had done those things to her, and
she would never trust another, she was certain! But there was this one,
odd little human, too small to be the people who had scared her so
much, who seemed to just want to be "in the area" of Sandy, without
threatening to catch her, hold her, or do anything else with her.
In time, Sandy and her new human, Tory (then 7), became the best of
friends. Tory was her mommy, and Sandy would tolerate anything adults
wanted to do to her, as long as her mommy was there with her.
In spring of 2002 Tory spent a month away from Sandy visiting her
grandparents. With her human gone, Sandy was terribly lonely, and
even more jealous of the attention Zee and Laddie received from their
humans. In what was literally an overnight change, Sandy accepted Mike
and AnnMarie, and then in a few days ALL humans, as friends.
Sandy is now one of the most loving, attention-hungry, sweetest ponies
around. And she still adores her mom. Sandy took quickly to being
ridden once she decided she liked people, and was very jealous when
others got to go ride first, or without her! In just a few weeks, Sandy
was showing in horseshows in walk-trot classes with AnnMarie, and Tory
and Sandy entered their first halter and leadline classes.
Summer 2003 has turned out to be the year where Tory's confidence and
Sandy's excitement met on even ground. The "aged" picture above is Tory
riding sandy for a video as part of a school project, demonstrating a
pony express mail drop! Sandy and Tory now ride together with great
excitement, and AMAZING speed.
Tory put an incredible amount of love and effort into caring for this
wild pony. Sandy will have a home here, with Tory, as long as Tory
chooses for her to stay. Sandy was Crosswinds first permanent resident.
January 04 update: Top
right photo is Sandy in one of her 2 new winter blankets. The
incredible generosity of the McMaster family provided Sandy with this
heavy weight winter turnout blanket by MeriWeather. THANK YOU CANDACE
AND STEVE!
Spring 04 update: The
McMaster Family has chosen to sponsor Sandy, and has generously
provided a full year's feed sponsorship for this wonderful little girl.
Sandy is always thrilled to see her sponsors when they come visit
(treats in hand of course!) and we are SO grateful for their generosity!
March, 05 update: Sandy
and Tory showed together this weekend -- Saturday in Walk/Trot at a
pleasure show, and Sunday they ran their first two competitive rounds
of poles -- timing 36.5 the first time and 35.4 the second, including a
good hand gallop on the way back from the last pole on her second run.
They had a BLAST! congrats tory and sandy, we can't wait to see you
taking home the blues as your patterns get faster!!!
  
 April, 05 update: Tory and
Sandy had a fantastic time showing together this weekend, running poles
and barrels! They came in 2nd in poles and 3rd in barrels, running
against 2 older girls on larger horses and a young man on an adorable
pony! They had a fantastic time. For the first time ever, Sandy was far
more responsive to Tory than to me, wanting to be with Tory and ride
with Tory, and giving me a hard time during the barrels run I did with
her to warm her up for Tory. It was really terrific to see them so
attached!
 August 05 update: Tory and
Sandy continue to have a fantastic time showing together, both pleasure
and gaming. For more shots of Sandy gaming, see the bowtie website, for
the Hartmeyer August show!....and be sure to visit the September show
page to see Sandy and Tory in full English garb, taking 2nd out of 6
VERY capable horses/riders!!
Photo courtesy of www.bowtiephotography.com
-- what a great service, taking these wonderful professional photos at
the show, with prints available IMMEDIATELY! or at your leisure later
online. Need photography at your next event? Don't miss out - call
BowTie!
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