Meet Our Horses

Meet the horses and ponies that work so hard at bringing therapy, friendship, freedom

and above all else Enjoyment to our riders...

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Apache	Aria	Bobby	Buddy
Gypsy	Holly	Katie	Nirvana
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Nugget	Sudan	Suzi	Wedge
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	Witchcraft	Zane
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Busy Lady Retires

After 14 years of faithful service to the Carriage Driving program at Stroud, the time has come for Busy Lady to be retired.  A 12 hand Welsh pony, Lady (as she was known then), came to RDA from Billy Salmon at Aberglasslyn.  Bill had intended her to be her next show pony, but increasing arthritis in Billy’s hands forced her to give up driving, so Lady was turned out for four years with a donkey companion.

Karl Hvirf, who was helping our Centre in the early days of carriage driving at Raymond Terrace, suggested that Lady might be of use to RDA.  In 1996 she was purchased from Billy for a nominal sum.  The money to buy her was raised by the Busy Bees group at Nelson Bay, of which our own Jan Sharp’s mother was a member, so her name became Busy Lady.  At first Busy (as she was now known) was tried in the riding program, but proved to be a bit too quick and rather bossy with her leaders, so it was suggested we try her as a carriage pony and I took her to Stroud to join our fist driving pony named Gumnut.

Busy was duly accredited by Jan Muspratt early in 1997 and began her RDA career.  She took our drivers to Sydney Royal that year and for several years thereafter, helping them win many ribbons including one blue one!  She also carried several drivers to become State driving champions including a memorable event at Horsley Park. In addition, she competed successfully in RDA driving classes at many other shows including Newcastle and Stroud.  In her final event, Busy won the Opening Bending in the State Competition in 2010.

Busy’s cheeky nature and love of people (and the apples they would bring for her) has made her a very special friend to our Stroud drivers.  But as Busy is 21 years old now and has developed melanomas, which are getting worse, she is now deservedly enjoying retirement.  She will live out the rest of her life peacefully at Stroud with her faithful helper, Rosemary Laing.

Revised: 16 May, 2011.