Read the Success Stories for these former Bits & Bytes Farm
horses.
* Former Prospect Horses bought directly from the track or trainer.
* Prospect Horses are horses that were bought from our Web site photos and a vet check. Read "How to Buy a Prospect Horse" for more information.
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She Calls Me Tater aka "Pretty" is now for sale.
Pretty aka "Tater Tot" won first place at her first combined training event at Poplar Place May 3-4, 2008
She Calls Me Tater aka "Pretty" aka "Tater Tot" - three names -excels at three disciplines!
What a difference a year and a half makes! - March 2007
"Pretty" in November 2005.
Click here to see "Pretty's" Prospect Horse for Sale photos. She was one of our 25 Special Horses for Sale.
Bits & Bytes Farm Success Stories |
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Our horses > success stories > Pretty aka "Tater Tot"She Calls Me Tater aka "Pretty" - For SaleMay 9, 2008 - The rest of the story on "Tater's" Blue Ribbon! Hey Elizabeth!
As you know, I am seven months pregnant now, so I have had to take a short break from riding. Since Tater is pretty much my show horse, and I have been hesitant to let others ride her (mostly because I don't want them to mess up her training) it was hard to decide exactly what to do with her.
I have a working student that is 13, and I decided that I would give her an opportunity to ride and show her at the local hunter shows in the beginner division. Also, my best friend's daughter is 16 and quite an accomplished hunter rider, so I thought that she would be able to show her over the bigger fences.
Well, everything was going well; February Tater was Reserve Champion in the 2' Hunter division, and my working student cleaned up on her in the beginner ring, taking home a ribbon in every class as well as a first over fences. The March show was met with success as well, with my working student showing her and taking First in Hunter Hack as well as over fences. Unfortunately, her last course (incidentally the one she won) she broke her already injured collar bone, so she has been on riding restriction per the doctor's orders!
Since I basically had no one to ride Tater any more, I talked to Mary Bess Sigman (formerly Horton), who we had met at an intro to eventing clinic that my students had participated in earlier in the year. Mary Bess really liked Tater; she kept saying how fancy she was and what a nice mover she was, so I thought that it might be good to take her down to her farm for a few weeks of training. I had already taken her down several times Mary Bess's working student to ride her for me, and I really liked their farm, the way they trained, and them! So on April 9th I loaded Tater up and took her down. The plan was for Tater to be in training with them, go schooling at Poplar Place, and for them to show her in the May 3 & 4 Poplar Place Horse Trials that are USEA Recognized, and for me to take her home from there. I met them at Poplar Place for schooling, and Tater was perfect. The training that I had instilled in her was shining through well. May 2nd I met Mary Bess & Jacel (her working student) down at Poplar Place. For a change, instead of being the rider for the weekend, I was going to be the groom! : ) Jacel was riding her in the show - Mary Bess had back surgery just a few weeks previously and still just wasn't physically ready to ride a whole lot yet. I wasn't worried, as Jacel had been riding her the whole time. I watched them school, and it was very nice; I was pleased. The next afternoon Tater had dressage, and since Jacel was riding her horse there as well, it turned into a race to get Tater braided and ready in time for her test! Tater handled it all like a pro, went out for warm up, and was soft and no non-sense. Jacel warmed up for about 15 minutes, then it was her turn to go. The test was beautiful, I couldn't have been happier. Later we found that we were tied for first place on her dressage score of 30.5.
After a night of rest, and a LONG wait for her Cross Country ride (she went at 3:50 pm on Sunday), it was finally time for her to ride. I had walked the course with Jacel, and I thought that it was a very friendly course, with just a few places to be concerned about. Fence 3 & 4 were close together, and it was a pretty tight turn from fence 3 to 4, not to mention one was in the open, the other in the woods. A lot of eye adjustment for the horse going from bright, to shade, back to bright again. There were several nice long gallops in the course, and of course the obligatory water crossing which I knew would not be a problem. They were first to go in their division, and as you know it is really hard to watch much of the cross country phase, but we watched her leave the start box and confidently take the first two fences. We then hustled to watch her take a couple of fences in the middle of the course, and everything looked good. From there, we could see Tater run straight through the water without a bit of hesitation, and then it appeared that Jacel was slowing her down to the last fence - I think she was trying to get closer to the optimum time. It didn't matter, because, again, she went double clear, cinching up her FIRST PLACE win at her VERY FIRST THREE PHASE EVENT, not to mention a recognized 3-Phase, on her dressage score of 30.5. I have video of her Dressage Test and Stadium, and I will try
to get it up on You Tube for you. I am very proud of my little
Potato Head! My only regret is that it couldn't be me riding her
to the finish line. BUT I don't mind watching my horse win. . .
so much so that I am sending her to the Area III Championships
in June. Hopefully I will have good news to report then! I will
also send you the professional pictures when I get them in. May 4, 2008Pretty aka "Tater" has won a blue ribbon at her first combined training event! More details and photos soon!
Elizabeth's Notes: We will always help to place any horse we have sold. If you keep up with the Success Stories then any potential buyer knows the entire history of the horse. The horse's pedigree is free on the Internet, race records are available for eight to ten dollars at the official Jockey Club Web site and the Success Stories tell potential buyers what the horse has been doing since he left the track. It is much less of a gamble to buy one of our OTTB Resale Horses than it would be to buy a horse locally from someone you do not know. There is no fee for your horse being listed for sale on our Web site. Sorry, we are not able to list horses for sale that we have not helped to place.August 21, 2007Tater is doing really well, as always. She has matured SO much since I have had her. . . she is now the lead horse on all of the trails that we ride. It is really nice! She even goes trail riding all by herself and is calm and steady even though her friends are at home. I gotta say - I LOVE having trails right out the back door of the barn.I am sending you a couple of pictures of her - we went XC schooling a few weeks ago and we got a couple of pictures of her. I also got one of her just being beautiful.
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Anyhow, I have attached a couple of pictures. One is just to show you how nicely she has filled out. The one over fences may be a little fuzzy, but that's the best that I could get. Show Master says hi too. . . : ) |
She Calls Me Tater has a new BIG brother. Congratulations to Halliea Milner on the purchase of former Bits & Bytes Farm Prospect Horse for sale - Show Master.
Hey! I thought that since I hadn't seen or talked to you since the Imti clinic, that I would drop you a line and let you know how Pretty aka Tater is doing. I have had Tater for right over a year now, and WOW what a journey this past year has been! Originally, as you know, I purchased Tater as a resale project. She was a gangly, unbroken 3 year old with no muscle and even less patience! Everything was a learning experience for her.
Over the last 12 months I have gradually brought her along - bringing babies along seems to be something that I do way too often! : ) From learning to lead, to learning to lunge, to our first Hunter pace, she has always been interesting. I have always said that I am not a trainer, just someone who likes projects - and Tater has been my favorite one so far. So much so that, as you already know, I have decided to keep to event and show her myself. I still have to break THAT news to my husband. . . LOL (who, by the way - NEVER knew that I bought her in the first place - about six months ago I told him I was training her for someone else. . . Fortunately for me he is not completely stupid and he has figured it out, but he doesn't really mention it, he just goes about like it has always been that way.)
I have the most incredible mare, See Spot Jump, so Tater has some very big shoes to fill. See Spot Jump is 10 years old, and I have had her since she was a yearling - you can imagine the attachment! Tater takes this challenge very seriously - she is absolutely the most loving horse that I have ever met. She has her moments when she decides to be a mare, but overall, she is doing incredibly well. She is extremely bold to the fences - I have never had a single refusal from her. Of course, I am used to RIDING, not passenging, so that may make a difference. Still, she has yet to say no.
Her dressage is coming along fantastically. We will be ready to clean up Training Level (dressage, not eventing) in the spring, once show season kicks off again. Her canter has always been her strong suit, but she is really learning the meaning of round and forward. If I didn't have 5 horses, she would probably be coming along much faster, but she gets as much time under saddle as I can find for her.
Just the other day, we had to get rid of the "herd bound" antics that she goes through. When we go to shows, she decides that she isn't going to walk away from her buddies - so I decided to work on this at home. All of the horses were up at the barn, and we went out in the pasture to work alone. I have to tell you, she was not a happy camper. I almost got chunked once, which is a rarity for me. Thankfully, my go-go-gadget super glue seat came through! : ) Since I have the whole week off between Christmas and New Years, I have decided to torture her with that exercise every day this week. We will see how it goes.
We are going to an Anna Jane White-Mullin clinic in the spring. It should be very educational. She is the lady that wrote Judging Hunters & Hunter Seat Equitation. I know that most of the horses that you market are for the eventer, but I do think that it is EXTREMELY important that horses spend some time in hunter training before they go to eventing. It just makes them more balanced, cadenced, and easier to control in my opinion.
Either or, I will be getting pictures of her for you this week - so be looking for them! You & Barry have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Best Wishes!
Halliea
Hey! I thought that I would update you on Tater's show last weekend. She was fabulous, as usual! This time we rode in the very scary covered arena, and even though other horses (ones that are supposedly calm breeds - paints, draft crosses, etc.) were spooking, rearing, bucking, and bolting, Tater worked like an already made show horse!
The show was huge; our division was about two times larger than normal. It was a really good test of where we were because we had so much competition. As I said, Tater performed excellently placing VERY well with two third places and one fifth place, which put us one point shy of Reserve Champion.
I didn't even have time to feel disappointed about missing the Reserve, I was too busy being ecstatic by her performance! I am sending you some pictures of us for you to see as well. Next month, on to the fences! Thanks! |
"Pretty" aka She Calls Me Tater aka Tater Tot was an unregistered, unraced, unamed three year old filly who was one of our 25 Special Horses for Sale. Halliea might now consider selling Tater Tot to the "Perfect Match". Could that be you? Click here to contact Halliea for pricing and current training details. |
Hey Elizabeth!
Tater Tot aka "Pretty" has been absolutely fabulous! We have been consistently working on our flat work and we have added some over fences training to our regualr regime. She has been going over ground poles with ease, and she has been trotting and cantering cross rails & small verticals.
The picture of her over the plank was her very first fence at 2 foot! She was a super - star! I am just more and more pleased with this mare every ride. She has never stopped, even when we added decorations - she could care less! She seeks the middle of the fences, even when she is being lunged, proving that she will be an honest jumper.
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Her flat work is coming along fantastically as well. She is starting to learn to carry herself a little more, which is hard when you start out without the muscle! She stretches down and reaches for contact - I am really excited! Her canter is by far her best gait, she has a slow, steady, ground covering stride that is fun and easy.
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I never have to worry about her running away - she is just as quiet out in the pasture as she is in the arena, maybe even MORE quiet out in the pasture, if you can believe that. Even though I like three phase stuff, I really think that Tater will clean up in the Hunter ring. She has that typey look and she is so laid back! |
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I plan on showing her for the first time on April 8 at the Rolling Hills show (a local hunter show) in some flat classes. Like I said before - even though she could probably go and do the baby fences, I prefer to take the slower route, and will hold off on that for now. But we will definitely be prcaticing over the different mini-fences while we are there! : )
She continues to put on weight and muscle, even though she could use some more. It is just one of those things that is a matter of time, unfortunately : ) I lilke my horses fat, so hopefully with the new spring grass she will be gaining more weight every day.
Anyhow, I will update more after the show. I hope that everything is going well for ya'll! And tell people to swing by to try Tater Tot- she will steal their hearts!
Take care!
Halliea Milner
When you asked me to send you an update on Tater (formerly known as "Pretty") I had to think for a moment on just where to start. There is so much I would like to share with you about her. I guess I will start on her temperment. She is simply the sweetest horse that I have ever encountered. She would literally crawl in your pocket if she could; she follows me around the pasture six inches behind me. She stands for the vet and farrier, and even lets me clip her ears without any sort of twitch or restriction!
I took her to a show last weekend (the first Rolling Hills Saddle Club show of the year) and although I didn't show her in any classes, she was a super-star in my book. For a horse that has absolutely no experience travelling, she loaded on my VERY small & dark two horse like she had done it every day of her life, and when she came off the trailer at Wills Park, she just looked around calmly and I lead her to her stall. No screaming or acting crazy when we first got there - just very alert.
I worked her there and I rode her around in the dark under lights. No problems at all, she settled right in to work. We worked in three of the four arenas at Wills Park, even walking and trotting in the Hunter Ring with 15 horses running and jumping and with scary-looking jumps everywhere - she didn't take a single look at anything. I even had a few people ask me what I was asking for her - they knew that I had been working on a project for a couple of months - to which I smugly replied, "she's not for sale. . . yet."
She is calm, sweet and willling. So calm that people were asking me two or three times, "Are you sure she's a TB?!" She is gentle enough for a timid rider, and patient enough for a beginner (under a trainer's guide - this horse has too much potential!). She is currently confidently lunging over small crossrails, working on bending at the walk and trot, working on her free walk, and confidently trotting over ground poles. She lunges and round pens perfectly at the walk, trot, and canter, with or without tack. She is able to ride in the pasture alone or with company.
All in all, I am so totally pleased with this mare! I am excited at her bright future, and I hope that the other prospects are half this wonderful!
Hi Elizabeth!
I wanted to drop you a line to tell you how well Tater Tot is doing (formerly known as "Pretty", Tater Tot just seemed to fit : ).
I haven't taken any new pictures of her yet, mostly because she is about two inches higher in the back than the front - gotta love growth spurts!-, but she is growing and filling out well. When I got her she needed a few groceries and some ground manners, so that is what we have been working on - I am kinda slow in my training; I want to get her muscled up a little bit before I get on her.
She has accepted everything in an admirable way - she stands quietly to be groomed and blanketed (blanketing was scary at first!). Tightening the girth? No problem. Accepting a bit? Sure! This mare has a wonderful attitude - she accepts anything that you throw at her without a second thought.
She is known around the farm for her sweet personality - she would much rather be around people than her horsey buddies : ) And the best thing - this is important because I bought her sight unseen without a prepurchase exam - she has been vetted to be 100% sound for ANY discipline.
I am so very pleased at this prospect mare that I have purchased from you! I encourage other experienced riders to check out your prospects, especially from this breeder, and hopefully they will find themselves as nice of a project as I have!
I will keep you posted, with pictures to come soon!
-Halliea Milner