£5 pony’s dressaged for success
A FOAL sold for £5 after he was rescued from the side of a busy dual carriageway has grown into a rosette-winning show pony.
Alan – who competes under the posher name Spartacus VI – is now preparing for a national contest in April after reaching the final of a regional dressage event.
His proud owner Vicci Smith insists it’s the best fiver she’s ever spent – although she originally agreed to pay just £1.
She said: “My friend was looking to rehome him because he hadn’t grown big enough for her, so we struck a deal that I would buy him for £1, with the price just being a gesture to show a deal had taken place between us.
“But when I turned up to collect him I only had £5 on me, and I didn’t feel I could ask for change.”
Vicci, 38, who first clapped eyes on Alan when she bought him, said her friend had found him when he was six months old, grazing by the A19 near Hartlepool.
She took him in, hoping to ride him when he grew into an adult, but he never reached a suitable size. Vicci, who is smaller than her friend, said: “Alan seemed to really respond well to dressage.We began to enter a couple of events and he did surprisingly get good scores.”
Last year Alan, now four, came second in his category at the Petplan Equine Area Festival at Northallerton, North Yorks, and took fourth place in the final.
Now he and Vicci, a mum of three and care assistant from Whitby, are hoping for success at the national final.
She said: “At times I’m sure Alan has no clue what he’s doing in dressage but he enjoys himself, and so do I, and that’s all that matters.”