Author: Michele Pesula Kuegler

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly This month, Peyton has been enjoying fox hunting with Wicomico Hunt Club all over the eastern shore. They have been hunting in second field, which is the second closest group to the hound and Hunt Master. Peyton loves cantering behind the hounds through the fields. Peyton will participate in a few more hunts this year before it gets too cold. He has also been enjoying teaching kids during lessons jumping around small courses. Next month, we are hoping for good weather and to be able to travel to a show with an indoor arena to compete…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly It takes a very special horse to become a lesson horse and even more difficult at the young age of five. Peyton is a very special horse with a puppy dog personality and calm demeanor. This month Peyton participated at the Sally Cousins eventing clinic at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue. Last weekend, Peyton and Kaylei (age 13) went to their first Paper Chase at Mount Harmon Plantation. This was Kaylei’s first time riding Peyton and was all smiles after a beautiful 7-mile ride! I just love how well behaved Peyton is with new riders and in new…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly If you have been following along with Peyton’s updates since the beginning (back in December of 2019), you would know that we should be competing at the 2020 Retired Racehorse Project Makeover. Unfortunately, the 2020 Makeover was cancelled due to COVID-19 and rescheduled for the following year. I wanted to take this time to look back at Peyton’s progress in the last 10 months! We picked up Peyton from Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue on December 15th, 2019, with very minimal training prior to being adopted. Since he was adopted, our goal was to give Peyton as many…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly Since the last update, Peyton went to the St. Augustine Pony Club jumper show where he moved up to a higher jump height division of 2’6”. Peyton was amazing at the horse show, achieving champion of the class even though it was the first time he has shown at that height! He handled the atmosphere very well; he self-loaded on the trailer and shipped to the show by himself. Most recently, Peyton attended the Wicomico Hunt Club for their Foxhunting 101 clinic, where Peyton got familiar with the hunting dogs and following in a large group.…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly This month of training for Peyton included a Friday night horse show under the lights at Granite Springs Stables. Peyton was reserve champion of the jumper division and earned great ribbons in the Adult Equitation division. The last week of July Peyton got a well deserved vacation for a week! Since his vacation Peyton has been participating in dressage and jumping lessons, as well as riding on the trails. The plans for the next month include schooling more cross country courses and hopefully registering for our first horse trails! Peyton and I also registered for a…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly This month of Peyton’s training started with attending our second cross country schooling at St. Augustine Pony Club. At the end of June, Peyton went to his first horse jumper show at Pairadice Equestrian Farm! We had a great time at the horse show. Peyton behaved perfectly in the large horse show environment. We placed second in the 2’-2’3” Power & Speed class, which included a successful jump off and placed 6th in the Gambler’s Choice class. Through this last month, Peyton and I have been taking weekly dressage lessons, which is teaching us balance and…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly We are coming up on 6 months of training for Peyton! This month we were able to take a few field trips. Our first adventure was to Fair Hill, Maryland, for some trail riding through the woods, over a few bridges, and through some water. Peyton is a rockstar going to new places including self-loading onto the trailer. We were also able to travel to St. Augustine Pony Club for our first cross country schooling. Peyton was very brave and jumped everything (even the very scary black pipe)! This month we learned that Peyton had some…

With tracks closed to spectators, I asked our ambassadors to find a different way to engage the community. Over the past two months, we've had an assortment of activities: a mock award ceremony held pool-side (and virtually) in Florida, online trivia contests, history discussions, and an auction of thoroughbred memorabilia. Maryland ambassador, Don Walsh, suggested this aftercare auction a few months earlier. When creative alternatives for track meetups were requested, he offered to help run this auction. From our club members we solicited 37 items. Each club member suggested an opening bid and chose what percentage to donate to aftercare…

Submitted by Alyssa Kelly Throughout this quarantine, Peyton has been continued his training for the 2020 Retired Racehorse Makeover. Our training plan was to start horse showing and cross country schooling during April and May. Unfortunately, with the stay-at-home order in Maryland, our training has been limited to our boarding farm. We are lucky to have miles of trails that we can explore to get Peyton comfortable with new environments. Throughout this time, Peyton has gained more experience over fences. He is successfully jumping courses of fences at the 2 foot 3 inch height with ease. He also loves to…

Daddy's Teller joined the WV Stables barn in the summer of 2018. After six month running under our green and orange silks, he was sold in a private sale in December 2018. According to Equibase, he ran through July of 2019. Last fall he was purchased by Sarah Murphy and began a new life at her farm. Currently, he goes by the name of Teller and has a new best friend, Blazin' Fury. They share a field at Horizons Village in Nellysford, Virginia. Sarah is working on some physical issues that Teller has. He's been lightly ridden a few times.…