My family piled into the truck, trailer in tow, and we began the four-hour drive to meet the American Saddlebred named Kidd that I hoped would become my youngest daughter Morgan’s new Pony Club mount. After abruptly having to retire her beloved Atlas, it had been a long summer of either watching sadly from the sidelines as the rest of her club rode without her orborrowing a horse that she didn’t know well.
I was planning to do my own prepurchase exam, provided Kidd and Morgan got along and that he was safe and sane. All we had to go on were a few videos and a long phone call with the present owner, a lovely woman named Peggy. I’d done my homework on Saddlebreds and had learned that they often made very successful jumpers and eventers but were often overlooked.