828 - Sally Nunneley and Sandy

Team #828 Sally Nunneley and Sandy

Team #828: Sally Nunneley and Sandy
From: Lexington, Virginia
Ages: 83 & 20
Combined Age: 103
Test: First Level Test 3

Once upon a time, a charming, Haflinger, pony came to our barn for sale. He was bred and trained by the Amish in Ohio and had been used for combined driving in Virginia over the past several years. His owner was dissatisfied because the pony was unwilling to “go fast” on cross-country. My trainer, Gammon Cross, thought I should try him, and he was soon mine. I named him Gingerman for competition, but his barn name remained Sandy, and everyone fell in love with him.

Converting a driving horse to riding took a while. Without blinkers, he tended to shy at anything coming at him from the side, and we had to teach him to listen to seat and leg aids and to move laterally on request as well as how to jump. But he turned into a wonderful eventing pony and with Gammon’s daughter aboard completed the American Eventing Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park. As we aged together over the ensuing years, we eventually retired from competition.

I joined the Century Club in 2020 on wonderful, borrowed, pony while Sandy and I were too young to qualify as a team, but now our ages add to 103 and I am proud that we could do First Level Test 3 together while new friends from my retirement community (Kendal at Lexington) cheered us on.