The Paw Print

Horses steal hearts of riders and companions

by Mai-Lan and Julia

Once upon a time a gelding named Snickers and a mare named Rita wanted to get married. They went to a dear friend. Father Willie. The rest is history.

Rita
From Kingsburg, Texas Rita is a dark bay, privately owned pony. Her owner out grew her ten and one half hand pony. She traded Rita and let her be used as a lesson horse at her barn.

When Phoebe (Switch Willo Stable’s owner) got Rita, another lesson horse there was also out grown, Snickers. They arrived at Switch Willo and enjoyed their almost 20 years at the barn.

“Even as a 35-year-old horse, she’s still going strong. Rita is the Energizer Bunny. She has never lost a step or slowed her itty-bitty feet down,” Colleen (lesson director) said.

At 35-years-old she is still working hard and enjoying life to the fullest. She spends her time with her barn buddies- Snickers, Cinnamon and newest member Spanky. Together they are the senior citizens and special VIPs of the stables, excluding Spanky.

Every summer little campers ride the delightful pony and fall in love with her. She will steal a rider’s heart.

Rita refuses to retire. SWS attempted to retire her, but she protested by fasting. Rita is on no medication to help her ailing arthritis-this strong lady is an inspiration to all who know and ride her.

Snickers
Riders at SWS know Snickers as an extremely slow, large horse. Despite that fact, he has touched many riders’ hearts as one of the “original three.” SWS got him with Rita and they have been together ever since. Snicker’s and Rita’s background story are the same, in many ways. They were from the same barn and were both out grown.

Willie
There are mistreated and abused horses all over the world. One of those is now at SWS. Colleen and her business partner Mellissa are the ones who saved SWS’s “gentle giant.” Melissa found Willie at a slaughter house sale when he was only 3-years-old. They were going to turn him into dog food because he was meant to be a race horse, but was too slow for the track.

“He was and still is a sweet calm horse. You could put a little squirt on him, and he will behave perfectly; whereas any other horse or pony would take advantage of the fact that they don’t know how to ride very well and take off,” claims Colleen.

Willie is now a lesson horse (in his late 20s) for kids between the ages of 6 and 9 at SWS’s summer camp. He has proven to be a calm horse through the years.