A Dream Come True At Pony Dream Farms by Nancy Brannon A year ago Laura Holdford decided to “take the plunge” and make her life-long dream of making a living with horses come true. She opened Pony Dream Farms at her home near Nesbitt, Mississippi in Spring 2006. Even though she didn’t get her first horse until she was 30 years old, Laura has been a life-long horse lover and rode horses as often as she could. Laura always had a dream of working with horses and children. She now has a community of students and their parents, many of whom help with tasks around the place. Reminiscent of the “fishes and loaves” story, Laura explained, “I started with two horses and five students and now I have seven horses of all breeds and 45 students.” She works primarily with newcomers to the horse world, giving these children an opportunity to have their “pony dreams” come true, too. But “I also do some therapeutic teaching with autistic children and some children with paralysis,” she said. On Friday nights, families come out for bonfires and often a group of 12-year-old girls has a slumber party there. Laura’s initial training focuses on the basics. “I specialize in taking children who haven’t ridden before and teaching them to ride in a balanced seat with confidence. I don’t concentrate on either western or English style at first. After they have achieved the balanced seat, then we begin to work in a particular discipline.” The students groom horses and ponies and tack them up in an area by the “barage” a combination barn and garage that serves as place to store tack and feed until Laura gets her main barn built. She has a system of “dream team helpers,” older more experienced students who help the smaller children with grooming and tacking up. As she helps student Ian Soileau groom and tack up his lesson horse, Laura shows him how to move about the horse safely as he grooms the horse. She explains each piece of tack, what it is called, what it does, and how to correctly put it on the horse. A main part of the riding program now is hunter /jumper instruction, since Laura hired a new trainer, Anna Mullins, who heads that program, and her sister Bette Mullins. Anna, age 24, is a graduate student at the University of Memphis. She’s a fiction writer, working on a Master of Fine Arts degree, with just one semester left until graduation. Starting at age six, Anna rode for many years as she was growing up in the Kansas City area, competing at shows in children’s and junior hunter classes. Her trainer was Kirsten Ladd. Anna described the riding atmosphere as “very competitive, expensive, and with a lot of pressure to move up.” Then when she went to college, school obligations curtailed her riding career. She couldn’t keep her horse and compete at shows. So she sold her horse to a rider here at Shady Side. Not having ridden for three years, Anna was anxious to get back into riding and training horses. She wanted some part-time work, using her equestrian skills. “I like being outside, working with kids and horses.” Pony Dream Farms was just the ticket she had been looking for. It is “open to a variety of people with different economic backgrounds and different riding levels. Laura gives opportunities around the farm for students to earn credits for lessons.” Future plans are to take the students to summer hunter schooling shows. “The kids want to learn to jump,” and Anna is willing to teach them. Anna’s other skill is teaching. At the University of Memphis she is a graduate teaching assistant helping undergraduates with English composition. “I enjoy teaching. Most of my students [at Pony Dream Farm] range from ages 8 to 13 n a fun age to teach.” She also teaches more advanced riders, those who have been riding for a year or more at the farm. Those are the students who, she says, “Show a commitment to riding, to Laura, and to participation at the farm. This summer we will go to the local hunter/jumper schooling shows. Some students are confident, aggressive riders; they will learn jumping. Other students are still building their confidence, learning two-point position. Horse showing teaches good lessons, in preparing for it, learning what goes into learning the course, riding the course, and learning the horse show culture. Some students are so committed they want to purchase their own horses, which will benefit them.” Currently, Anna teaches three days a week in the afternoons, but will teach more after the semester ends, and will teach more advanced students. “They are coming up from learning posting trot to beginning to learn the philosophy and reasoning behind what they do. Riding is a lot of troubleshooting n figuring out what is going on with the horse and what to do about it.” This is where Anna’s experience in Intercollegiate Horse Show riding when she was an undergraduate at Rhodes College comes in handy. “Laura has a variety of school horses, and they each have their own quirks. Students learn how to ride a variety of horses and learn that it’s a team effort between horse and rider. I have the advanced students ride a different horse each week,” she said, as a method to improve their skills. Laura takes lessons, too, and listens to Anna’s advice. “I have a lot of respect for her and what she has done here,” she said. Locally Anna has worked with Julie Geerdes at Shady Creek and McKrell Hall at Windsong Farm. Anna’s little sister Bette, age 21 and a junior at University of Memphis in graphic design, is just starting work at Pony Dream Farms, too. She will work with the intermediate students. Bette has the same experience riding hunters as her older sister. Both grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, just outside Kansas City. The girls moved to the Memphis area with their family in 1998. Their father is an entomologist in agricultural cotton. developing genetically engineered cotton for Monsanto. Between lessons, both she and Anna are riding Laura’s school horses, giving them “tune ups” and doing basic training work. This summer Pony Dreams Farm will offer summer camps in July and August. Pony Dream Farms is located at 2151 Scenic View Drive near Nesbit, Mississippi. Phone number is 901-212-9726. For more information see their web site at http://www.ponydreamfarms.com/