Pidge MacDonald sent photos of her riding her 17h Hanoverian mare, Contigo, known at the barn as “Bertha.” Pidge rides at Spring Mill Farm in Fisherville, TN, where Dave Pelligrini is owner and trainer. Pidge wrote, “It was too glorious of a field not to capture!” Photos were taken Wednesday May 6, 2020.
Pidge told us more about the horse: “Bertha was my daughter Mallory’s horse, left to her by her trainer David Q. Wright from Murfreesboro, Tenn. David bred Bertha to be his Derby horse; her sire is Graf Grannus. She is 9 now. We got her when she was 4 and we have brought her along very slowly. She has been shown in the Baby Green division and then the 3ft.-Adults. She likes to jump bigger, though! I have been riding her for pleasure, while another adult at the barn has been showing her. I’ve been riding since my mom (Nancy Colbert Manire) taught lessons at the Hugh Frank Smith farm in the 1970s. I’ve taught lessons myself for Allison Alder, Randy Mullins, and Phoebe Sheets. My last show was in October 2008 on my horse Head Over Heels. We have been riding with Dave Pelligrini since David Wright’s death in 2014.”
