Mr. Persistency, 2000 Bay Gelding adopted on December 22, 2006 by the Rozek Family

My family adopted Mr. Persistency (Percy) three days before Christmas in 2006. I had lost my first horse, and childhood best friend, three months prior, to the day. As a recent college graduate, I initially was not interested in taking on the time, emotional, and financial commitment of a new horse. However, during my three horseless months I learned about the unfortunate fate of many ex-racehorses. After much encouragement from my father, who wanted to ensure that I would forever (or at least for the next few years) be living in Northern Virginia, I decided to contact Bev at MidAtlantic about available horses.

I had a number of what now seem unreasonable expectations; not too old, not too young, some training, preferably training in jumping, approximately 16 hands, not too fast, not too slow, calm enough to be ridden by my parents on trails and in the ring, a nice mover, etc. I was particularly interested in getting a non-bay mare. Bev’s initial response suggested Mr. Persistency, a bay, gelding, skinny, giraffe-like horse that I had not considered and was not overly impressed by his photos on the website. She stressed that horses can sometimes be adopted quickly so it would be best to come look soon if there was one I was particularly interested. I was going out of town that weekend so my parents and sister made the 3-hour trip from Northern Virginia to Chesapeake City to peruse the OTTB selection. My parents fell in love with Percy immediately. He would let my Dad lead him, pick his feet, pet his face, and most importantly, he loved treats (shocking!). As my sister rode him, my mother was already planning the dressage lessons she would take with him. By the time they got home, my mother had already given him the barn name Percy and arrangements were being made to move him to the barn where we boarded the following weekend.

I was still skeptical of this plain, giraffe-like creature yet trusted my family’s opinion and made the trip back up to Chesapeake City the following weekend with my sister and the horse trailer. Of course, I too fell in love immediately. What sealed the deal for me was when we were walking in a field and a herd of deer jumped out of the woods 10 feet from us, instead of spooking as many young horses might do, Percy stopped in his tracks and just watched the deer run off into the distance. Given that the four family members would ride him, two of whom are timid and inexperienced, his calm, quiet attitude was exactly what we needed. There were a few minor issues raised by the vet, but I had already made up my mind that this horse was coming home with me. My sister, Percy and I made the trek back to Northern Virginia that afternoon.

Percy adjusted fairly quickly to his new life. He immediately became close friends with our older TB, Monty, so close that for a while they were inseparable. His initial quarantine ended on Christmas Day.  So after opening presents in the morning, the whole family made the trip to the barn to turn him out for the first time. We returned to the barn again that evening to have our inaugural ride. I rode first followed by my father who that morning had said it would be months before he would trust Percy enough to ride him. Both of our rides went well.

It didn’t take much time for Percy to add much needed weight and muscle and begin to look like a normal, healthy horse. He was the exact opposite of what I expected of an OTTB; slow and incredibly lazy. To this day I think I’ve only been able to get him to a full gallop one time. By spring we were taking him to local horse shows and by that fall he was regularly pinning in classes. All three members of my family who participate in horse shows have been able to bring home ribbons with Percy in jumping, pleasure, or equitation divisions.

I have never met a horse that has so much personality as Percy. My mother often jokes that instead of Mr. Persistency, his name should be Mr. Personality. He plays tag, will kick a ball back and forth, will willingly be put in costume (and is often upset when they are removed), follows us around, and of course, will nose around in our pockets for treats! I am really fortunate that we were able to connect with MidAtlantic and add Percy to our family.

PO Box 407
Chesapeake City, MD 21915

For information call: 302-376-7297
or Email: Bev@MidAtlanticHorseRescue.org
MidAtlantic Horse Rescue is
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
©2002-2012 MidAtlantic Horse Rescue

MidAtlantic Horse Rescue is a Federal 501(c)3 organization, that buys slaughter
bound ex-racehorses and adopts them into good homes as pleasure and sport horses.