Selling my advanced horse Randy a few years ago was a bit of a shock, but nothing compares to our decision to sell my beloved Spot Treatment this week! Ziggy has become an icon of Team CEO Eventing, and a dear friend. Though Howard, the girls, and especially myself have shed a few tears over him this week, I know he’s going to the best of homes.
So we’d like to congratulate Terri Schulte on the purchase of Spot Treatment!! Terri has already falled as in love with Ziggy as I am, and they are going to be an amazing pair. Ziggy will be heading out to Arizona this week to his new home, and I’m sure they will be brilliant. Terri is a wonderful adult amateur Preliminary rider who adores the spots as much as I do!
I have been lucky to have an amazing three years with Ziggy. Just three weeks after I purchased the “horse that won’t jump”, he won the Starter division at Champagne Run, finishing on his winnning dressage score. Next Ziggy moved up to BN, where he jumped brilliantly at Indiana. Catherine Fruth was kind enough to loan me her professional grooming knowledge in getting Ziggy gleaming white. He looked like a snowball! He looked amazing, and I tacked him up for dressage and then turned around to put my coat and helmet on. In true Ziggy style, by the time I turned back around, he was curled up—with the saddle on!– laying in a pile of poop! lol He was so good at Indiana, though, that he earned a moveup to Novice in just a single event. When he laughed at the novice at Spring Run a few weeks later, and when Shark decided he didn’t want to move up after all, a young ZIggy filled his shoes. So as my fancy Holsteiner decided Training was too much, my appy pony was discovering just how much he loved it. He sailed around Gemwood and KY Classic Trainings clean, being especially impressive at KY Classic… The course was very hard, and time was very difficult to make–yet Zig had the fastest time in his division!!!
Then the decision was made… Ziggy wanted to go Preliminary. No matter who scoffed at the idea, I knew he wanted to be an upper level horse. The tough moment was this—I was not going to ride at Jumpstart that year, just a year after my accident at that event (where I coincidentally swore I’d never ride a small horse again–but Ziggy changed that!). So if I couldn’t take him to Jumpstart, the well known place to move up, I would have to move him up at Flying Cross, possibly the hardest Preliminary track in area 8. Gulp!
Of course, he was a star, with just one stop at the sunken road skinny, which he happily jumped once he understood the question. All this at just 5yo, and all this at just 15.2h, and all this just four months after being introduced to eventing. He certainly was a prodigy.
And he never stopped impressing me… At his last two outings at Prelim, he had one of the fastest rounds of the day… Pretty fabulous for a horse without a touch of TB in him.
All in all, Ziggy went on to complete 13 preliminary horse trials. He was always game, always kind, and always adoring his job. I always carefully took him to the hardest outings I could find, as he would excel. Z has always brought a smile to our faces, and has taught countless working students how to do shoulder in, half pass, and just what a really good horse should feel like over fences. I think we all remember Ziggy taking a very young Kathleen over 4′6″ bareback with ease! I thought Kathleen’s eyes might pop out of her head–that was BIG! 
I will spend the rest of my life looking for a horse as trainable, intelligent, and scopey as Ziggy.
Terri is going to have an amazing life with Ziggy. He has so much to share–she was only the 2nd person to look at him for sale, and scooped him right up. I wouldn’t be able to sell him to anyone else–she loves him as much as we do! I can’t wait to hear reports that this pair, just like Lexy and Aiden, are cleaning up on the west coast. Before too long our horses will be banned from the west! They keep taking all my upper level horses!
And a little birdy said that you might see Z in print again in the near future…
How bout a fun day of Bareback Gambler’s Choice??? 
to set up for that fence and the points only count if the rails stay up. Thus, it is the rider’s choice and a fun way to spend the day! 
