Mystery Photo Number 1 from N/L No 13 revealed: -

Savannah Knights, Savannah Breeze and Ammie Smith

I would like to thank you very much for picking us to be your mystery photo number 1.  Here is our story.  You are looking at  (from left to right) Savannah Knights (Blake), me (Ammie Smith), Blake's mum, Savannah Breeze (Mai) and our friend Dorte. 

Mai has been the biggest and best part of my life since she was born.  I was there when she came into this world and went on to buy her when she was 13 months old.  To this day I don't know why I wanted her and believe it was one of those things that was just meant to be.  Backed to western I first rode her as a surprise for my 13 th birthday.  After 5 years, in which time she competed successfully in western competitions, we decided to try English as well.  Being the temperamental lady that Mai is, she decided that doing both was just too confusing so we had to decide English or Western?  At the time I had no transport of my own and was the only one on the yard doing western so for these reasons I thought English was the one to pick.  Mai has competed successfully in-hand as a youngster but has been unable to take part in any competitions until your national show came along.  However next season I plan to make up for this and take her out as much as possible. 

For as long as I remember I have always wanted to breed a foal from Mai, just the one so that I could keep it.  After many years of waiting I finally had everything planned, I had picked my stallion, Euclides, a grey pure bred Andalucian.  I had been to see him and knew he was perfect, however, due to changes with my job, my plans came to a grinding halt, to be postponed until the following year.  Now at the age of 10 Mai is the proud mum of Blake, my beautiful foal.  Blake is the life and soul of the yard and makes his presence known.  I think he gets more attention than the rest of the other horses put together.  The ApHC UK national show was Blake's first time out and he enjoyed every minute of it, believing that everyone was only there to see him!  A trait he gets from his mum I think. 

As you can see Blake's story is only just beginning and Mai's has a long way to go yet.  However, I believe that no matter what happens the three of us are going to have a lot of hood times ahead of us.  I am so proud of these two beautiful and special creatures and couldn't for one second imagine my life without them.  They are my world and I thank them for being a part of it. 

Ammie xxx