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Team #684 Lois Ferson and Top Hat Lady's Choice

Photo by High Time Photography

Team #684: Lois Ferson and Top Hat Lady’s Choice
From: Hillsborough, North Carolina
Ages: 76 & 24
Combined Age: 100
Test: Introductory Level Test A
Date: August 12, 2023

When my husband and I moved to North Carolina in 1979 with his horse and another pony I had at the time, I met another horse lover. She and I became best friends, and we spent many happy days trail-riding my pony and her horse in Duke Forest. While riding in Duke Forest, we met and rode with two other Century Club members. After I learned about the Century Club, I put it on my bucket list. Several years later I acquired another pony, Top Hat Lady’s Choice (aka Louise) from a breeder and author in Vermont. In her book, Kinship with Horses, Leslie Carlson calls Louise “the Self-Trained Horse.” She wrote that Louise was part of a package deal that she bought from another trainer one spring when Louise was four years old. In her book, Leslie states, that because Top Hat Lady’s Choice came from another trainer, and she was so well-mannered, she assumed she had some training.

One day she saddled, got on Louise, and they went for a short trail ride. They had a good ride, but Louise did not want to pick up her canter.  When she contacted the trainer to ask about her canter cue, she learned that because Louise had had a foal as a three-year-old, they had never had an opportunity to train her or do much with her. As a result, she had never been ridden before being sold as a four-year-old to Leslie. Then Leslie thought back to how Louise would stand at the fence whenever another horse was brought in from the field, saddled, and rode. Hence Louise became “the Self-Trained Horse.” A few years later I was lucky enough to buy Top Hat Lady’s Choice from the author. Since then, my trainer and instructor, Emeraude Dandurand, has qualified Top Hat Lady’s Choice for the USDF Finals in Training Level and she has also helped me, and Louise prepare for our Century Club ride. Louise is the best pony I have ever owned and ridden. I am looking forward to many more wonderful years with her.