Team #811 Donna Dunbar and Enchanted Paladin
Photo by Steven Scanlon Photography and Design
Team #811: Donna Dunbar and Enchanted Paladin
From: Mansfield Center, Connecticut
Ages: 74.5 & 25.5
Combined Age: 100
Test: First Level Freestyle
We went to Kentucky to watch Rolex. You wouldn’t go to Fort Knox without a money bag. Would you go to Kentucky without your riding duds? Of course not. Besides, I was looking.
He was three years old; steel gray and I thought he was absolutely beautiful (looking back at pictures, I question my sanity). He wasn’t beautiful. At least not then. He resembled a gray moose calf. The universe was laughing. My trainer, not so much. It became clear to both of us, very quickly, that he was exactly what I was looking for.
We evented through Novice Level, competed in dressage into Fourth Level, and were two scores away from qualifying for our Silver Medal. However, there’s the universe, again. We had gone far enough, it said. We had a list of accomplishments. It was time to retire.
In addition to our Bronze Medal:
2007 All-Breed Musical Freestyle First Level Reserve Champion
2008 All-Breed Musical Freestyle Second Level Champion
2009 All-Breed Musical Freestyle Second Level Reserve Champion
Rider Performance Award at First and Second Levels
Master’s Challenge Award at Training, First, Third, and Fouth Levels
I read a book: “Magic Kingdom for Sale.” The story goes that a wealthy attorney bought a magic kingdom. The conditions of the sale mandated that he rule as its king. Not being kingly, he kept getting into trouble. He was always rescued by a gray ghost horse. The Paladin. When I registered Pal, I needed a name that started with an “E.” And so, he is my Enchanted Paladin.
