Rose Hill Katie
by Dana DiRicco
November 24, 2009
"At Grass Valley in 2009, Katie was the Blue Ribbon Percheorn Mare and was selected, by an artist, to be the model Draft Horse for a bronze sculpture."
As we look back on our poster girl, Rose Hill Katie, we are filled with pride and happiness. It wasn't always that way. In the late Spring of 2008, Raymond Helmuth and Norman Yodder brought Katie to our ranch where they were training some Percherons for us. They had seen something in Katie and kept her from the meat buyers at the Waverly sale by purchasing her for $400.
She was not even three years-old and was about to have a foal. Every rib on her body could be easily counted. Hip bones protruded, her neck was skinny and she had a big ugly head. After a few weeks at our ranch, she delivered a crossbred colt. Four months later, Katie's owners took her away with them.
Three months after that, we delivered Katie's crossbred foal to the trainers, and they had broke Katie to harness and were using her to train other horses. Katie was still thin with a big ugly head.
So, feeling sorry for her, I purchased her and brought her home. She had some severe dental problems, which my Veterinarian husband corrected. With a good diet, a gentle hand, and Juan Erquiaga's help and training, Katie started to blossom.
Her big old head didn't look so large anymore as she now had a body to go with it, as well as being almost a hand taller. As a four year-old, she made up for the loss of her own growth due to poor diet and being in foal when she was a baby herself.
I started to drive her in competitions and she started exceeding my expectations. At Grass Valley in 2009, she was the Blue Ribbon Percheorn Mare and was selected, by an artist, to be the model Draft Horse for a bronze sculpture.
Every day it is a joy to look upon Katie, trotting from her stall in the barn out the Winter pasture. Everyone loves Katie's animated action along with her very mild manners, which is a combination hard to come by in a hitch horse!
Indulge your eyes and enjoy her beauty on the poster created by ProSportsPix!
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