10/12/2024
Grayce and Dexter’s Full Circle Story - Adoption Update!
Dexter, a dark bay thoroughbred gelding, first came into
Grayce’s life as a 5 year old youngster. Her trainer and
mentor, the late Susan Pommer, had seen a video of him
on her computer, and was impressed by his beautiful
movement. He needed rescuing from a terrible
environment out in the desert near Los Angeles, so Susan
hooked up her trailer, and accompanied by her teen aged
son, jumped into her truck and off she went. At a
grubby run down farm, a gruff old man came out to meet
her in the road, leading a nervous wild eyed Dexter using
a piece of wire as a lead, and Susan loaded him into her
trailer. She paid the farmer $600 as a down payment,
with a promise to pay him another $600 if she decided to
keep him. As soon as Susan started down the road, she
looked into her rear view mirror and saw that Dexter’s
eyes had softened, and she knew that she would never
take him back to that awful place.
Susan had purchased Dexter for Grayce, and Grayce was
thrilled to once again have a horse of her own. It turned
out that Dexter had hardly ever been ridden, and was
practically unmanageable. For the next 2 years, Dexter
received training, and Grayce worked hard to be able to
ride him safely. He had a lovely personality, was funny
and smart, had beautiful movement, but he was
stubborn and extremely sensitive. Although Grayce was a
skilled rider, she was not a strong leader for him, and her
rides on him often ended in tears and frustration.
Through Susan Pommer’s friendship with Susan Jan,
Dexter came to Well Trained Horses. Grayce was
heartbroken to give up Dex. She loved her guy, and
never really got over the sadness of losing him.
After more than a year at WTH, and a lot more training,
Dex found a new home with a family of strong
experienced riders… a mom and two young teenaged
daughters who were Pony Clubbers, and were able to
give Dexter the confidence he needed. For several years
they kept Dex, now named Hershey, and rode him often.
We had hoped that they would be giving Dex a forever
home, but as the girls grew older and found new
interests, they rode him less and less, and eventually lost
interest completely. Their Mom contacted us at WTH,
and Dexter came back.
Dexter once again needed some retraining, and also now
had some minor physical problems. He stayed at the
farm for the next year or two, getting rehabbed and
worked with. He still was a very sensitive guy, and was
not a good fit for most riders. But as usual, his cute
nature and beautiful looks made him a barn favorite.
One day Susan had a stroke of inspiration. During the
intervening years, Grayce had continued with her riding,
owned several horses, and in fact was working at a large
barn in the East Bay doing turnout, feeding, and
otherwise tending a stable full of high energy eventing
horses. Susan contacted Grayce, and within the next few
weeks, Dexter once again belonged to Grayce. After all
these years, Dex and Grayce are together again, and this
time it is a marriage made in heaven. Grayce rides him
with ease, Dex has responded to her love and attention
by turning into a puppy dog, and they are both as happy
as can be.
Dexter’s story is a perfect example of the success of our
primary goal at WTH… every horse we take in is
guaranteed a home for the rest of his or her life. We are
always hopeful that each adoption will be permanent,
but maintaining that connection with adopters means
that no horse that passes through our program will come
to a sad end. Grayce and Dexter’s story is a shining
example of the success of that commitment.
