THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100174
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
PRINCESS IS A LADY with spots, warts, a sluggish digestive system and a disconcerting tendency to doze off while you're talking to her.
The spots are part of her Appaloosa heritage. The warts, sluggishness and sleepiness go with her age - 102 or 39, depending on whether you're counting in horse years or people years.
That's impressive. When she came into this world Bill Haley was rockin' around the clock, Ike was in the White House, Mamie's bangs were the height of fashion and more than half the people now alive in this country hadn't yet seen the light of day.
What's even more impressive is that Princess still holds down a job. Whenever the youngsters in the Equi-Kids therapeutic riding program show up at Holly Ridge Manor down in Pungo, Princess is there waiting patiently to take the smallest, frailest and most timid for a gentle walk or a trot around the ring.
And, according to Equi-Kids board member and instructor, Shawn McCarren, when Princess' work day is over she's still capable of cantering around the back 40 and kicking up her heels a bit.
For the kids, a session with Princess is pure joy.
``Coming here is the highlight of his week,'' Eileen Alexander said as her 5-year-old son, Danny, sat confidently on the mare's deeply swayed back.
Danny, a kindergartner at Corporate Landing Elementary School, has been involved in Equi-Kids for the past eight months.
``Riding has made a big difference in his muscle tone and his self-confidence,'' Alexander said, adding that getting her son on a horse in the first place wasn't easy.
Like most little ones, Danny was a bit leery of moving from one place to another on top of something that's about four times as tall as he is, has a very big mouth and snorts from time to time.
According to McCarren, that's where Princess' gentleness and personality come in. ``She has so much patience. Even when children have to mount from a wheel chair ramp, she just stands there calmly for them,'' said the instructor, whose 2 1/2-year-old twin daughters ride Princess regularly - sometimes bareback.
Princess was originally brought into Equi-Kids as a ``baby sitter'' for a small pony that was on loan to the program. After a few months her owner decided that the spotted mare's future, however long it might be, would best be spent at Holly Ridge stable working with special kids so she donated her to the therapeutic riding program.
That was in 1989 and Princess has been on the job ever since. Recently she was chosen the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association Region Therapy Horse of the Year for the Virginias and the Carolinas. That puts her in the running for the national award which will be announced this weekend.
In the meantime Princess goes about the important business of training kids and making appearances at shows and demonstrations.
She made the trip to Lexington last month to participate in the state therapeutic show where Equi-Kids riders took a total of 14 ribbons. That was not long after she had trotted her 102-year-old bones out to participate in two major local events on back-to-back weekends.
So to what does Princess attribute her longevity? According to McCarren, it's a combination of having an important job; a beautiful place like Sonny and Jackie Roundtree's Holly Ridge Manor to live and work; excellent medical care from veterinarian Thomas Wood; comfortable shoes courtesy of farrier Donnie Upton and the fine dental work of equine dentist Jayme Leonard.
And one more thing. Her sluggish digestive system has responded well to a remedy popular with plenty of geriatric humans.
``A daily dose of Metamucil does a gal wonders,'' McCarren said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
Princess, a 39-year-old sway-back mare, helped Danny Alexander, a
5-year-old with Down syndrome, overcome his fears in Equi-Kids.
by CNB