When Audrea Dyer defeated St. Patrick’s Day colt out of her horse Humor On January 25 of last year, she had no doubt about the events to come soon, making the now-closed flying pony named My Last Lee a family project. The foal was Humorlee’s last pony, it died just 24 hours after the trick.
The aspiring pony was consigned by Abbie Road Farm (Lisa McGreevy) as Hip 151 and entered the ring on October 11 as part of a select group of birds of prey during the Ocala Breeders October Sale.
Win Distorted humor The Humorlee mare has joined Terry and Audrea Dyer’s Florida ranch after a flash bid in the Ocala Breeder’s Winter Mixed Sales 2020 program. They landed the open mare for $1,000.
“We go window shopping and just see the sale,” says Audrea Dyer. “When we saw this beautiful mare out in the ring, I looked down at her page; I used to work for Riley McDonald at Eaton Farm and sell merchandise for a few years. I remember selling. monkeys in Humorlee and recognized the page “She caught my eye, I’ve never seen a mare, but I’ve seen her children before.”
Dyer continued: “We looked at the page and didn’t think there was any way we could buy her and she would be out of our price range. The category page said she was in. status Gold Coins , but she was on the ring, left unfinished, and open; No one wants or pays for her. “
The couple sent the mare to their first year Florida stallion’s St Patrick’s Day, along with several other purchases they made at the OBS sale that winter. Humorlee was confirmed in the foal after an unusual cover and continued lifting of the foal with the foal. Producer of eight runners, six of which were winners, she was scheduled to watch Bernardini for the 2021 spawning season.
“After the mare died, she wasn’t 100% completely,” says Dyer. “The foal is nursing, and she’s taking care of it. It’s fine, sucks a little bit slowly, probably not the most vibrant thing in the world. Late in the afternoon, she started (with signs of concern). We took the vet out and we watched her carefully, doing what we could, but she was not a candidate for surgery. “
Funny with her St Patrick’s Day pony and Terry Dyer after the trick
Sadly, Humorlee bled and had to be euthanized when her foal was only 24 hours old. This all happened during OBS’s January sale. Dyer’s husband had planned to go shopping, so she had to get to work figuring out how to bottle feed the orphaned pony on the farm.
“I’m calling around trying to find a mare. We got a call from someone with a mare claiming to have died two days earlier; it was full of milk and screaming for a baby. We tried to put the pony up, says Dyer.
Quick thinking led Dyer to try pouring a milk substitute into an Igloo cooler and fitting it into the nipple plumbing, simulating breastfeeding.
My last Lee breastfeeds from his new mother, the igloo cooler
Dyer commented: “Everybody asked, ‘How did you teach him to nurse from the fridge?’ I hold a bottle in one hand and Igloo in the other, and I pass the bottle to Igloo, and he starts sucking.
It went out with the pony and came back in the barn with him, having its head filled with warm milk every four hours. Once out, the lone pony teamed up with another mare and pony, quickly becoming friends with her mate.
“It’s cute; at 2 a.m. I’ll go to the barn with a bottle of milk, and it’ll squeal and knit together, all excited because its fresh milk is coming. He lives at the front counter. in our barn, and we have a big window at the back of the house. Every day when you open the door and step out the back door of the house, its little nose will poke out the window, staring at you. , waiting for its milk, ” Dyeing machine. “Even now, as an aspirant, he’s in that same stall, and if you feed him 10 minutes late and go out the back door, he’s out there lounging around eating dinner.”
When ‘Lee’ was about 10 days old, he started being turned out with another mare and foal born on the same night. The two ponies became playmates and friends, so the foal was raised as a normal horse.
While the pony has become part of the Dyer family, the plan has always been to get him through the sales round. The January foal has turned into a strong-looking pony that is currently going through a growth spurt.
Dyer added: “We will really miss his little nose when we look at us every day, but he has grown so big and so strong. No one would believe he was a kid. Orphans.”
Dyers, who have about 13 chicks between them and the client, will be delighted to see the pony striding through the third round but also set to take him home and campaign him under the Ever Blue banner Farm their if he doesn’t meet his reserves.
“I think he’s a good enough horse and someone with a little more means might be able to send him to a better trainer than we can. We think a Florida cross, we better sell him here at OBS early in the day,” Dyer commented. “Our main aim is to raise funds to sell, but anything that looks like it might not keep up or if it falls through the cracks we can keep it and run it ourselves. (We are). hopefully) get a little more attention with him here.”
As an event racer, Dyer plans to track My Last Lee and hopes to welcome him home for a second career with her when he finishes the track.
