As recently as last year, Amy Rodriguez’s current ride, Gettin’ Ziggy Wit It, didn’t have a consistent right lead canter. So when the 8-year-old piebald gelding qualified for the U.S. Eventing Association’s Area I Championships at beginner novice this season—his first year of showing—she had zero expectations of a top finish at the event. 

“He doesn’t have that big, animated, flashy way of moving that looks so good,” said Rodriguez, 33, of Honeoye Falls, New York. “His dressage is definitely the phase that needs the most work. But I thought it was good enough for a middle of the pack placing, and we can finish on it, and that will be respectable at the championships.”

He did just that at championships, held Aug. 17-18 at the Genesee Valley Riding and Driving Club in Geneseo, New York, producing clear cross-country and show jumping rounds (buoyed by the enthusiastic cheering of Natalia Rodriguez, Amy’s 2-year-old daughter), to move all the way up from eighth to claim the championship rosette on a score of 37.5. The event was just the fourth recognized competition of Ziggy’s career, and from there he headed to the USEA American Eventing Championships for his fifth event.

“He has quickly risen to the top of my favorite horse list, ever,” Amy said with a laugh. “He is a no spook, no tricks, easy to ride, snaffle mouth—just the least complicated, happiest horse. He loves to jump, and never looks at anything.”

But in his early years, Ziggy seemed destined for a far less auspicious future. Pasture-bred and unhandled for the first months of his life, Ziggy was living in squalid conditions with his dam and two stallions when volunteers from a then-new organization called Rescue a Horse intervened.

It Takes A Village

Nearly 10 years ago, a group of long-time friends—all equestrians based in western New York—began informally offering assistance to the owners of horses in need. It started with a herd of 30 Morgans, mostly unhandled and in poor condition; the women found funding to geld the seven stallions, and they were able to place nearly all the animals into new homes. Later, they aided an overwhelmed owner in rehoming 20 Saddlebreds; in a separate incident, they assisted authorities with rehoming equines belonging to a hoarder living near Buffalo, who had nearly 600 animals of different types on her property. 

By this point, the women (who had been subsidizing their rescue work out of pocket) realized they would be better off as a formal 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and they began the process of establishing Waverly Pond Farm Equine Rescue, doing business as Rescue a Horse. Although the official legal paperwork didn’t arrive until early the following year, by late 2016, the women were starting to think more like a board of directors than an informal gathering of like-minded friends.

One early fall day not long before Rescue a Horse became official, the women learned about four horses living in Wayne County, part way between Rochester and Syracuse. Anyone with horse savvy could see from the road the animals weren’t doing well; they were all thin with rough coats, and the only shelter was a collapsing cow barn. The horses’ owners initially rejected Rescue a Horse’s offer of assistance.

“They were reluctant to release any of the horses, but then decided it was in the animals’ best interest to go to the rescue after all,” Rescue a Horse co-founder Pam Merrick said. “We fundraised among ourselves and gave her $300 for each horse—the two stallions, the mare and Ziggy.”

When the volunteers arrived to transfer the horses to foster homes, they found the animals huddled in the cow barn, taking shelter from a cold, driving rain. Ziggy, still nursing, was perhaps 6 months old and completely unhandled. He was covered in old cow manure up to the level of his belly, and—as they would soon learn—infested with worms. Despite being wary of humans, he fortunately was willing to follow his dam onto the waiting trailer. 

As a lover of pinto horses in general and piebalds in particular, Merrick found herself drawn to Ziggy. She hoped that he might one day develop into a pleasure mount she could enjoy on trails. But Merrick admits she is not a horse trainer, so Ziggy was placed in a foster home with colt starter Jamie LaRock, who often volunteered her services to support the women’s rescue efforts. Once settled in, Ziggy was weaned, and LaRock began the process of both restoring his good health and teaching the young horse basic handling skills. His training later progressed to include unmounted skills in the round pen and other foundational groundwork.

“I asked Jamie to tell me if she thought he would be a good fit for me,” Merrick said. “My horse was getting older, and so I thought he might turn out to be a nice adoption project for me. That was the original intention.”

For several years, Ziggy went back and forth between Merrick and LaRock’s farms. As he matured, an additional question was answered—which stallion from the small herd most likely had been Ziggy’s sire.

“One was a pony, and the other was a Thoroughbred,” says Merrick. “When he started growing the way he did—he must be 15.3 hands now—we knew he was definitely by the Thoroughbred.”

But his size was only the first indication that Ziggy might not prove to be the right match for Merrick, who prefers smaller mounts. As his training progressed to include the basics of work under saddle, Ziggy also began to show that he might prefer a sportier career than what Merrick had in mind.

“You could tell he was so athletic—he needed to do something more than be my personal horse, because I only trail ride,” she said. “He was really destined to be something else, and he was a bit of a handful when he was younger. He had some spirit to him.”

Reluctantly, Merrick decided Ziggy would be better off finding a different home, one where someone could give him a job and channel his enthusiasm. Fortunately, she knew just the person to help Ziggy get ready to make that transition.

‘I Have Something For You’

Amy Rodriguez grew up riding with Merrick’s daughter in Pony Club; for many years, as Amy built her eventing program, Lear Stables, Merrick would send rescue horses Amy’s way. It had gotten to the point where so many of those horses had successfully been brought along by her students that whenever Merrick called and said, “I have something for you,” Amy automatically said yes. And that was why she was willing to take on Merrick’s barely started 6-year-old gelding as a training project—despite being four months pregnant herself.

“I told her I wouldn’t have very much time to keep working with him, but so long as he wasn’t feral, I would get him started,” Amy recalled with a laugh. “So I got him going walk, trot, canter and over some fences. We did some cross-country schooling, and he was just a really unusually good horse. I mean, point-and-shoot jump, from the second time we ever showed him jumps.”

But despite his progress, none of the handful of potential adopters who came to see Ziggy felt a strong connection with him—and his greenness, which included not having a right lead canter or a show record, was also a deterrent. However, Amy was so impressed with Ziggy’s natural aptitude over fences that she felt her more advanced students could take over his education once she was too far along in pregnancy to continue training him herself. She offered to keep the gelding through the winter, mentor her students, and see how far he could progress.

The longer he stayed, the more attached Amy became. After Natalia was born, Amy resumed working with Ziggy herself. Merrick kept track of their progress; secretly, she had still hoped that Ziggy might end up returning to her, but it wasn’t long before Merrick knew he had found his permanent home.

“Amy loves every horse, but she really fell in love with him,” Merrick said. “I told her, ‘Amy, this horse really needs to be with you.’ We transferred ownership, and she has been doing phenomenally with him ever since.”

Amy officially adopted Ziggy in spring 2024; thanks to a lot of hard work under the guidance of trainer Karin Alexander, he discovered his right lead, and Amy decided to enter him in a few schooling competitions for mileage. She soon found him to be such an “old soul” that they quickly moved on to recognized events. They made their beginner novice debut in May at the Winona Horse Trials (Ohio), then contested all three recognized events held in Geneseo, New York, which is just 30 minutes from Amy’s home.

“At competitions, he stands with his eyes closed next to the arena, just hanging out and thinking about grazing,” Amy said with a laugh. “Then he picks right up and is ready to go. But he is very chill, very happy to travel. It’s fun to travel with him, because he has no anxiety. He doesn’t come with any stress—he just wants to hang out.”

However, once Ziggy is on task, he is all business—especially on cross-country.

“Our biggest issue at beginner novice has been going too fast on cross-country,” Amy said. “We have to purposely try to trot in places. He wears pony-sized boots, and he has short legs, but he has a really big, forward stride. I’m hoping he can move up to novice after this year, and maybe that will be a more appropriate level for him. He never feels like he’s going fast, then we finish, and you go—oops.”

Thanks to a second-place finish earlier this season, combined with his other completions, Ziggy qualified for this year’s USEA American Eventing Championships, held in Kentucky at the end of August. Amy, who has previously qualified for the AEC but never competed there, decided the opportunity was too good to pass up. The pair finished 29^th out of 50 starters in the beginner novice rider division, again moving up from their dressage placing on the strength of two double-clear rounds.

“When I adopted Ziggy, my ultimate goal was to have a nice horse for my lesson program students to ride, but now, I think I will keep him for myself,” Amy said with a laugh. “I have no idea how far he’ll go, but he’s probably been the least complicated, most easygoing horse. We’ve just kind of clicked.”

Although Amy can see a future where Ziggy brings one of her students to a major venue like the AEC, there is another special jockey whom she hopes might take his reins in the years to come.

“He’s Natalia’s favorite horse,” she said. “If I’m riding him, she can spot him from across an entire warm-up ring. She knows which one is him. He’s only 8, so by time she’s ready to ride, he’ll be a nice, seasoned, middle-aged horse. That would be a really fun thing.”

Diamonds In The Rough

After working with so many rescue horses, including Ziggy, Amy thinks it’s important for equestrians to understand that if you are willing to put in the time, these animals can prove to be the perfect entry point to both horse ownership and competition for those on a budget.

“The price tag on horses is so wildly insane,” she said. “For me personally, and for many of my students, there is a feeling that if you don’t have a certain amount of money, you will never be able to horse show, or you will never be competitive. But if you really learn how to train, and you focus on building a relationship with the horse, the only thing that makes the difference between a rescue horse and an expensive, finished horse, is the work that’s been put in.

“It’s important for people to remember that the horses don’t know what you paid for them,” she continued. “They just know how you treat them, and that you trust them. There are a lot of really nice horses that get overlooked, because they didn’t have someone who believed in them enough to put the time in.”

---

Do you know a horse or pony who has been rescued from a dangerous situation to become a healthy, trusted competition partner today? If you think you have a good candidate for “From Rescue To Ribbons,” let us know by emailing mwright@coth.com.