When Richard Taylor speaks, most pony breeders stop and listen. The Virginia-based Taylor–along with wife Patsy and daughter Drew–has bred, raised, trained and handled many of the best ponies in the country for almost two decades.

But two years ago, his voice went unheard. And the result of that experience, a filly named ToldYouSo (Loafers Lodge Spring Ahead–Bewarned, Caveat), topped the Virginia Pony Breeders Association yearling futurity filly section and earned the reserve championship, June 9, in Upperville, Va.

In 2003, Taylor, of Venture Stable in Montpelier, Va., purchased a stakes-winning Thoroughbred mare by Caveat.

“When I saw her, I knew she had significant value to breed race horses,” he said. “But when I saw her I also knew that she was the ideal size to breed to [Loafers Lodge] Spring Ahead. I thought, ‘Here’s a fool who wants to breed a stakes mare to a pony!’ But I knew with her conformation it would work.”

Because Taylor is a strong supporter of the Professional Auction Services Inc.’s Select Pony Breeders Sale each August, he bred Bewarned to Spring Ahead and offered her at the 2003 auction. He put a low reserve of $3,500 on the in-foal mare and made it known at the sale that this was a serious deal.

“She didn’t bring her reserve,” said Taylor, laughing. “So I said, ‘Well, these people made a mistake.’ At the sale I said, ‘She’s carrying a champion.’ So, I brought her home and kept her and foaled a filly. That filly I subsequently offered [as a weanling] at the last Select Pony Breeders sale, and she brought $12,000. And prior to the sale, I registered her and named her ToldYouSo.

“The great thing about this story is that nothing is fabricated,” he said with a smile. “The only mistake I did make is I sold the mare as a race horse broodmare.”

Eileen and Randee Beckman of Otteridge Farm, Bedford, Va., long-time clients of Taylor’s, did take his advice at the sale last summer and purchased ToldYouSo.

“Richard said there was a pretty good filly that we should look at at the sale,” recalled Eileen. “I thought she was more than pretty good. So, during the bidding we’d stop, and I’d look at [daughter] Randee, and we’d keep bidding. I was dumbfounded when I realized what we’d done. But she’s a lovely filly and has been a lot of fun.”

Randee’s also enjoyed her spring season with her gray filly Charlotte (Llanarth Senator–April Dance), also a product of the Taylor program. After earning best young pony honors at Devon (Pa.) last year, Charlotte won her class there again this year and then returned to her home state of Virginia to earn the best young pony title at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show for the second consecutive year.

“She’s the best. I’m so privileged and proud to own her,” said Randee. “Everybody has their 15 minutes of fame, and I guess she’s given me mine.”

After breeder Stacey Schaefer and handler Karen Zinkhan had shown her to victory in the 2002 Maryland Pony Breeders Futurity, Charlotte caught Taylor’s eye. “I liked her a lot,” he recalled. “But the day they win such a thing might not be the day to buy them. So I waited a few weeks and bought her myself to sell to a customer. Randee was the first person I called.”

Randee credited the Taylors for Charlotte’s success in the show ring. Patsy conditions and prepares all of the in-hand ponies, and Richard and Drew show them. Drew has now backed Charlotte, and they’re preparing her for a performance career.

“I’m totally thrilled,” said Randee. “She’s matured and blossomed and is a pony anybody would want for their child. She loves to be a pony too. She goes out there and rolls and gets dirty and drives Patsy crazy. But when it’s time to do her job, she’s right there for you.”

And following in Charlotte’s footsteps is her younger half-brother, a dark brown yearling named Batman (Pengwyn–April Dance). Batman earned the VPBA futurity championship and won the colts and geldings section for owner Schaefer and handler Zinkhan at Upperville. He also won the yearling colts and geldings class there.

“Karen should get all of the credit,” said Schaefer. “She’s a life-long friend of mine. I have no patience for the babies, and she does.”

Batman and Charlotte share the same dam, April Dance, a Thoroughbred who successfully competed in the amateur hunter divisions.

“I bought her six years ago, and she’s given me four great babies,” said Schaefer. One of those is Scarlette, a 2-year-old filly (by Llanarth Senator) who won best young pony honors at the Loudoun Benefit (Va.) Horse Show, June 15-19.

“She still lives like a show horse too,” added Schaefer of April Dance. “She loves to stand in her stall with a fan blowing on her, and she wears a blanket in the winter.”

Schaefer believed April Dance would produce foals with great temperaments, and her belief was confirmed even before the first tiny hooves hit the ground.

“The first year she was in foal, Sam [her daughter] was 6,” said Stacey. “The mare had come in the barn and was covered in mud. Well, I was doing something and heard the vacuum cleaner. I came around the corner, and here’s Sam on a Rubbermaid stool under the mare, vacuuming her belly!”

But, unlike his dam, Batman wasn’t quite as placid, and Schaefer recalled they had a challenging start.

“He was a little bit of a stinker as a baby,” she said with a laugh. “He spent one day at my house [as a weanling] and bit me. I went to smack him, and he turned to fire both hind legs at me. That was that, and I called Karen–‘Come get him!’ But now he’s really coming into his own. He’s just a beautiful pony with a great future ahead.”