Abby Braun and Nadia (NM)
Team #1,028: Abby Braun and Nadia
From: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Ages: 74 & 26
Combined Age: 100
Test: Training Level Test 3
Twenty some years ago, while out on a trail ride, I ran into a friend who was riding a beautiful, black mare named Nadia. Nadia was a three-year-old who had been rescued from a PMU farm in Canada. As my horse, Bart, expressed his impatience about the pause in our ride, Nadia stood calmly as my friend and I spoke. When I retired Bart and began to look for my next horse, Nadia was for sale. I was looking for a horse with a calm disposition, a steady trail companion and a willing dressage partner. Nadia fit the bill and she has been my trusted partner on the trail and in the arena for twenty-two years.
After taking dressage lessons for several years, I became interested in learning how to jump, and we began to train with Thom Pollard. Those were the five most thrilling years that I experienced as a rider. As Nadia and I both aged I knew that our jumping days would soon come to an end. My next goal was to train for a Century Club ride, and I began to work with Andrea Vassallo.
We trained steadily and in May we completed a Training Level test together and entered into the Century Club. It was not our flashiest performance, but it was our most meaningful. A fitting close to twenty-two years of partnership that had begun with a quiet mare standing patiently on a trail.
