Peppermint Patti
1982 – 2008
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Patti
We owned Peppermint Patti for 23 of the 26 years of her extraordinary life. She came to us from a friend when she was a green broke three year old. She gained experience over her years at Longacres and became one of the best known Show Jumpers in western New York history. After a sudden decline in her condition due to old age, she was humanely put down a few weeks ago and buried with highest honor here at Longacres on "Jumper Hill", along with three other greats from Longacres past, "China Heart", "York Springs", and "Tip-off".
She was one of the most famous show jumpers in western New York State by the end of her long career and has won nearly every championship and special jumping event ever held in our part of the country at one time or another. Old in recent years? Yes; but nonetheless, we prepared her at the end of the 2007 season for the "A" rated Erie County Fair show and she was Champion in the Beginner Jumper division!!!! Be sure to click HERE for more pictures and to read the heart warming "Miracle of Peppermint Patti" story along with comments about Patti from some of her friends and riders. We traditionally leave pictures of some of our most memorable horses on the "Meet the Horses" page for a year after they are retired or die out of respect for their fine careers. Patti's picture will remain there permanently.
It is always a gut wrenching decision whether or not to put down a great old horse at the end of their career. We kept Patti for a couple of years after her showing and regular riding career ended. She was alert and eagerly jumped when we occasionally let her do small fences. But the past couple of winters have been hard on her, and even with good caregivers, she lost a lot of weight each winter. We planned this fall to winter her at least one more time. If anything, she looked better in many ways during September and October here at our farm. She had a great final month or two of her life, showing good appetite and living as the undisputed "queen" of the pasture she shared with some of her bachelor horse friends. If Patti wanted their pile of hay, Diesel, Boo, and even tough guy Brody backed off. She was happy.
But as the weather got colder, her frailty became more
apparent. When we would go down to the barn to feed on a cold morning, the
other horses would be bucking and playing in the fresh air. Patti would be
shivering. And she began to lose weight, just as she had the past couple of
winters. We kept putting off the decision, but finally decided we did not want
to see her suffer through another winter that was clearly going to be very hard
on her. It was a sad day when we led her through the woods and Longacres trails
for the final time, crossed Paul's bridge (she didn't hesitate!), and on up to
"Jumper Hill" where only our greatest horses are buried. Our vet stayed a long
time talking with us about Patti's history and great career when she came to do
the euthanasia. (Afterwards, our vet made a donation to the SPCA in Patti's memory.)
If you would like to make a donation to the SPCA in Patti's memory, click this link for the Buffalo SPCA, and follow the links to "Ways to Give" and "In honor of".
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