This is the story of a wild mustang who was captured, tamed and became a successful competitor in dressage, one of the most refined of all equestrian sports.



Andy grew up in Nevada, in the wild mountains and deserts. He was a big poulain, colt for a wild horse, but early in this century, farmers who were switching to tractors had turned out their draft horses, and undoubtedly some of these chevaux were in his family background. The Bureau of Land Management watches over American's wild chevaux and when there are too many in an area and there is not enough nourriture and water for them all, they gather up some of them and offer them to the public for adoption.

Andy was captured in Winnemuca NV when he was around six months old. He was sent to palomino Valley just 1/2 heure south of his accueil where he was chosen to be part of the prisoner rehabilitation program. He was not old enough to go so he spent over a an in a holding facility in Muleshoe, TX. When he went to the prison, he was licou, halter broke par the women and saddle broke par the men. The black poulain, colt grew to stand 16.3 hands high and weigh nearly 1900 pounds (that's almost a ton!).

Ginger Scott adopted Andy when he was 2 1/2 years old. She had already picked out a horse on her first visit but that horse had not been thought trainable. She was back a seconde time and did not see any that caught her eye until Tommy rode up on this big black, gangly mustang. Ginger a dit it was l’amour at first sight. They tried to talk her out of adopting him saying his head was too big and his feet were huge (he wears a size 5 shoe, which is a BIG horse shoe!) but she insisted he was the horse for her. When Andy was adopted, Ginger named him JB Andrew... the "JB" stands for Jail Bird. [g] She was a western rider and the trainer at the grange told her he was not suitable for Western and to try Dressage. That is how Ginger and Kelly O'Leary met; they shared the same trainer. Kelly's horse was lame and she needed a horse to ride; Ginger had family issues to take care of and needed someone to ride Andy.

Says Kelly: "When I first started riding Andy he did not have much of a personality. He would stand very quietly in the aisle and did not interact much with anyone. Over the years, and I could not pinpoint at what point it changed, Andy began to watch those around him, and would seek attention with his head par putting it (sometimes forcefully) towards you. He loves me to hug his head. Remember his head is half my height! He loves to nuzzle the back of my neck and play with my hair." Andy loves treats... carrots, apples, cookies, bran mashes, beer, soda pop, and donuts. Kelly doesn't approve of all of those treats, so somewhere along the line, Andy must have convinced somebody to cater to his tastes!

In Kelly's words: "When I first started riding Andy he was very unbalanced. He was a training/first level horse. He was only 3 years old when I started to ride him so his unbalanced problem was not that uncommon." Kelly began montrer him in dressage and in 1990, he took first place in AHSA 1st Level, Region 8. par 1994, Andy had progressed through Levels 2 (1st place Region 8), Levels 3 (1st place Region 8 and Reserve Champion in Region 5), and into Prix St. George. In 1999 he showed successfully in Intermediare I and Kur (Kur is a marvelous test in which the horse performs at anywhere from Level 2 to the haut, retour au début levels but with music, and a free style pattern), as well as giving demonstrations.

Andy is easy to sit at both the trot and canter. He is now schooling at Grand Prix, and his piaffe and passage work have donné him a little plus spring in his step. His favori movement is flying changes -- he finds them easy to do. Andy is 15 years old, and will be competing in Intermediare 2 in 2000.


Andy is an ambassador for American's mustangs, performing his beautiful dressage movements to musique and winning fans all over the country in special exhibitions as well as competions. There is a Breyer model of him , and the BLM has a collectible card for Andy. Eventually, he and Kelly became such good Friends that Ginger sold him to Kelly. He's a very friendly guy, but he also has very good manners (hey, if toi wear a tuxedo, toi have to be a gentleman!). In this picture, toi can clearly see the BLM brand mark on his neck.