Individual Legion of Merit

Bridlewood Fool's Gold was a stunning foal with beautiful movement. Unfortunately, he did not immediately "bloom" into a show pony. A better description would be a "bulb". His breeder, Megan Burtness, planted the gawky bay bulb in her pasture, the one way behind the barn, and hoped he would, eventually, grow into something special. Desperately friendly, and a bit of a clown, Ferdi turned feeding into covert Ops. Bales had to be dropped and the accelerator hit before Ferdi could catch the truck and jump in like some Disneyland Ghost. Fast forward two years and junior rider, Sydney MacWhorter was looking for a new show pony. Megan knew that Ferdi , with his pathological love of humans, would make a perfect project for her. Sydney met Ferdi and it was love at first nibble. Trained and shown by Sydney, Ferdi finished his first season a WPCSA National Champion in Junior AB Western Pleasure and Reserve in Junior trail. In performance, his inner beauty was evident but a lack halter wins made an LOM seem unlikely. We loved him anyway. When Ferdi turned four. The bulb finally bloomed . Sydney and Ferdi had their halter trot dialed in and were tough to beat. At a Gold show, just two weeks after his fifth birthday, Ferdi captured the last halter points he needed by going Double Supreme. Sydney and the rest of us at Zephyrus welsh will be forever grateful to Megan Burtness for breeding Ferdi and allowing him to come live with us, late bloomer or not.