Two year-old mare, Ultra Lazy, may have had a rough start in life but this talented pleasure mare has quickly turned into a champion. The bay mare by Lazy Loper and out of Ultra Investment is owned by Michelle Farmer of Elkhorn, Nebraska. This new team was Reserve Champions at the Reichert Celebration in the Two Year-Old Ladies $1000 Western Pleasure Stakes, Midwest Owner/Rider Non Pro Limited Two Year-Old Western Pleasure, and the 10k and Under Limited Two Year-Old Stakes. This duo is showing under the guidance of Windy and Jeff Allen.
Appropriately nicknamed, “Annie”, this mare was orphaned when the recipient mare rejected her when she was born.
“Annie was an embryo transfer baby and unfortunately she had a very nasty recipient mare,” Debbi Trubee, General Manager of Pine View Farm recalls. “We tried everything, but it quickly became apparent that the mare would kill the baby if we left it with her, so, we separated them and the bottle feeding began. I was the bottle feeder, every hour around the clock for the first five days. Then, Annie got on a bucket and Woody the goat became her new friend. She did very well and the rest is now looking like history.”
There is also a great story behind how the current owner, Michelle Farmer, was able to buy Annie at the Reichert Yearling Sale last year. Farmer had a run of bad luck the past couple of years with some of her futurity horses. When Farmer was at the Reichert last year, the Lazy Loper mare that she brought to the show was injured and consequently had to be retired. Farmer says she was quite distraught over the news, but she went looking at Lazy Loper yearlings, and she worked out a deal to buy Annie from Debbi Trubee.
“The lady who bought Annie is the sweetest person you could ever meet,” Trubee said when talking about Farmer. “Annie needed a special home and I knew Michelle would give her one.”
Farmer says she is ecstatic about her new mare and thought she showed very well at her debut. “I was a little worried that she maybe a brat when I bought her because of her being an orphan and spoiled, but she has always had great manners and easy to work with,” Farmer says. “She is a little mare, but she is broad and has a big butt–just how I like my mares,” Michelle says and laughs. “She is such a good minded and sweet mare, and despite some pilot errors in my first class, I thought we had some pretty nice goes.”
Michelle says she enjoys working with Jeff and Windy Allen since they live nearby and they don’t mind her visiting the barn everyday and being “a pest.”
“I broke out Annie myself, and she was the easiest and smartest horse I have ever started,” Michelle said. “Then, I sent her to Jeff and Windy this spring and she has grown leaps and bounds.”
Farmer plans to continue showing Annie in the Three Year-Old futurities next year and maybe start teaching her how to change leads. Her trainer Windy Allen says that Michelle has been a long-time customer and good friend.
“I am glad that Michelle finally found such a nice horse to be able to show. She has had some bad luck the past couple of years, and I look forward to working with them and helping them succeed in the rest of their show career.”
It looks like Michelle and Annie now have luck on their side!
