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Pony dreams do come true
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Kim Fullerton and her horse, Bender, work daily to prepare for the Grand National and World championship Morgan Horse Show in October.
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Growing up, Kim Fullerton was like a lot of little girls. She really, really wanted a pony.
"I was the little girl who was first in line for the pony rides … I always loved horses," said the Dentsville resident, 21.
While she begged her parents for a horse, they weren't going to make a huge financial commitment on a child's passing fancy. Fullerton and her father, Gordon, struck a deal.
She would join 4-H, learn to ride and care for a horse properly and then they'd revisit the situation. So at 8, Fullerton — always a tomboy — was mucking out stables, feeding and tending to horses in the barn of a 4-H-approved director. Even when she was riding or cleaning up, Fullerton couldn't stay away.
"I just like hanging out in the stalls," she said. "I'd sit there reading a book. I just wanted to be there."
After about a year of grunt work, with Fullerton still gaga over horses and proving she was willing to devote her free time to them (she even quit soccer to spend more time in the barn), Gordon bought Fullerton's first horse — a pony named Pixie.
Gordon Fullerton said his daughter's hobby has made her wiser.
"She has a level of maturity and confidence," Gordon said. "She has always consistently been focused on horses. She was 7 … Kimmy got on a horse and rode it. I got on a horse and held on."
She's come a long way from cleaning out stables in another person's barn. Fullerton was recently awarded the dressage seat silver medal for an outstanding performance at the Southern States Regional Morgan Horse Show in Raleigh, N.C. It qualified her to compete for the gold medal in October during the Grand National and World championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma.
And yet, she hasn't come all that far. She's just cleaning out the horse pens in her own barn now.
When she was a young teenager, her parents figured Fullerton – who has a sister, Danielle – was not going to give up her horse obsession, so they started looking for land, preferably with a barn to house Fullerton's horses.
Father and daughter would take tours of properties, seeing small barns, some no bigger than sheds.
They were all nice, Fullerton said, but none were all that great. She dreamed of an indoor practice ring lined with mirrors, like some rustic, dusty ballet studio, in which she could practice year-round, and be able to monitor her form in the reflection, work on what she needed to improve and keep doing what she was doing well.
When she was 14, her parents bought Fox Hallow Farm, with a huge barn with that indoor ring and an outdoor practice ring as well. There was even enough property to build — which is why Fullerton and her husband, David Heizmann, built their home just a stone's throw from her parents. Another parcel of land is Danielle's to build on eventually.
"My dad was really smart about it," Fullerton said.
Gordon, who grew up on a farm in Michigan, didn't want that kind of life, so he moved to the Washington, D.C., area and now works for FEMA. Thanks to his daughter, he's back on a farm and probably her biggest cheerleader.
"Usually it's the moms that come to the [horse shows]," said Fullerton, adding that both her parents, including mom, Tish, were supportive of her horse habit. "But my dad was there all the time, standing on the rails. To get one kid on a horse in a ring it takes a lot of people."
Fullerton continued to dedicate her time to horses, trying just about every event before discovering she had a knack for dressage. She likes the precision of it, the way the horse and rider have to work together.
"I like how it all comes together," she said.
Horses are very social animals with distinct personalities, according to Fullerton. And they are dedicated to their riders.
"I've seen little kids falling off [a horse] and the horse will scoot over just a little bit to catch them," Fullerton said.
"They're so loving and so interested in you. They all have their own personalities. Some will take brushes and hide them, some will just nuzzle you."
With six Morgan horses — Lacey, Summer, Leo, Rascal, Ike and Bender — it is Bender who goes into the ring with Fullerton. Bender, who was bought at an auction in Kentucky, who was going to be sold off, but he was just too good to let go, Fullerton said.
Bender, who is still young, has a mischievous personality.
"He's like a teenage boy, he loves to get into trouble … seeing what he can get into, he wants lots of attention," Fullerton said. But when it is show time, Bender is a pro.
"He's a goofball, but he loves to work," she said.
Showing horses and caring for them is time-consuming and demanding, especially in addition to being a newlywed and a full-time student at St. Mary's College. Fullerton is thinking of heading to law school to study environmental law and knowing her schedule will be tight, horses might have to take a backseat for a while.
Which is a shame, because in a lot of ways, showing horses is a dying sport, Fullerton said. Maybe it's the urbanization of the area, or the growth of the Internet culture that has slowed interest in such hobbies and sports, but Fullerton contends that programs are available for kids to get a sampling of farm life and all that it entails, especially when it comes to 4-H.
"I would like to be an ambassador for the 4-H program," she said. "4-H is a way to get your foot in the door."
She said program directors will play matchmaker between a potential rider and a trainer.
"Get on a horse and see what you like best," advised Fullerton. "There are so many ways to do it without having to spend a lot of money. 4-H will work to find you the right horse, the right barn and trainer."
Gordon agreed that 4-H is the way to go for novices wanting to learn more.
"Start out slowly," he said, adding that parents might love the benefits that come with giving their children responsibility. "Taking care of a horse is a lot of work. But you have to be confident in yourself. You have to have confidence to go out there in the middle of a ring next to world champions."
If the horseshoe fits …
To find out more about Charles County's 4-H program, go to http://charles.umd.edu/CharlesCounty4-H/index.cfm or e-mail bboyden@umd.edu.
