Theodore O’Connor, whose grandmother was a Shetland pony, was conceived at Dr. P. Wynn Norman’s then “Ladies Mount Farm. Dr. Norman, owner of SportHorsePonies.com recently had an interview with HorsesDaily’s reporter Kelly Gage, and shared the story of how it all began:

How did Teddy come to be and why eventing?
At that time, my goal was to produce smaller horses for ambitious ladies, an idea which morphed into sport ponies.” explained Dr. Norman. “Teddy's 1/2 thoroughbred dam was bred to be a broodmare. According to that plan, I was trying to produce 3/4 to 7/8th thoroughbred ponies and small horses, following some successful British eventers' bloodlines around that time.

What were your original expectations for Teddy?
I didn't have a lot of expectations for Teddy. I must admit that he was NOT the cream of that crop. The other three were much easier to develop and get sold, possibly because they weren't as quirky as Teddy and they were built more uphill, so progressed much more quickly. Those were my expectations as a breeder, which just goes to show you how you just can't predict some things in this business!

What was his personality like?
When he was young, he was a 'shy-a-holic'. Everything scared him. He currently has a full sibling so much like that now that I have very high hopes for him. That is if he doesn't self-destruct before I can back him. However, the other thing about Teddy as a baby was that he LOVED to "get on with it." I broke him bareback with a halter. He pulled from the get-go, but went in the same fat, hollow-mouth German snaffle right up through the CIC** level. I started to have confidence in his eventing future when he started hacking on groomed trails. The feeling he gave was that he couldn't wait to get around the next corner to see what was there.