Who Is Muddy?

Muddy is a quarter horse gelding. His registered name is Mia Utter Dean. Muddy's AQHA registration number is 2970268. He was born May 25, 1990. Muddy is stands 15.2 hds and is bay.

I first met Muddy at a barn in Pensacola, FL called Pine Forest Stables. He was owned by a man named Rick Rankin. Mr. Rankin used Muddy for trail riding. I began half leasing Muddy in 1997. Muddy and I took lessons from French dressage master Philippe Galland. Muddy showed great potential in dressage. We were schooling 1st/2nd level movements. I ended half leasing Muddy in 1999. I did so because I knew I would never be able to buy him and I was interested in having my own horse.

Mr. Rankin moved Muddy to a barn in Lillian, AL where Muddy began to be used by hunter jumpter instructor Stephanie DeVries for lessons. Muddy went on to go to hunter shows and was very successful. For the next several years, Muddy was used primarily for hunter.

A few years ago I heard Mr. Rankin was selling Muddy. Unfortunately, I was unable to buy Muddy at the time. I had heard he went to a former student of Ms. DeVries. In 2007, I moved up to Gray, TN. Then in April 2008, I received a call from Ms. DeVries. In October 2007, she found out that Muddy was up for sale again. She went to look at him and found that he was being starved. Ms. DeVries immediately bought Muddy and brought him home to her barn. She nursed him back to health and began using him for lessons. Several months later she contacted me to see if I would be interested in buying Muddy. Finally, I was able to purchase Muddy with the help of my other half James.

Muddy has made the transition from a FL horse to a TN horse very well. At first, the spark that once was Muddy wasn't there. Now Muddy is finally acting like himself again. He comes when called and his ears perk up when he sees us. We are so happy that Muddy is with us and we promise to take the best of care of him for the rest of his time on Earth.