Barbara “Bebe” Davis and her father Michael Davis have donated two Fédération Equestre Internationale dressage ponies to Lendon Gray’s Dressage4Kids. The ponies, Poldy 10 and Bohdjan, were competed successfully by Bebe during her pony career and will now be leased out to children who will ride them in FEI pony classes.

Bebe won the 2012 USEF Dressage Festival Of Champions Pony Rider title aboard Poldy 10, a 17-year-old German Riding Pony (Platello—Loni, Wirbelwind), and picked up the reserve title with Bohdjan, a 14-year-old Dutch Riding Pony (Prins Baccarat—Papanga, Apollo). Bebe moved up to the FEI Junior classes this year and decided to leave the pony division behind.

Poldy will be ridden by Katrina Sadis, who trains with Andrea Landis in Michigan. Kate Mosle, who trains with Lauren Sprieser in Virginia, is taking the ride on Bohdjan.

“We select the riders from people we know or know of from traveling the country doing these emerging dressage athlete clinics,” said Lendon Gray, founder of Dressage4Kids. “But we’re also very concerned when someone leases from Dressage4Kids that they take on the horse with the understanding that they’ll be responsible for it forever, as if they buy it, even if they’re just leasing it. I want to know that’s the case, and I also want to know where the pony is going and with whom the person trains. We try and be pretty careful, and so far we’ve been pretty successful in finding the right place for the various horses that have been donated.

“It’s really given some amazing opportunities to kids who wouldn’t have had those opportunities,” she added.