Kelly and Patches

Kelly grew up in Manchester Township, PA, and like most little girls had always dreamed of owning a pony. So the year of her 7th birthday Kelly’s father surprised her with one – Patches, a Shetland Pinto Pony Gelding – without even discussing the matter with her mother.

“I didn’t even know how to ride," Kelly remembers. But she soon got lessons at a local stable and thus was the beginning of a unique friendship.

Kelly was never really sure how old Patches was at the time her dad brought him home in 1973 but his age didn’t matter much to her anyway. Kelly was an only child, and Patches became her playmate, best friend and confidant.

“We would go on these grand adventures and I’d share all my dreams with him,” Kelly said. And he was too smart for his own good. You see, my mom would worry about us because we’d be gone all day. So my dad got one of those big triangle dinner bells and when they figured it was time for us to come home, he would ring it.

Well, Patches knew what that sound meant and would bring me home whether I wanted to or not…..every, single time!”

He truly became a member of the family and was even permitted into their home for snacks or to watch TV. "His favorite show was Francis the Talking Mule,” Kelly said. She spoiled him with “people food” whenever there was a chance. "Anything from Coke and candy, to hot dogs…..he really liked hot dogs a lot,” she recalls.

“And he never once had any accidents in the house. If I could have had him in there full-time, I would have.”

Eventually all those riding lessons really paid off to the point Kelly and Patches participated in horse shows on a regular basis. Five-years running they qualified for state competitions, beating full-grown horses on several occasions.

“He was able to do it all in the ring. He never showed any signs of hesitancy and always did whatever I requested of him. We even got an offer from someone once to buy Patches for $1,000 – which was an unheard of price for a pony – but we turned it down, of course.”

Kelly competed with Patches until the age of 12 when she got too big to ride him anymore. But that didn’t stop him from attending events once she started riding other horses.

"Whenever he saw the trailer getting hitched, he trotted right in fully expecting to come along. He didn’t care that I was competing with someone else and just wanted to be part of the action,” Kelly said.

As she grew older, Kelly had other horses but none as special as Patches. He even stayed part of her life after she married Tracy in 1990 and started raising a family in downtown York. She often made time to visit him at her parent’s home where he stayed until they started the Rescue. "Once my son Dillon even got the special chance to take a lead line ride on him when he was about 4.”

But after 30 years of history together, Patches started to show signs of aging and his health slowly declined. A year after starting the Rescue, when Kelly and Tracy were out of town at a horse sale in 1998, he quietly slipped away.

“He started my passion for horses and really helped me through some tough times growing up. Patches is the whole reason I got involved in horse rescue.

“He gave so much of himself and truly inspired me. I felt that I owed it to his fellow friends to offer help anyway I could. He probably taught me more than any person I know.”