Throughout their career together, Ashley Holzer and Pop Art have been Canada’s shining stars in the international dressage arena. From finishing 12th at the 2008 Olympics and eighth at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, to earning Canada’s best result in almost two decades at the 2009 World Cup Dressage Final when they finished fifth, the hard facts of Pop Art’s career are truly impressive. But they tell only part of the story; the rest is about a very small, very cute personality known as Poppy, the horse of every little girl’s dreams.

Pop Art first came into Ashley’s life nine years ago, when she was horse shopping in Holland with her long-time coach, Dutch team trainer Sjef Janssen. Ashley remembers that the first horse brought out for her to try was a very beautiful black horse that proved less pleasing to sit on than to look at. A second equally beautiful horse was brought out, and Ashley got on. When she touched the inside rein while trotting on a 20-metre circle, the horse stood straight up on his hind legs, catching Ashley’s face and giving her a knock that left her dazed. Before she could do anything, she and the horse were both on the ground. Anky van Grunsven, who had been taking video of the horse tryouts, was horrified. She and Janssen were anxious to leave the sales yard immediately and never return.

On their way through the barn to the exit, Ashley caught sight of a little chestnut in the crossties. She asked if that was the third horse they were going to bring out. “He was tiny and he had a scrawny neck, but he was so cute. I asked, “does this one rear, too?” Assured that the little chestnut would not rear, Ashley tried the very small sixyear- old. “I loved him, because he reminded me of a smaller version of another horse I had named Elliott. I even called him Mini Me at first.”

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