PG . 16
AQHA FEATURE
Phil Dawson and Merada in Prada Q-96354
eye — I just loved her , and Phil had always spoken so highly of her . It was the same year that Phil showed our stallion , Shine ’ s Like Metallic , to an equal 3rd in the NCHA Open Futurity — our first ever year of having a horse at the Futurity .’
That year , Belinda had later spoken about Beccy ' s Merada to the mare ’ s breeder , Pam Drew , of Cutting Edge Quarter Horses , and it was then that Pam became aware of how much Belinda wanted to buy progeny out of Beccy , if the chance should ever come up . But when Beccy ' s full sister , came on the market , Belinda did not hesitate to get back in touch with Pam about the mare .
‘ I knew full well that she was the last foal by Lethal Lena , so I said to Pam ; I ’ d really like to buy her . We worked out the deal , and as the mare wasn ’ t yet registered , Pam also gave us the opportunity to name her , which we were really happy about . We put a fair bit of thought into it to come up with a fitting name . We ’ d watched the movie , ‘ The Devil Wears Prada ’, with its storyline based upon being fashionable , and becoming rich and famous . One thing led to another , and we named her Merada In Prada , and Prada has definitely fulfilled that in the world of Cutting . Phil Dawson has trained Prada all the way through and has always liked her . While she was a little bit of a pocket-rocket through her 3yo year , she ’ s settled right down into her program now , and is amazing to work with .’
Belinda says that she ’ s such a good style of mare and a typical Lethal Lena , so she has some size about her and is lovely to be around . While she can still sometimes be a little quirky , Belinda loves her personality and says that she ’ s easy to do anything with .
‘ Ken and I were excited that Prada had made the Open Derby final , but just a couple of days prior to the final , Phil came to me and said Prada doesn ’ t feel that well . He said she ’ d seemed a little bit off when he worked her in the practice pen , so we thought she may have been a bit sore . We had her looked over by a vet , Phil Manchon , and he said couldn ’ t see any problems , and said she was fine . However , we did some Equissage and Pulse Therapy
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