QUITE A PUIWA | 12-YEAR-OLD PAINT X QUARTER HORSE | GEORGETOWN,KY
Quite A Puiwa (known fondly as “Puiwa” or “Iwa”) is a 12-year-old registered solid Paint/Quarter Horse cross. On her sire’s side, her breeding goes back to halter horse Titan-A-Rama and her dam’s pedigree traces to cow horse The Australian.
Puiwa and Ashley have been together literally since Puiwa’s very beginning. Ashley was working off her board at a facility which kept a Palomino stallion. The stallion jumped the fence one night and spent some time with one of Ashley’s favorite mares. A year later (the mare was overdue), Ashley helped deliver the filly who became Puiwa.
“It was a cold and snowy night in March when her momma started showing signs of labor,” Ashley remembers. “I was watching the mare on TV and she was acting very restless, I have foaled her out twice before this was not her usual routine. I went to check her and she settled right down once I was there, so I sat in the corner of the stall and waited. Not to long after two little hooves started to show and then a little nose. You could already see she was going to be beautiful. She got a little stuck when it came to her shoulders so I had to give a little tug and she was officially welcomed to the world!
“I set to drying her off so she wouldn’t get chilled and helped as she struggled to stand. I have foaled quite a few babies but Puiwa is my favorite. She was just so lovable from the start.”
Puiwa and Ashley have been through a lot together. When she was a month old, Puiwa contracted botulism and became completely paralyzed for several days. She was hospitalized at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky. and made a miraculous recovery with lots of help from Ashley. Then as a yearling, she flipped over a fence and injured her back. As a 3-year-old, she caught Potomac Horse Fever and went back to Hagyard.
“The fact that Puiwa is here is incredible. Due to her lengthy recoveries we developed a very close and special bond,” said Ashley. “She knew that I was there to help her and she never gave any problems. She has a very loving and caring personality, just like her mother.”
Due to Puiwa’s medical history, she was never put in heavy work and is now semi-retired at Ashley’s Paradise West Farm in Georgetown, Ky.
When Puiwa was a yearling, Ashley’s husband’s gelding was killed in a freak pasture accident. The owners of the farm where Puiwa was born offered Ashley and her husband their choice of any horse on the farm to try to comfort them. Eventually, they accepted the offer and Puiwa joined Ashley’s family.
Ashley has been riding since middle school and has had horses for over 20 years.
“Horses give me a purpose and a reason to try harder in life so I can give them a better life,” she said.
These days, she feels lucky she gets to feed Puiwa her favorite treats — peppermints and berry hay cubes.
