Since the day he was born, Forever Twisted, Nancy Ditty’s entry for this year’s 3-Year-Old & Over Western Pleasure Slot Class at the March To The Arch this month in Fort Worth, Texas, has been reminding her of life’s most important lesson.

Never give up.

The 2021 bay gelding, sired by Gone Viral out of Nancy’s own show mare, Forever Kool (Pumpernickel), had a rocky start, to say the least,

“I was there as he was being born and he came out looking like a leggy pretzel, so his barn name became Pretzel.”

Pretzel’s  nose looked like a giant fish hook. It was deformed from the way he had laid in the womb.  The recipient mare that carried Forever Kool’s embryo immediately disowned him and Nancy’s team began the search for a nurse mare.

“We were lucky enough to find an amazing mare through Cold Spring Nurse Mares but with his deformity he was unable to nurse correctly at first,” she explained. “The milk would run right out of his mouth and down his face so we bucket fed him with saved milk from another mare for the first month or so.”

That’s enough to frighten even the most seasoned breeder. But his health continued to decline.

“We then took him to the clinic and they had to help with his recovery,” Nancy said. “During this whole process of treating pretzel Dixie our 11-year-old Bassett Hound never left his side. We gave him unlimited access to grain, hay and grass. He was puny and sick but healed and grew into something special. He is strong now and that amazingly shows what a fighter he is.”

Georgia trainer Jason English had a much different first impression of Pretzel. English trained Pretzel’s sire, Gone Viral, who won four Quarter Horse Congress Championships, eight NSBA World Championships and a bronze at the AQHA World Show. He also trained and exhibited Pretzel’s dam, Forever Kool.

When Pretzel was born, Nancy sent English a picture but he didn’t get to see him until months later. That didn’t matter at all. He couldn’t wait to get him into his program.

“Through many of his visits, Jason had big hopes for Pretzel and never gave up either.”

In November of his yearling year, Pretzel was finally on his way to Jason to get his under saddle training started. Nancy gave English the same strict instructions she did when she sent Forever Kool to him to train….. the horse will tell us when he is ready to compete.

Jason listened. But he had an edge.

“I trained and showed both of his parents so he holds a special spot in my heart,” English said. “He has a lot of qualities from both of them which makes it even more fun.”

Nancy agrees. Pretzel is a lot like his dam.

“He is very calm and has no worry in the world,” she said.

That’s a trait that helped Nancy and Pumpernickel rack up quite the show record. In 2017 they won the Non-Pro Longe Line at the Tom Powers Futurity and the mare also won the Open Western Longe Line there. Pumpernickel was also Reserve Western Longe Line champion at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship Show that year and Reserve in the Breeders Championship Futurity Open Western Longe Line. The following year, Nancy and Forever Kool were unanimous champions in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Tom Powers Futurity. They returned in 2019 to (tie to) win the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure.

That same year they won the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the NSBA World Show and were Reserve Champions in the 3-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Quarter Horse Congress and ended up the year as NSBA 3-Year-Old Non-Pro High Point Champions.

Then in 2020 Nancy and Pumpernickel returned to the Tom Powers Futurity to win the Non-Pro Maturity Western Pleasure and the mare was awarded a Tom Powers Super Horse Award for winning the Powers as a Yearling, 2-Year-Old, 3-Year-Old and Maturity contender, the only horse to accomplish that.

Like his dam, Forever Twisted is strong and lopes the same in both directions, English said. He also jogs well.

English said his challenge in preparing Pretzel for the Western Pleasure Slot Class at the March To The Arch will be getting him tired enough without getting him too tired.

“It is always hard to gauge that with a horse for the first time showing,” he admitted.

Nancy knows it will take even more.

“I have been in this industry long enough to know that the stars have to align just right,”  she said. “Horses might give us the same or similar rides at three different shows and receive three different results. I want Jason and Pretzel to be the best they can be and have some luck. My mom (Susan Scott) always said you can do everything to prepare but you always need some luck to back you up.  So I hope to be able to give them whatever luck they may need.  I know they both are ready.”

After the slot class at the March To The Arch Nancy will get her turn on Pretzel. She will compete in 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure classes there as well as at at all the majors this year.                       

“I hope to show him long-term and enjoy him as much as I have enjoyed showing his mother,” she said.

Deep Roots in the industry

Nancy grew up in the industry (she jokes that she was born in Gainesville, Florida, when her mother was on her way home from a horse show) and she knows what it takes to be successful. She has numerous Congress and AQHA and NSBA World Championship and Breeders Championship Futurity Championships to her name. She is number three on the NSBA Top Non-Pro Western Pleasure Earners  – behind only her mother in the number one spot and Becky Galyean, ranked number two. She is ranked number two on the NSBA’s list of Top Non-Pro Yearling Longe Line Earners (Stanley Scott is ranked number one and Susan Scott is ranked fifth. And Nancy ranks 12th on the NSBA’s Top 20 Lifetime Earners in Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle. She was the 2023 NSBA top Non-Pro Western Pleasure Rider and is a member of the association’s Quarter Million Dollar Rider Club, the only Non-Pro competitor on the list behind her late mother.

Nancy started showing at the age of 8 and grew up on Haylo Farm where her family raised approximately 28 foals a year. She attended the University of Alabama and graduated in 1998 with a double major in Marketing and Psychology.

Nancy and her husband, Seth own Ditty Up, located directly across the street from the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida.

“Our farm sits on 64 acres and we just added 12.5 to it last year,” Nancy explained. “I take a lot of pride in Ditty Up because I live here.”

The program is built around mares with impressive show records – like Huntin For A Cowboy, a 2009 red roan mare that Nancy rode to a Congress Championship in 2012. The daughter of Open Range out of Huntin A Cowboy was also a NSBA World Champion in Western Pleasure and she produced a NSBA World Champion, multiple Congress Champions and futurity winners.

Other noted broodmares include: Forever N Ever, dam of Forever Kool and Flatout Kool;, Troubles A Blazin, the dam of AQHA Superhorse Hes Blazin Trouble; and VS Lawless.

About 5-10 foals are born at Ditty Up each year.

“My favorite part of each day is seeing the babies through kitchen window every morning,” she said. “I have my coffee and head straight to the barn.”

And she pays careful attention to selecting the right trainer for each horse.

“I try to keep sending my horses to trainers that have helped me achieve my goals and always are honest with me and my horses,” she explained. “I also like to work with people I have a good relationship with.  It’s very important to me that I give each horse the best opportunity for success and that’s why I put so much thought into the individual horses style to match to the trainers style. For me it is not a one size fits all.”

That’s why she was so interested in Machine Made Gold, a 2017 palomino mare, sired by Machine Made out of AintSaynShzaGoldiger, that she purchased at the 2023 NSBA World Show, with the help of Florida trainers Rusty and Katie Green.

Her breeding goes back to Really In Trouble, a line that has been very successful for myself, Rusty and Katie,” she said.  “We had been watching and admiring her all year long and when the opportunity came along to purchase her, we jumped at the ‘golden’ opportunity.”

Nancy will show Machine Made Gold in Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturities and Amateur Western Pleasure and hopes to add Western Riding and Trail eventually, under the guidance of the Greens.

“Our relationship and  friendship goes all the way back to when Rusty worked for my parents and he trained me as a youth kid,” Nancy explained. “I bet a lot of people didn’t know that.  Rusty got me my first title in Western Pleasure at the AQHA Youth World Show with PCG Skip Shy Sequel. Again, I love having my horses with people that I enjoy to be with outside of the horse arena.  It truly makes horse showing that much more fun and not always so serious.” 

Outside the Show Pen

Besides raising foals and competing in AQHA classes and at futurities across the country, Nancy wears several other hats.

First and foremost she is the proud mother of Luke, her 20- year-old-son, who attends Eastern Kentucky University and is a member of the school’s Baseball Team. She also owns Coast to Coast Truck and Trailer Sales and Nelsons Truck and Trailer Sales, in Florida.

Nancy is also very dedicated to giving back to the industry that provided her with so much.

“It makes me so proud to carry on the family tradition of Haylo Farm in an industry that’s been like family to me for many years,” she said. “I always have the best guardian angel on my shoulder that anyone could ever ask for.”

Nancy has done everything she can to keep her late mother’s legacy alive by fundraising and helping the youth in the industry through the establishment of the Susan Scott Memorial Fund within the NSBA Foundation.

“The goal is to raise money to help youth that give back to their communities,” Nancy explained. “With our fundraising efforts we have been able to award 15 kids with financial support for the past three years and I hope to continue that for many more.”

Nancy encourages anyone interested in helping out with the cause, financial or otherwise, to reach out to her. You can reach Nancy Ditty via her Facebook page or the Ditty Up Facebook Page.