The perfect Penny Lane winning another blue ribbon to add to her already impressive collection.  Buying the mare has been win-win for both owners Jan and Lex Young  as well as for the bay/black mare Penny Lane.  Photo courtesy Heavy Thunder Down Under.

Paul and I were at Crows Nest Show in South East Queensland this year when we noticed a lady scooting around the showgrounds in a motorized wheelchair.  Paul was judging and we never thought any more about it until that same lady, Jan Young, entered his show ring.   Paul was judging light harness classes that day.  Jan was driving the superb dark bay/black harness horse Penny Lane.

Jan and Lex Young are an amazing couple as Jan had polio when she was a child which explained the need for a motorised wheelchair.  Her husband Lex was involved in a head on motor vehicle accident in 1965.  He lost not only an arm, but a leg as well as a result.

It is truly inspirational to watch this mature couple with their horses.  On arrival at a horse show Jan and Lex take their horses out of their truck and prepare for the day’s events.  There is definitely a process to what they do and they do it very well.

But there was certainly a melding of souls for the American Saddlebred, Welsh B cross mare Penny Lane when she ended up being owned by such a special couple.  Penny Lane also had her challenges; Penny had been kept in a small stable without windows in Broken Hill when Lex and Jan Young went to pick her up about 7 years ago.

 
Penny’s owners at the time went through particularly hard times.  And although they did what they could to look after the mare, they found it extremely difficult.  It was these circumstances which prompted the sale of the mare.

Meanwhile, Lex and Jan grappled with the idea of travelling such a long way to pick up a horse in far away as Broken Hill. But as we all know in life, timing is everything.

So when the timing was right, Lex and Jan got in their truck, threw in some bedding and an esky.  They grabbed their little dog and off they all went to pick up their Penny Lane.  It took them a day and a half to get down there and a day and a half to get back with the horse but the journey was worth every kilometre they travelled to pick her up. 

As a child, Jan had been brought up around horses.  Her mother was an avid horsewoman.  Jan would go to the Ekka each year with her family and sit on the side of the arena and dream…Of being a competitor at the Brisbane Exhibition one day. 

While growing up, Jan and Lex both went to pony club and local shows.  But the couple didn’t meet until some years later.  They met at a rehabilitation centre in Brisbane after Lex’s accident and married sometime later.  It wasn’t long before the pitter patter of little feet was heard by Lex and Jan.

 
And surprise, surprise…Their children grew up to love horses too.  The couple began driving horses in harness in 1981.  So when Lex and Jan finally started going to such large shows like the Ekka, the children would compete with their horses in the ridden classes, while Mum and Dad competed in the harness classes.

 
Jan was living her dream at last.  But the acquisition of Penny Lane was to take that dream to a new level.  To date, Jan reckons Penny has won at least 50 Championships in harness.

 
These Championships including Royal Shows like the Brisbane Ekka.  But one of Jan’s finest achievements, she believes, was winning Reserve Champion harness horse at Sydney Royal Easter Show in 2011.

 
Jan is particularly proud of that ribbon as she competed against 12 others in the Championship class.  A Championship class of that calibre is a very respectable class indeed and one well worth winning.

 
But in more recent times, Lex and Jan went to the Show Driving Championships in Beenleigh in Queensland.  Jan and Penny won the dressage tests/events in harness.  They also won the show driving events as well as all the turnout classes.  What more could girls want?

Jan has come a long way since dreaming on the side of the arena at the Brisbane Ekka all those years ago.  And life dealt the perfect Penny Lane an extraordinary hand since that day 7 years ago when Lex and Jan Young came into her life and bought her. 
Jan and Lex are an extremely competitive, tenacious and an amazing couple.  A couple who will continue to love and show their exquisite harness horse Penny Lane as long as life allows.

Jan has also been the President of the Range Horse & Carriage Club Inc on the Darling Downs in Queensland.  So Jan and Lex aren’t just dedicated to Penny Lane but to horses in harness in general.  They believe driving is another opportunity for people to get out and enjoy their horses, particularly when they could no longer ride.

Well that’s a perfect wrap everyone.  We at Heavy Thunder would like to congratulate Lex and Jan on their efforts over such a long period of time.  And we wish them well in whatever endeavours they choose to embark on.  As we know they will accomplish whatever it is they set their minds to perfectly well.

Cheers

Paul and Jann