point of view
The Five Dollar Oldenburg Colt
Y by Liz Cornell
es, it’s really true. One lucky person was to own a beautiful 2010 chestnut Oldenburg colt out of Avalon Equine’s best mare—Morticia
(Mannhattan x Faberge/Frohwind)—for the mere price of $5.00! What’s the catch? It was going to take some considerable luck since that was the price of the raffle ticket to win little Adieu d’Avalon. In fact, the odds of winning were about one in 1,800 (if you purchased just one ticket). In the end almost 1,800 tickets were sold—just under $9000 raised—all to be donated to the Courtney King-Dye Benefit Fund. In the summer of 2010, breeder Jos Mottershead
and Kathy St. Martin of Avalon Equine in Wynnewood, Oklahoma had an epiphany. They didn’t really need another colt, and after 25 years of breeding sport horses, Kathy says, “We were ready to give back to the sport horse industry in some way. When my husband asked me what my plans were for the little guy, I told him what do you think of the idea of raffling him off and donating the funds raised to a good cause? That’s when we thought of Courtney and the outpouring of concern she was receiving after her tragic fall and coma. We felt her situation was the perfect outlet for our new mission.” On the surface, the idea sounded simple enough,
but as Kathy began to organize the raffle, it soon became a logistical nightmare. Most states won’t allow a simple raffle since it’s a form of gambling, unless it’s managed by a legitimate non-profit organization. Eventually the Oklahoma Dressage Society joined forces with Avalon Equine and together they set up and marketed the program. Mostly due to their internet promotions, the response was initially terrific. In a matter of just a couple weeks they had raised $4,000! The key to their rapid response was using the online payment method of PayPal to handle the payment processing of the raffles sales. It made payment easy for purchasers. But suddenly they hit a huge setback! “PayPal contacted us saying that they were shutting
us down. We couldn’t use their online payment service for any kind of raffle as it was against their user policy. People could make a donation, but could not purchase a chance to win as it is considered a form of online gambling. That was their policy and there was nothing we could do,” Kathy reports. It was very
62 March/April 2011
sport horse snippets
Megan and her new colt Adieu d’Avalon. Photo courtesy Megan Burtness.
disappointing, she says, but there was no choice but to change their collecting method to checks by mail. That slowed down the response, but they held the contest open for over three months, raising just under $9,000. “When we were ready to pick the winning ticket, we
fully expected that not every raffle ticket owner really wants to win a new horse. Many people bought tickets to help Courtney, and we weren’t sure how many tickets we would have to pick until someone would accept the prize!” Kathy exclaims. But as luck would have it, the first winning ticket they selected had been purchased by Megan Burtness of Bridlewood Welsh in Paso Robles, California. Forgetting all about the ticket she had purchased, with initial shock and hesitation, Megan accepted her prize and little Adieu made the journey from Oklahoma to California in November. When he arrived, Megan was pleasantly surprised at his stunning beauty and how easy he was to handle. “Our farm is a section B Welsh pony farm, so by now ‘Ollie’ is already bigger than all my ponies and cobs. Between my bossy yearling filly and my three-year-old boy’s zooming bicycle and Tonka trucks, he’s taken it all in stride and is surprisingly quiet. I’m still in shock that I won such a treasure!” says Megan. “He will eventually serve as the mount for my mother, Anne Blythe…who apparently has always dreamed of having a Warmblood of her own.” Later Courtney wrote a lovely letter to Kathy and
Jos thanking them for all their efforts, stating, “All I can say is wow!” When asked if they are going to raffle off another youngster for a good cause, Kathy was quick to say that yes, she’s working on plans now for a similar venture in 2011. “As most breeders know, this business is a labor of love. At this point in our lives, if we can use the business to help others in need, then we’ll continue to do so as long as possible.”
WT
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