The Story of Oz “There’s the one I want,” I said as we had walked into the recipient mare paddock. We’d been there for hours looking at hundreds of stallion prospects from weanlings, to yearlings, to two year olds. We had gone to Fossil Gate Farms with a long list of criteria and a minimal budget. I was searching for the next “great” one. One that could halter and ride at the top levels, and he had to be HYPP N/N. I was unwavering on that. Little did I know, this little colt would change my views on HYPP, and my life; forever. “That one isn’t for sale,” Gary said. “That one is a Charm Bracelets colt by Im Tee Totally Cool. That’s Linda’s world show prospect, and he’s NH anyway.” My heart sank. I had been searching for hours that day. I had searched for months online to no avail. I couldn’t find the one I wanted and when I looked at that colt, I knew he was the one. Again, I told Gary, “That’s the one I want.” Again he said, “He’s not for sale.” I thanked Gary for his time and turned to walk away. He looked at me with a strange look on his face and said, “You sure are a stubborn ass aren’t you?” I grinned and shot right back, “Why yes, yes I am.” “But why THAT one?” he asked. “Because that one is the athlete,” I told him. “I can take that one to the top.” “Let me call Linda.” He turned and walked off into another paddock as I stared at the little sorrel colt. He was stunning. A fat little chunk with great bone, great angles, the fattest milk neck I had ever seen on a suckling, and eyes that seemed to look right through me. He had an inquisitive nature about him. I stepped back into the paddock and squatted down so he would approach. He was playing peek-a-boo behind his recipient dam. He intrigued me. Running up almost close enough to touch and then tucking tail and running back the other way. The fluidity of his lead changes was mind blowing. Gary walked back over. “$100,000”, he said. “Uh Gary, I’m poor. I don’t have $100,000. I’m sorry. All I have is a little bit of cash and a double registered Titanic Uno mare to trade,” I replied. “Well, that’s the price,” he said. Defeated, I turned to look at the colt. I walked back out in the paddock and took a good hard look at the rest of the babies in the pen. None of them struck me like the little sorrel one. My heart sank again. I turned around to talk to Gary at the fence line. As we sat there and chatted about halter, pleasure, and the Texas heat, I felt my head fly backwards. Apparently, the little colt was just as curious about me as I was about him. He had snuck up behind me and grabbed my ponytail and tried to pull me backwards. Gary laughed. “Excuse me for a minute, I need to make another phone call,” he said. I turned to look at the colt that was now standing in front of me with eyes as big as saucers… staring right into my eyes. He stepped forward and nuzzled my lips. I kissed him back and scratched under his chin. Gary turned and walked back toward the paddock. “Ok, I think we can come to an agreement on this.” As we sat and talked pricing, I couldn’t believe my ears. This colt was going to be mine. My mother, God love her, knew how much I wanted this colt. She bought him for me. We walked up to the office, filled out paperwork, and handed Gary a down payment. We were to come back when he was weaned to pick him up. I couldn’t believe we just purchased a colt out of my all-time favorite mare. Even more, I couldn’t believe we just purchased an HYPP N/H colt. I was staunchly against HYPP. I had my work cut out for me. For the next month and a half I read everything I could get my hands on concerning halter. I purchased books; I read peer-reviewed articles on nutrition, conditioning, and more. I researched everything I could possibly research. I called every halter person I knew and asked questions. I picked Josh Larman’s, Fred Tabor’s, Ted Turner’s and Gary’s brains until there was nothing left to pick! (Thanks guys!) I had leading pedigree analyst, Susan Larkin, make an entire pedigree book on the colt. I thought for sure I was prepared. Ha!... Nothing could prepare me for the ride I was about to go on for the next four years. I had dreams of winning the world with this horse. I had dreams of doing it myself. I knew what to do and how to do it. I had no idea how hard I was actually going to have to work. What’s more, I had no idea how hard people were going to try to knock me down along the way. I brought the colt home about a month and a half later. He was enormous. He had some growth issues. Once again I researched everything I could on nutrition, and what nutrients he needed to correct the issues at hand. I wanted to do things as natural as possible. My hopes of fitting him his weanling year and showing him were laid to rest as soon as they began. I knew I had to wait on him. I turned him out to pasture every day, and worked with him on leading, setting up, and grooming every night. However, I focused my fitting on my weanling Mr Yella Fella filly, FG Glitterati, which we had at the time. I showed the heck out of the filly and won everything under the sun with her. She was a hand-made filly but we did not get along at all. Flash forward to 2011. Ozzie was still being turned out to pasture and left to grow up. He still got the same kind of attention my other show horses did, but I refused to fit on him just yet. I took FG Glitterati to the Red Bud spectacular that year. We did ok, but I came back disappointed. I called Tim Finkenbinder when I got home to come and look at the filly and help me evaluate her for the World Show. He stopped out a week later. I had Ozzie out in the pasture. As he was leaving he asked, “What’s that one out there”? I walked out to the pasture and brought him in. Tim took one look at him and said “He’s nice, but he’s not going to make a show colt until at least his two year-old year. He’s too short.” We sat and talked awhile longer and said our goodbyes. As I walked back into the barn, I took a good hard look at the filly and a good look at the colt. The filly was ripped. She was huge, a gorgeous chestnut color, and I had won nearly everything I entered her in, with the exception of The Red Bud Spectacular. She had won a lot of money for me and taught me a lot. I had a lot of time invested in her. Ozzie, on the other hand, was gangly. He looked like a thoroughbred with a lot of muscle. He was all leg… he had this perpetual “weedy” look to him. I walked in his stall and looked a little harder; trying to see the negatives that everyone else kept seeing in him at the time. I couldn’t see them. Apparently, he couldn’t either. He took one look at me with those great big eyes, and I knew it was time to start fitting him. I walked back into the house, grabbed my camera, pulled the filly out, had my mom set her up, and took pictures of her. I listed her for sale online twenty minutes later. I sold her two weeks later. Everyone was floored. Why did I want to sell my filly? She was so nice! The answer was simple, I had but one champion in the barn, and his name was FG Totally A Charmer. I didn’t have enough money to show both horses. I had to choose. I used the money that I got from selling the filly to pay my World Show entries for 2011, and I began fitting on that scraggly yearling colt in June… just 5 months before the World Show. Everyone told me I was crazy. I just laughed and said… “Just wait, you haven’t seen crazy yet.” That horse and I worked 6 days per week, without fail. I had no indoor arena. I had no dirt track. I had a 15 acre pasture riddled with cracks and holes from the drought. The ground was hard, and it was hotter than Hades. It was rough. But, he has always been a hard worker, and willing to please. I pushed him hard. He told me when he needed a break, and he got them when he asked. We understood each other. But I also understood that to make this horse into what he could become, I had to send him off before the world. That summer was so hot you could bake a cake in my barn. My barn wasn’t insulated. The fans didn’t help. There were days where it was 125-130 degrees in there. It was just too hot for him. I called Josh Larman and asked if he would take him in for fitting. I dropped him off September 4th, 2011, les than two months before his World Show debut. I went to go see him about two weeks after I dropped him off. I almost didn’t recognize him. Josh had stripped him completely down so that he could build him back up. It needed to be done, and it was the right thing to do. He looked like a really fit racehorse. There was no halter weight on him at all. The question was would he gain enough weight for the World in such a short time? We hoped, and I trusted him. Two months later we arrived at the APHA World Show. It wasn’t my fist time showing at the World, but I was nervous nonetheless. Nobody really knew who we were, or who Ozzie was. We were outsiders. We were an afterthought amidst the hustle and buzz of all the greats. I didn’t care. My world revolved around one thing… Ozzie. To me, he was the only horse there. I hadn’t seen him in over a month. He looked incredible. Josh and I were both nervous. He hadn’t put on the weight like we had wanted. We didn’t know what to expect. I took him out and practiced with him on the dirt ramp alleyway over by the John Justin arena around 9:00PM the night before our class. He was all over the place. We hadn’t had a chance to take him down to the arena, and this was his first big horse show. It was going to be a disaster; I knew it. I couldn’t even keep him from fidgeting in the alleyway… I knew he was going to come uncorked in the show pen. The next morning, palms sweating, feeling like I was going to lose my breakfast, I walked my colt to the show pen. He was antsy. He wouldn’t shut up, screaming and hollering all the way to the holding pen. We waited in the holding pen for about 30 minutes and he finally calmed down and settled in a bit. I couldn’t blame him for being nervous; I couldn’t get mad at him. It was his first time going to town. They called our number and we headed to the ring. Here goes nothing. All the research, all the TLC, all the work, all the decisions… they were riding on this one moment. We drew first to go into the pen. We hit that air-conditioned arena and he puffed up like a Good Year balloon, but he never put one foot out of line. He KNEW this was his job. He KNEW this was when he had to behave. The large overhead screen in the arena fascinated him. He stared at it intently, literally vibrating at the end of the shank. I knew if I moved my arm he was going to be all over the place. My arm has never gotten so stiff and tired from being in one spot in my entire life. He showed like a pro! We retired to the wall as the judges calculated their placings for the class. I tried to talk to Josh at the rail but the crowd was spooking Ozzie so badly he wouldn’t stand still. It was the longest three minutes of my life. They finally called the placings under each judge. Judge A: First place, FG Totally A Charmer and Heidi Gearhart. Judge B: Second place, FG Totally A Charmer and Heidi Gearhart. Judge C: First place FG Totally A Charmer and Heidi Gearhart. Judge D: First place FG Totally A Charmer and Heidi Gearhart. Judge E: FG Totally A Charmer and Heidi Gearhart. I cried like a baby. We just won the World. Two days later Josh Larman led Ozzie back into the pen for open and won it unanimously. He did it… again. After the show I hauled Ozzie home. Josh had done an amazing job with him in the two short months he had to fit on him, but I just didn’t have the money to leave him in full time training. Josh helped me immensely with a fitting routine and I took him home and continued fitting him for the stock shows. 2012 proved to be another fabulous year. We qualified for the AQHA World, and the APHA World. We had won our fair share, and we got beat as well. I got so much flack for letting him get beat it was unreal. I just smiled and said, “I’m here to show my horse and enjoy him. I don’t care how he places as long as he shows his best and we have fun.” They didn’t understand. How could they? They didn’t know how much I worked on that horse. They didn’t understand that he wasn’t just a means to an end. This horse is family. Not a commodity. Not an investment. He’s my kid. I dropped my amateur status right before the 2012 Pinto World. It was my first show showing as a pro. I won the Open Two-Year-Old Overo stallions with him. My mother was Reserve in the amateur. Two weeks after Pinto World in 2012, I was put in touch with a gal named Jennifer Hancock. I was told she was a good colt starter. I had fractured my ribs just before Pinto World and I wanted to get Ozzie broke to ride before he got too big to handle under saddle. There was no way I was going to break him out with my ribs being fractured. She came to the house, saddled him up and climbed on. He crow-hopped a little but nothing too major. She had an excellent seat and great hands. I knew right then they were a good fit. Jen lived with me the entire summer while we worked on fitting him up for APHA World and getting him going under saddle. She rode his butt off and we pushed him hard. He never faltered. Everyone told us we were crazy. There was no way we were going to keep him fit while riding him. Boy did they ever learn the hard way. In November 2012, my mother stepped back into the pen with him in Amateur Stallions. She won it unanimously. It was her third time ever to show a horse. I will never forget the look on her face when she walked out of the pen. A few days later I took him back for the open and won again. This horse continued to amaze me… 6 World Titles by the time he was a 2 year old and he was proving to be an excellent rider as well. I really couldn’t ask for more… but I did, and he responded just like I thought he would. In 2013 I gave him a break for much of the show season. I qualified him for APHA World, but didn’t end up going. I set my sights on AQHA Congress instead. In July, we moved from Texas to Pennsylvania. My facilities in PA were not set up for a stallion, so we made the decision to send him to Chris Arentsen’s to be fit on for Congress. He arrived at the end of July, giving them just two months to get him ready. He had nearly the entire season off to breed mares and be a horse. He wasn’t even fit. Joe Engle showed him at the 2013 Congress and was Reserve Champion with him in the Limited Division. He now had titles across all three associations, APHA, AQHA, and PtHA… and he could ride down a rail. And that’s where the fairy tale ends, I’m afraid. Congress had left us with a hole in the pocket. Our house in Texas still hadn’t been sold and we were paying two mortgages at the time. I had to move him closer to home where it would be cheaper. A friend offered to pick him up from Arentsen’s in December of 2013 and stand him for the breeding season for a reasonable price. By mid February I received a phone call from the facility that was handling his collections and told that he had dropped a significant amount of weight. I became concerned and started asking questions. I was eventually told he wasn’t eating. I just couldn’t figure out WHY I wasn’t told he wasn’t eating when he first went off his feed. He had to have been “off feed” for a good month to lose the amount of weight he had lost from December to February. He was over 1500lbs when he left Arentsen’s. When he arrived at Harris Paint Horses in March, we weight taped him at 1100 lbs. He’s 16.1 hands. I’ve never seen that horse so skinny. I was devastated. My multiple World Champion stallion that I had put so much time and effort into looked like a $200 kill pen horse. Although he was not what I would consider to be “emaciated,” or “humane society skinny,” he was far from the horse he was upon his arrival to my friend’s facility. He had open, untreated sores on the inside of both front legs from not being wrapped while breeding. He had a bald spot on the dock of his tail from being dirty and rubbing his butt. You could see every rib. You could see his topline, and his ribs stuck out so far it looked like he had a hole in his side where his rib cage met his flanks. I had Cindy Harris’ vet do a full vet check and breeding exam on him. She ran blood-work, a fecal analysis… the whole nine yards. There were no infections, no fever, and no signs of any illness. His fecal count was negative, and there was no explanation for his weight loss. He was eating fine. What a mystery! (Insert eye roll here). Moreover, more than half of the equipment I had originally sent with the horse when he was sent to Arentsen’s was never returned to me. I don’t know where it is, or who has it, but it is gone. A $260 set of soft ride boots, a Schneider’s royal blue sheet, all of my AV filters, baby bottles, lubrication… all of it’s gone. The funny thing is that no one ever used his AV, so there’s no reason any of my other supplies should be gone. The filters for a Missouri AV are not compatible with the Colorado AV that was being used to collect him. The horse was sent with two full boxes of equipment. Leg wraps, soft ride boots, two water buckets, super sweats, a full body sleazy, a winter blanket, a blanket liner, a winter hood, his AV, his AV filters and other breeding supplies; yet I only received his winter blanket, his blanket liner, his super sweats, his full body sleazy, and his AV back. He was also sent wearing a blanket that does not belong to me. Am I upset? Yes, extremely. Will my horse recover and eventually gain weight? Yes. But it’s also going to take at least a year to get him back to where he was. I’ve learned so much in the horse industry. Some has been good; some has been bad. I’ve accomplished a lot with this one amazing horse. Ozzie has come such a long way in four short years. It took three months to set him back a full year. I’m not sure where we are going to go from here. I’m not sure if I will ever step back into a show pen with him. He’s doing his best this breeding season and he has a full book of mares. God love him he’s doing his job to the best of his ability right now despite his current condition. He is currently standing at Harris Paint Horses in Maryland for the remainder of the breeding season. Cindy Harris has been our saving grace. I can’t thank her enough for all she has done. She puts the health of my horse first. To me, that’s what’s most important. All the titles in the world, all the accomplishments… they mean nothing. They were fun to win, but I never jeopardized his health to earn them. I’m not about to start jeopardizing his health now. As of right now, I’m not even sure I want to stand him to the public next year. It’s been a really rough year and I’ve had just about enough of the horse industry’s lack of ethics and animal husbandry. Folks, these animals are not a means to an end. They are not commodities. They are not possessions. They are not to be used as leverage to get what you want. They are not a walking bankroll. If you view them as such, you are in the wrong industry. Ozzie is part of my family. He is my blood, sweat, and tears. And while I’m proud of all of our accomplishments, I think it’s about time to get back to my priorities… and take my boy on a nice leisurely trail ride, without the demands of the horse world on our shoulders. Take pride in what you do, but don’t let the pride get in the way of what matters most; the relationship with your horse. No matter if you have a backyard trail horse, or a Multiple World Champion, treat that horse as if he’s your soul mate. He’ll do the same for you if you just trust him enough.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:03:45 +0000
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