Rosie Requested

     Years ago I was breaking and training horses for a well-known Appaloosa breeder.  I was thrilled to be working for her - little did I know she was having severe financial problems.  So, what to do?  I saw an elegant yearling running the field and decided to trade what was owed me, for her.
     I broke Rosie Requested who I called "Rosie" out as a long 2-year old and took her to her first schooling show with 3-months training.  It was in the spring and many trainers were there getting their horses ready to show at the breed shows.  Well, Rosie did very well - in fact, she was first or second in all her classes, some of which were huge!  She handled everything well, including the very crowded arena.  It's true, I kept her out of the worst of the traffic jams as much as possible but even so, she was just easy.  This was the start of the very successful show carerer of one of my all-time favorite horses.  We eventually showed her both Hunter and Western and she did equally well in both.
     I retired Rosie after a few years so that I would have more time for client-owned horses.  I think Rosie was 6 when I took her home and let her just be a "pasture pony".  When she was 10, I leased her to a client to ride as a Hunter and she had one last really great year.  I really liked this mare and I decided to breed her after that.  The result was a filly with lots of attitue and talent and a copper-penny red coat just like her mother's.  This filly is "Rosie's First Gold++//" - better known as "Tilly".
     Tilly is now a double National Champion Hunter over fences and a Reserve National Champion in Hunter Hack.  She continues to excel in her divisions. 
     I not only wanted to share my love of Rosie and Tilly in this story but more importantly, I wanted to point out that it takes a good mare to get a good foal.  The mare is more important than the stallion in my opinion and in the opinion of many great horsemen.  My advice is to breed the tried and true good ones, not the ones you don't know what else to do with.  See you next week and Happy New Year!  JD