One of the very first registered Desert Normans, Shamrock Bey, owned by Robin Mountjoy of Richmond, Virginia, winner of multiple championships in the Arabian Sport Horse competitions on the East Coast.
The 16.1 hand gelding's unique breeding, stunning looks and winning ways, attracted the attention of the equestrian media. Bey has been featured in articles in
Dressage Today, Equine Journal, Arabian Horse World and Modern Arabian Horse.
The 16.1 hand gelding's unique breeding, stunning looks and winning ways, attracted the attention of the equestrian media. Bey has been featured in articles in
Dressage Today, Equine Journal, Arabian Horse World and Modern Arabian Horse.
THIS MARE MAKES PEOPLE STARE
People stop what they're doing when Baron's Lady Katherine enters the jumper ring. To see the 15.2-hand mare power her way around a course is a thing of beauty.
Owned by Paul Davis Smith and his wife Maria of South Carolina, the Wisconsin-bred Desert Norman mare has had great success on the Arabian circuit as well as at A and AA hunter/jumper shows. Katie was the 2007 Arabian Sport Nationals HA/AA Jumper Champion, and has also won several USEF Horse of the Year awards.
The accomplished and sweet-natured mare "is a truly a special part of our family,” he said.
Owned by Paul Davis Smith and his wife Maria of South Carolina, the Wisconsin-bred Desert Norman mare has had great success on the Arabian circuit as well as at A and AA hunter/jumper shows. Katie was the 2007 Arabian Sport Nationals HA/AA Jumper Champion, and has also won several USEF Horse of the Year awards.
The accomplished and sweet-natured mare "is a truly a special part of our family,” he said.
THE HORSE THAT STARTED IT ALL
I continue the work of the registry because of this amazing horse. This photo was taken on a summer day in 1977. I was 18, home from university, and had just bought a six-year-old project horse for $1000.
He’d been green broke, roughly handled, and repeatedly bucked me off out of sheer fear, before his keen intelligence kicked in and he began to trust - and then to do whatever I asked of him, with sensitivity, power, and boundless energy.
This photo was taken the first day he ever jumped a fence.
I had one brilliant season of showing with him, before I reluctantly sold him. I still faced three years away at university, and he was too good to be a pasture ornament.
Barry went on to have a brilliant career as a junior jumper, and open jumper based in Nova Scotia, Canada.
I never forgot him. He changed the way I looked at horses. He was no fluke. There was something special in his odd breeding. The Arab and Percheron breeds complemented each other beautifully. Barry was out of a grade percheron mare, and blood bay in color like his Arab sire, El Jari.
But it was to be 30 years, and several other horses later, before another Desert Norman came into my life, with the help of many internet searches.
This one, however, was a registered Desert Norman, bred by sporthorse breeder Peggy Stockbridge of Deansboro, N.Y – the founder of the Desert Norman Horse Registry.
He’d been green broke, roughly handled, and repeatedly bucked me off out of sheer fear, before his keen intelligence kicked in and he began to trust - and then to do whatever I asked of him, with sensitivity, power, and boundless energy.
This photo was taken the first day he ever jumped a fence.
I had one brilliant season of showing with him, before I reluctantly sold him. I still faced three years away at university, and he was too good to be a pasture ornament.
Barry went on to have a brilliant career as a junior jumper, and open jumper based in Nova Scotia, Canada.
I never forgot him. He changed the way I looked at horses. He was no fluke. There was something special in his odd breeding. The Arab and Percheron breeds complemented each other beautifully. Barry was out of a grade percheron mare, and blood bay in color like his Arab sire, El Jari.
But it was to be 30 years, and several other horses later, before another Desert Norman came into my life, with the help of many internet searches.
This one, however, was a registered Desert Norman, bred by sporthorse breeder Peggy Stockbridge of Deansboro, N.Y – the founder of the Desert Norman Horse Registry.
JONES NEW YORK
This is Jones New York, at one of his first dressage shows, a year after I bought him as a five-year-old in the spring of 2008, and brought him across the border to my home in Kingston, Ontario. He’d had a month of training, and lived a quiet life before coming to our boarding stable. But he has made great progress, has several shows under his belt, and is usually in the ribbons. Dressage definitely seems to be his talent.
Best of all, he is the wonderful family horse I hoped he be. My daughters can ride him, and goof around on him. Even the cat rides him! He has a very enduring personality and we love him dearly.
Page 3 photos
In between my dressage shows, my daughter Tori, 14, shows him in hack classes at local shows. It’s the first year of showing for both of them, and he has been a steady confidence-builder for her, despite his relative inexperience.
(They’re still working on their jumping!) I also hack him for hours, he’s steady in traffic and is green broke to harness.
Best of all, he is the wonderful family horse I hoped he be. My daughters can ride him, and goof around on him. Even the cat rides him! He has a very enduring personality and we love him dearly.
Page 3 photos
In between my dressage shows, my daughter Tori, 14, shows him in hack classes at local shows. It’s the first year of showing for both of them, and he has been a steady confidence-builder for her, despite his relative inexperience.
(They’re still working on their jumping!) I also hack him for hours, he’s steady in traffic and is green broke to harness.