Youth

Will loved the “little horses”, as he would call them, and was actually the one that got us started in the miniature horse business. We were living on a 3,000 acre cattle ranch in Beeville TX, when a friend mentioned to Will that we should look into the miniature horses. A few weeks later, Will was reading the Corpus Christi newspaper, and told me about a miniature horse auction that was being held at the Monestary Of St. Claire, in Brenham, TX.. When I saw Will hook the trailer up to his truck, I knew we were coming home with a horse.

The auction was fun, and I purchased my first mini, Lucky Four Lolipops N Lilacs, from Wade Burns. I learned later that Ray Zoercher was bidding against me, and wanted to know “Who’s that B_ _ _ _!!” To this day, he reminds me that he did tell me congratulations.

Will loved to go to the Auctions, and I never knew what he would bid on. There was one mare in one of the Event Sales, that he really liked (for it’s color!!), and told me that he was going to buy it if I got up to go to the bathroom. I remained in my seat until the next Lot was on stage. One more thing, I had to be careful about the notations I would make in sale catalogs. Will would see something I wrote, thinking I wanted the horse, and he would start raising his hand.

Will tried his best to turn Beeville into a miniature horse farm, but it just didn’t fit. The numbers grew, and we knew we had to look for a smaller place that we could manage. Will wanted my “little horse farm” to be the best he could provide, and he took a lot of pride in designing the pasture layout, and maintaining them.

Will loved foaling season, and would hurry out to the barn in the middle of the night to see the newest baby. His biggest thrill was when Voltaire won his first World Grand Championship, with Ray showing him. He would tell me, “You can always buy a winner, but how special would it be to raise your own?”. From that point on, he waited to hear how all the shows went, and how “we” did. He was proud and very happy that I was involved in something so wonderful. He told me several times that he wanted me to stay involved after he was gone.

Will started having a few accidents around the farm; one very serious on his bulldozer, and had to be life flighted to Houston. After that incident, he seemed to lose a lot of his spirit, but kept pushing me to take care of the “little horse” business. Many of you know that Will’s health issues became serious, and he spent fifteen weeks in the hospital before passing away at home. We were in the hospital on Valentine’s Day, and a beautiful bouquet of Roses with balloons arrived. I thought someone had sent Will flowers, but he had somehow managed to get the flowers delivered to me for Valentine’s Day. I was shocked because Will NEVER recognized what he called “man-made holidays”. In 39 years, I had never received valentines, so this was very special. He would tell every nurse that came into his room that “those flowers aren’t for Valentine’s Day, I got them to let Martha know how much I appreciate what she’s doing for me.” That will be one of my very special memories. He did one more thing while we were spending our last week in the hospital. I showed him a picture of a beautiful filly by Aloha Acres Silent Partner, that I saw posted on facebook. Will told me that he wanted me to buy that filly, and keep enjoying the horses, and be happy.

EDITORIAL: WHERE HAS ALL THE FUN GONE AT OUR SHOWS? This editorial may sound like a very mundane and trite topic that everyone talks about all the time. But it is an important topic that should concern all of us, because it is a major factor in our industry that affects all of us, whether we are big or small breeders, trainers and youth or amateurs. It is a major factor in the continued success and growth of our industry. I have always told my clients that showing horses successfully is too much work if you are not having a good time doing it.

One of the problems as I see it is the loss of a lot of our amateur exhibitors at the AMHA shows. For what ever reason (This is another topic for debate) for this loss it leads to a polarization of the training farms and you have much less camaraderie at the shows since the different groups don’t seem to intermingle. The many amateurs are the backbone of our industry and seem to be the glue that holds us together. Many times shows offer show parties and very few people attend. Maybe this is caused by the intense competition we find at the shows today. I have always been very competitive but it seems that many of our exhibitors have taken this competition to be the end all for attending the shows. Owners and trainers want to win but let’s put this into perspective, you can’t plan to win every class at every show. If that were the case you would loose all exhibitors and it would be a show just for you and you would be there by yourself. If someone is that desperate to win, they need to rethink their priorities and think about our industries future.

The economy is another reason, as it limits the number of shows some people can attend and they are desperate to qualify their horses for the Worlds. When the economy was good and people were selling horses, they could afford to go to the shows and try to promote their own farms. Today you see a down flux in selling horses and this has become a problem for the amateur, big breeder and trainers alike. This limits what you can and are willing to do. The economy is not the only reason that horses are not selling, we, the members of the associations have had to bare the brunt of promoting our horses for years, and our association have never taken an active role in either promoting or marketing the Miniature Horse. It is way past time for them to step up and start a promotion campaign of our horses. In these economic times they not only owe us the responsibility of these actions, but it is mandatory for the them to do so to secure the future of our industry. Without shows and members you have no Association. Another reason is that we have been so successful in breeding Miniatures that they are not the rare commodity they once were and the old adage of supply and demand rears its ugly head.

The World Show, another problem. Is it a marathon or function that culminates the year’s activities in competition and celebration? The competition is there but where is the celebration? AMHA does nothing to make the biggest show of the year fun! When things are done it is done by members and most of the time funded by members. The futurity, the gelding incentive, the World Sale, the international room, the supreme champion class and festivities; all begun by members. It’s time AMHA takes the bull by the horns and plan activities and programs to make the World Show something to remember! Another major World Show problem is the lack of fun and fellowship due to all the pressures of the measuring problem that AMHA caused-all on their own. If AMHA would impose the rules on everyone equally, I think the farms would visit and plan more fun evenings. As it is, it’s “us against them” – it’s terrible, and has caused a BIG riff between breeders, trainers and exhibitors. When we have to have guards posted, and video cameras on our stalls, how would you expect there to be a fun, light atmosphere?? There in the guards and video cameras also ad to the depressed atmosphere at our show. Do these people really think they are necessary? If it is true, that makes for a sad state that we are in! Another major problem is the lack of good honest and knowledgeable judges. This has been a problem for as long as I have been in the Miniature business (over 20 years). There are many reasons for this problem but I will not hash it out here at this time.

These are but a few of the major reasons that I believe have caused our shows to not be fun anymore. Maybe you have some incite into this problem. We would love to hear from you, let us hear your ideas.

ASK RAY??? Send in your questions for them to be answered in our news letter, if you don't want an honest answer don't send it in!!

Are Miniature Horses a breed or just registered because of their respective height. If they are a breed then why does a horse produced by two registered parents lose its papers if it matures at 34 ½” or more as an example? Shouldn’t these horses retain their papers and be allowed to be used as breeding stock? John Cherry sent this question in.

Well here goes! There is a lot in answering these questions and a lot of differing opinions. First of all The Miniature Horse IS a height BREED. Most breeds of horses have specific type qualifications for each individual breeds, and most disregard height in the breed specifications. Each breed is set apart by their differences as to type. Such as the type of a Quarter Horse if different than that of an Arabian,etc. In the Miniatures we have all styles of horses, ranging from the chunky draft type to the refined animal like that of the Saddlebreds. Most equine breeds over the years has tried to produce a more refined horse such as the Morgan, Saddlebreds, Quarter Horses, Arabian and Shetlands to mention a few. We in the Miniature Horse business have followed the same trend as the big breeds have done and have tried to breed refined animals with log necks and beautiful heads as well as good and correct conformation. Since there is no specific type for Miniatures, personal preference by breeders and exhibitors, with Judges and marketability playing a very deciding role in the development of the Modern Miniature Horse as we see it today. Our Standard of Perfection is a rather generic standard lacking in any substance of type, this in itself tells us that we ARE A HEIGHT BREED.

In the early development of the Miniature Horse, our early proponents of the Miniature Horse were trying to reduce height to miniaturize their animals, so any that were produced that got to big were disregarded so as to keep the gene pool more consistent in producing Miniature Horses. This was necessary to produce the animals that were the forerunners of Miniatures that we have today. There is one contingent that strongly agrees with our early breeders and believes that we should take away the papers of any horse that goes over 34”. They also feel that in order to combat supply and demand, we have too many registered each year and that by allowing the B horses to be registered would flood the market. Especially in this depressed economy we are living in today. They feel that our gene pool is adequate with what we have now. Another group of people believe that we should allow all the horses that are between 34” and 38” as breeding stock only. Another contingent believes that they should not only be used as breeding stock but should be able to be shown in their own height classes such as a B division. AMHR has these classes, AMHA doesn’t. These people believe that the gene pool is still lacking the qualities that the bigger horses can bring to our Miniatures and these qualities are necessary for the future development of our Miniatures. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? What do I think? Each side of the issue feels extremely strong about their opinions. I can see the pros and cons of each side of this issue. I wonder if this is like the long lasting controversy, which came first the chicken or the egg. I feel personally think we should allow the 34” to 38” horses in AMHA, not only for breeding but for showing also. AMHR already does! I believe that it would be a shot in the arm for AMHA in registrations and show participation. We definitely need something to encourage people to show as our shows have declined in numbers each year. It would encourage people to show more and give them a chance to do something with their horses that go over 34”.

Let’s face it, they are being used in breeding programs all over the world now so why not legitimize them and gain from them. I am not looking at this issue as a purist, but as a person that makes a living from these little horse and knows that something has to be done to encourage more participation and encourage more new people to our breed. I believe that this is for the overall betterment of our horses and our association. Well these are my opinions! Whats your take on the situation, let us know!

Ray, could you please explain the selection and fit of a show Halter? Merry Wick sent this question in.

The selection of a show halter is personal taste to a point. First you must take a close look at your horses head. Is it short, long, wide, narrow, plain or exotic? What kind of halter can I use make my horses head look its best. First, if you horse is lucky enough to have a very beautiful and delicate head with expressive eyes and a natural good look, you don’t want to detract form it’s natural beauty. Don’t use a large bulky halter with to much on it in the way of large conches, beads, jewels and large nosebands that take away form its beauty. Let its own head speak for itself! If your horse’s head is larger or has more of a straight profile then you need a halter that enhances the head. A wider nose ban would be better, use a larger Concho. Jewels and silver and gold on the noseband and check pieces or a personal choice. If used they should not be so large that that they overshadow the horse. Tassels are a no no! When fitting the halter to the horses head make sure it’s not too large and to small and force it to fit the horse. The halter needs to fit first of all so that it’s not to big and it’s taken up as far as it can and you have a long strap coming out of the buckle or too short so that you don’t have it on the last hole with no strap coming out of the buckle. It is important that the noseband is not to short or too long. When it covers the nose and comes down to the check bones it should be alright. The placement of the noseband on the horses head depends on the length of the horses head form eye to nose. If the horse has a proportionedt head then the noseband should fit one finger below the cheekbones. If the horse has a longer head then it should be appositely two fingers below the noseband (check it and see what works). This gives the appearance of a shorter head. If you use a throatlatch, make sure it is very thin (chain or horsehair), and not to short or too long. These are just guideline for you to try. Check each and then look at your horse and see if it looks good and if not sure get someone opinion that you can trust to know.

I started riding horses when I was 13 years old, my first was Bess and she cost $100.00. I always had the horse bug, but with all the pleasure riding I did on Bess it just grew stronger. A string of several horses followed Bess. I started working at a Saddlebred and Walking Horse stable. I thought it was a privilege to clean stalls and rake the isle way (a big one); just to be around the horses. Eventually the trainer took a liking to me and started teaching me to ride right. Soon I was traveling to shows with them and qualifying some of the owner’s horse in the amateur classes before they arrived on Saturday night to show their horses in the Stakes classes. Often times I would win the qualifying class and the owner didn’t win his stakes class. Some time later they started to ask me to show their horses in the stakes classes and they could just sit in their private boxes with their wives in their minks and their cocktails in their hand and watch me win. It was a different time back then, it was quite the social event. It was also an exciting time in my life and one I will never forget. This was the beginnings!

Ray and Bess Madge Glenn and Glenns General Patton as baby Ray & SAR Fadl Halim

After a family move, I was in Jackson Mississippi and made friends with the owner and trainer of an Arabian farm. This began a life long passion for Arabian Horses. In 2009 I had to put down my 37 year old Arabian mare that had produced many champions for me. I traveled to many shows and began showing Arabians. While in Jackson I studied Dressage under the tutee ledge of an instructor from the Spanish Riding School. I never competed in Dressage but I must say it was the basis of all my riding from there on out. Upon graduating from college I moved to Florida and showed Arabians and taught school. Soon I took a job as manager and trainer of a farm there. While showing for the farm in Florida I was offered a job as manager and trainer of a very prestigious Egyptian Arabian Farm in Texas. After three years I took another job in the same position at another farm and stayed there for five years. Then the Miniature Bug Bit~!!

After meeting Don and Beverly Burdette I ended up showing some mini’s for them. In ’87 we were National Champion with Don and Beverly’s filly, High Hopes Indian Summer. In ’89 we showed two more of their horses and won a National Grand Champion Jr. Stallion and Reserve Grand Champion Jr. Filly. From there one thing led to another and I was in the Miniature Horse Business. At first I was just a training farm and bred just a few mares. As the years progressed I obtained a few mares and was looking for a stallion. We were showing a horse for Buck and Madge Glenn at the time and on a visit to their farm I spied a Mare named Komoko Lora Lee, I must say she was beautiful. I was showing a winning young colt by their stallion, NFCS Husselers Star, so I was familiar with his quality. When they showed me another young colt that they wanted me to show out of “Lora Lee” I silently flipped! I knew I had to own that colt, I knew in my heart of hearts that he was special! I took him home in training with the understanding that he was for sale. I didn’t take to long until I called up Madge and purchased the young colt-GLENN'S GENERAL PATTON.

At that time I had already opened Wind Flight and had already established quit a good reputation for winning, BUT “Patton” put my breeding program on the map as a breeding farm, he consistently produces foals that are beautiful, elegant and extremely correct. I was just a training farm starting a new business and could not afford the luxury of buying the best mares in the country for him, although I purchased the best I could afford, usually with the help of Don & Beverly. Now through the years I feel my broodmares are exceptional.

During this early time we raised a filly named, WF Vanessa. She was sired by the stallion Bond Chauncey, which I owned at the time. She was special and won many championships in the few times she was shown, I kept her and it all came full circle in ’99 while two of her “Patton” foals took her to a Reserve National Champion Produce of Dam win and they both were sired by General Patton! Another one of my great broodmares, WF Silver Rose, won National Champion Produce Of Dam with two other Patton foals in another year.

The first time that “Patton” won National Champion Get of Sire in ’97 I was thrilled at the honor bestowed on such a young stallion. To repeat this win in ’99 and again in 2000 made most of my dreams come true and supported the direction and the quality of my breeding program.

Glenns General Patton’s offspring have won more World Grand Championships in Halter as any other stallion in the history of our breed. So as not to be caught sleeping I had added to our stallion power by purchasing the stallion, the Buckeroo son Little Kings Buck Zeus. Zeus added another dimension to my breeding program and the Patton/ Zeus cross was started. This cross has produced many World Champions and the 2009 World Grand Champion Stallion is a product of this Patton/Zeus cross.

Another very important part of the Wind Flight History is the partnership of Will and Martha Hickham on our stallion, Glenns General Patton. There is no one that I would have undertaken a partnership with other than ERL Miniatures. Their philosophy and love of their horses mirrors Mine. Not to mention they are some of the finest people you will ever meet. With the foaling of a young bay pinto stallion, ERL Voltaire we were able to continue the success of the Patton breeding when he was named World Grand Champion Jr. Stallion, followed by being named the World Grand Champion Senior Stallion. Voltaire is sired by the General Patton son, WF Sweet Revenge. Now Voltaire is known for siring World Champions and the success of the Patton bloodline continues on..

Besides Don & Beverly there have been many of my clients and Friends that have made my success in the show ring and breeding shed possible. For this I will always be grateful. Here are but a few of those people. Our history could not be complete with out mentioning Jane Macon. She was the second Miniature client I ever had and is still a client and a dear friend. Another important person in Wind Flights history is Evelio Andrade and his growing family. I can never thank him enough for his part in the development of our program and making me a grandpa!! No one can forget Melissa entering the ring at Nationals when she was four years old and winning World Champion. It’s a moment I will never forget. She has won many World Championships since that first one. Allison Lively has been a right hand and friend for many years and aided me in the production of many of my large sales. The list of friends and clients goes on and on, and we could never have succeeded in this venture without them.

When I started in this Miniature business I wanted to win a World Grand Championship, I did many times! I wanted to raise a World Grand Champion, I did many times! I wanted to produce some quality shows and sales. With the help of Don and Beverly Burdette we produce The Miniature Event and the World Show Sale. The Miniature Event was an innovative program that was new to the Miniature Horse World, it was a success and we held it for eight years. For those of you who have never attended The Miniature Event it was an extremely fun weekend. We had the toughest show in the country, a sale eclipsed by none other, seminars, demonstration and many parties. Here again, I did it!! I’m proud of Wind Flights accomplishments and thank all the people that have helped in my development.

Mostly I want to thank my little friend, Patton. He is 19 this year and still siring great foals. I have kept an outstanding little son of his to carry on his tradition and he is WF Pattons Serpico. I expect great things from him.

Now I am looking forward to breeding and showing many more champions. Every spring is like Christmas as the foals arrive, it’s like opening up a new package every time.

WF VOLTAIRES VERTIGO (ERL Voltaire x Wittmaacks Bashful Brittany) Normal Price$7,500.00--Newsletter Special $5,000.00

This is a very special colt, he is sired by the Jr and Sr. World Grand Champion Stallion ERL Voltaire. Voltaires sire, WF Sweet Revenge a World Champion, is a son of Glenns General Patton. Patton's offspring have won more World Grand Championship title than any stallion in the history of our breed. He is a three time World Champion Get of Sire winner and is rated second in the all time standing of moneys earned in the World Futurity. Vertigo's dam, Bashful Brittany has been one of my most outstanding producing mares. She is the dam to WF Pattons Southern Comfort and WF Voltaires Nizhone to name but a few. She impeccably bred having two crosses to Gold Melody Boy. He not only has a show career in front of him but also will be a great breeding animal carrying on the legacy of his illustrious ancestors. He is registered AMHA and AMHR and is AMHA Futurity Nominated. Contact: Ray Zoercher, Wind Flight 936-675-1354 (e mail) windflight@consolidated.net

ERL RAMBOS RECURIT (JC'S Rambo x JC'S Jitterbug) Normal Price $4,500.00--Newsletter Special $3,500.00

A very handsome, refined, bay pinto colt by Rambo out of Jitterbug! "Recruit" is a colt that could make a name for himself, and a breeding farm. He is ASPC/AMHR registered and futurity nominated. His sire has been show twice and was Grand Champion both times, including the Area 5 Show. Contact: Martha Hickham, ERL Miniatures 979-865-3313 (e-mail) martha@erlminiatures.com