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Half-Arabian
Wins Percheron World Congress Crossbred Halter Championship
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Robin
Mountjoy knew that her Arabian/Percheron gelding, AGF Shamrock Bey,
was a superb example of what a Half-Arabian sport horse gelding
should look like. After all he won all seven in-hand classes he
entered in the last two years and was Half-Arabian Sport Horse Gelding
Reserve Champion last July at the International Arabian Horse Association®
(IAHA®) Region 15 Show. But even Mountjoy was surprised at his
latest victory. On October 26, 2002, she showed the 16.1-hand gelding
to a championship at the Percheron World Congress in its first-ever
Crossbred Halter 3 Years and Over Championship in a class of 18
mares, geldings and stallions.
"Most
of the horses were Percheron/Thoroughbred crosses with a number
of Paint and Quarter horse crosses," says Mountjoy, who lives
in Richmond, Virginia. "He was the only Percheron/Arabian cross
that I knew of there."
To
be eligible, horses had to be at least Half-Percheron although according
to Mountjoy, the prize list stressed that they were looking for
horses with characteristics of a Warmblood.
Mountjoy
showed AGF Shamrock Bey like a sport horse in a dressage bridle
and braided mane, standing him square and trotting him out on a
relaxed rein. "When we came out of the ring, you would have
thought we had won the Olympics," says Mountjoy. "We were
bombarded by photographers and reporters."
True
to his Percheron dam Shamrock Jeski Miss, AGF Shamrock, or Shamu,
as he is affectionately called, has a rounded body with a large
arching neck, big bone and a big hip. He owes his beauty to his
Arabian sire BR Bey Medley, a Bey Shah+ grandson, who refined his
head, neck and body.
Mountjoy
had been looking for a Half-Arabian "supersized" version
of her purebred Arabian when she saw a hitch pulled by six Percherons
at the Virginia State Fair in September of 2000. Mountjoy decided
she wanted a Half-Arabian that looked like the rear horse. She lined
up a lease on a Percheron mare that she planned to breed to a purebred
Arabian stallion that spring until she met her ideal horse the next
April.
"I
was at the Bluegrass Classic Show in Kentucky when a friend of mine,
Helen Slater, asked me if I wanted to look at her new horse, an
Arabian/Percheron cross," says Mountjoy. "He was in a
blanket and hood so I didn't see the rest of him. All I saw was
the straightest legs and the four best feet I had seen in my life,
and I decided I wanted him."
The
gawky, short necked 3-year-old blossomed into a handsome sport horse,
who excels in hunter pleasure, dressage and sport horse under saddle.
Mountjoy's ultimate goal is to show him in sport horse show hack
classes. "I will show him at Sport Horse Nationals in 2003
in hand, but now that he's 5, I'll be concentrating on him as an
under saddle horse."
IAHA
will hold its first Arabian Sport Horse Nationals at the Virginia
Horse Park on September 17-21, 2003. Dressage horses will be required
to use nationals qualifications that are already in place, but qualifications
will be waived for hunter/jumpers and sport horses for the first
year so that horses currently showing in open circuits can participate.
All horses need to be Arabians, Half-Arabians or Anglo-Arabians
registered with IAHA, the Arabian Horse Registry of America or the
Canadian Arabian Horse Registry. Both rider and owner need to be
IAHA members. For more information on dressage qualifications, check
the 2002 IAHA Handbook or contact IAHA at 303-696-4500.
IAHA®
is a 28,000 member breed association that registers Half-Arabian
and Anglo-Arabian horses, administers more than $4 million in prize
money annually, produces national events, maintains official event
records , recognizes more than 400 Arabian horse shows and distance
rides and provides a ctivities and programs that promote Arabian
horse breeding and ownership. For in formation about Arabian, Half-Arabian
and Anglo-Arabian horses, call 303-696-4500, e-mail iaha@iaha.com
or visit www.iaha.com
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