ALBANY, Ore. (AP) - Staci Larson had a horse she had been expecting to train for several years for her first entry into the World Championship Appaloosa Show.
It didn’t work out that way. The horse developed an illness and died unexpectedly, leaving Larson without a horse of her own for the first time since the fifth grade.
The Albany resident found a likely little colt in Coos Bay through an online search and made arrangements to see him just before Christmas 2010. When she arrived, however, he wasn’t quite what she expected.
“He was super hairy and a little bit wild, and he was afraid of people,” Larson told the Albany Democrat-Herald (https://bit.ly/2f4AWqv ).
But her trainer thought he moved well and had good structural conformation, so she took a chance and brought him home with her.
Fast-forward six years and Larson, 32, and her horse, Tiz a Miracle - or just plain Charlie to Larson - are now 2016 World Championship winners in two of the six divisions they entered.
Larson rode Charlie to victory in Novice Non Pro Western Horsemanship and Novice Non Pro Hunt Seat Equitation, also earning a reserve championship in Novice Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle and placing in the top five in each of her three other divisions.
She also received a special Novice Non Pro High Point belt buckle for placing highest overall in terms of points earned.
“I was a little bit emotional, the first one, because I’d been waiting for this horse show my entire life, almost,” Larson said. “It kind of felt like it was a dream.”
The show took place Oct. 19-30 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Larson and Charlie traveled separately: she by plane so she wouldn’t have to miss many teaching days in her fifth-grade class at Lafayette Elementary School, he by trailer with friends who were already planning to drive to the show. He was on his way home as of Nov. 4.
Larson said she felt a little intimidated at first when she read about all the other competitors in the show paperwork.
“I thought, oh, man. What am I doing?” she said.
But then she met everyone and felt better. “I realized, I do belong here. I’ve worked hard and prepared just like these people.”
Larson has been preparing for working with horses even before birth, considering her mother, also an avid horsewoman, went riding while pregnant with Larson and her twin sister, Lynda Mathews.
The girls grew up around horses and received their first pony at age 5. He was “ornery,” however, Larson said, and their mother decided it would be horses only from then on.
Larson received her first horse, a paint, in fifth grade as a 4-H project, then her first Appaloosa two years later.
The paint had gone lame and Larson had a friend with a mare who’d given birth to a little filly, Cassie. She bought Cassie and had her until Cassie was 23.
Cassie’s colt was the one Larson had intended to train. After his death, she decided to look for another Appaloosa.
In addition to their distinctive appearance, the breed tends to be sturdy, smart and fast. Plus, Larson said, “I like that my horse doesn’t look the same as everybody else’s horse.”
Appaloosas are generally known for spots on their rumps, but can come in all colors and styles. Some have just a light speckle around their faces, called mottling, and some are completely one color with stripes on their hooves. Charlie is a leopard Appaloosa, which means he’s freckled all over like a Dalmatian.
He tends to be very excited when he first arrives at a show, bucking and pawing, but when he settles down and gets to work, he’s all business, Larson said.
Her next goal is to ride him in the 2019 World Champion Appaloosa Show. Larson will be 35 by then and eligible to ride in the 35-and-older division, which a competitor can do in addition to the general events.
Daily riding and the specialized training for a world championship takes a great deal of time and effort, she said. “You might as well go when you can do more things.”
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Information from: Albany Democrat-Herald, https://www.dhonline.com
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