Nationally known judge, breeder joins WCAHA ranks
Judy Warner, longtime Arabian Horse Association judge and Region 15 delegate from Virginia’s Arabian Horse Association, has joined the Western Carolinas club following a move to Asheville, NC, in 2004. Warner has been a licensed judge of Arabian horses since 1977, judging the U.S. Nationals three times, as well as the Canadian and Brazilian Nationals. In addition, she judged twice more in Brazil, and in South Africa. She also holds judges’ cards for Friesians, Andalusians and both Miniature Horse associations. (Warner will judge the AMHR National show this September, and has judging responsibilities for all four breeds this spring and summer.)
In the 70s, Warner’s family was involved in breeding, raising and showing Arabian horses. Judy judged on the weekends and taught school during the week, with the whole family shared the work of maintaining a 52-acre farm in Orange County, Virginia, where they stood the first Serafix son in the East.
“My husband and I moved to Asheville following his retirement, to be near our daughter and grandson,” Warner says. “After operating our Arabian horse farm for 35 years, we felt it was time to reduce our horse responsibilities and move into town.”
Her involvement with Arabian horses has not diminished, however. Warner serves on two national committees—Sport Horse and Hunter/Jumper, and has volunteered to scribe at the upcoming Sport Horse Nationals in Virginia. In addition, she has performed a number of volunteer activities for WCAHA since her move, ranging from gatekeeper to conducting a sport horse seminar prior to the day-long sport horse activities at the club’s recent Class A show in Clemson, SC.
It’s possible that Warner’s wealth of experience could help to enhance existing WCAHA programs. She relates that in a club with more than 450 members, and at the height of breeding Arabians in the 1980s, she chaired the VAHA futurity committee which obtained state money to match whatever was given out for prize money, making the futurity very successful.
“Weanling classes for fillies and colts with 25+ entries were common,” she says.
Warner recognizes the difficulties facing AHA, and feels that the merger of the former Registry and IAHA is “the right way to go.” She cites communication with the membership as the first step in solving the problems the organization faces. And she sees individual members having the ability to make a difference at the local level. She suggests that members volunteer in any capacity needed, and especially in areas in which they are truly interested.
“Your perception might be that certain individuals are ‘power hungry,’ when in actuality, they are the ones who year after year have given their time and dedication to make the club successful. It could be that your ideas and contributions would be very welcome.”
Certainly Judy Warner’s ideas and contributions are more than welcome among those of us who make up WCAHA.
WCAHA Member Grace Greenlee Attends Stallion Show in Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Grace has just returned from a trip to the Netherlands where she attended the National Stallion Show and visited various breeding farms of Friesian horses, named for Friesland, the providence where they are bred. While most people associate this breed with the massive black stallion ridden by the character Navarre in the movie, “Ladyhawk,” the romance of the Friesian horse extends as far back as the Crusades during which this warhorse carried knights into battle and as recently as the modern show ring in which the Friesian is a highly competitive participant in high level dressage and show ring competition.
Like many breeds, the Friesian carries Arabian blood within its heritage. The cross of the modern day Friesian and Arabian makes an excellent mount, especially for a child or beginner rider who needs a larger sized yet quiet mount, as it combines the refined beauty, intelligence and endurance of the Arabian with the extreme gentleness and quiet attitude of the Friesian producing a large, dark, impressive but quiet horse with stamina and refined beauty and impressive action, with some lines displaying dressage ( sport horse) movement and others being extreme trotters breaking well over level and making excellent English pleasure and Country English pleasure competitors.
ans Souci is currently pursuing this cross in its Half-Arabian breeding program and will soon be the home of a young Frisian stallion. ( See the new Friesian page on the Sans Souci web site for further updates on Friesians and Friesian crosses at Sans Souci).
Grace’s trip provided research for further implementation of this wonderful equine cross and also a better understanding of the purebred Frisian horse. While in Friesland she attended the National Stallion Show in Leeuwarden . This show is one of the last steps in a long process necessary for approval of a Friesian stallion for breeding. Earlier in the year, more than 450 three-year-old Friesian stallions began a testing process for conformation, movement and structural and breeding soundness. By the beginning of the show, only 67 horses remained after the rigid elimination rounds. On Friday and Saturday, Jan 21st and 22nd, these 67 were judged both free and in hand. The number was further reduced to 23, which will go forward for 60 more days of training at a central training facility and then be further reduced in number, usually by half. The 10-12 remaining three year olds will be allowed to stand as stallions for four or five years with provisional status, and at that point be judged on the quality of their offspring. At that time, dependent on their offsprings’ quality, they will be either finally approved as breeding stallions or rejected and removed from the approved breeding list. Currently in the U.S., there are fewer than 20 approved Friesian stallions. There is a larger group of approved stallions in Friesland, but the number is still very limited.
Following the show, Grace was the guest of several of the breeding farms and training centers where she was able to view the results of the Friesian breeders’ individual programs and observe Friesians being trained both under saddle and for driving. After several days of farm visits, she spent a day touring Amsterdam before returning home.
News Flash: Two of Sans Souci Show Horses’ new Friesians arrived at the farm on February 14th--- the yearling colt, Melle, and the yearling filly, Maaike. The Ster mare, Viola A, is currently in quarantine in New York and arrived in North Carolina in mid-March along with the two year old filly, Jitske.
Meet Your Club Officers—Diane Justice
Last month we met Patti Rowe, WCAHA’s secretary. This month’s featured office-holder is Diane Justice, who has served as club treasurer for the past eight years.
Diane and her husband, Bryan, own six Arabians, two of which are half-Arabians. According to Diane, it’s their daughter’s ‘fault’ that they’re involved in Arabians, as the family purchased their first Arabian for her. (The daughter is now in her third year at vet school.)
The Justices joined WCAHA because it was “the club in their backyard.” They remain frequent participants in club-sponsored Arabian shows, with Bryan often very recognizable in his show hack attire. Both Bryan and Diane show and enjoy trail riding, and are planning to breed a mare this year.
Diane estimates that she spends a minimum of 20 hours on club business “even in slow months,” keeping track of the income and outgo of WCAHA funds. (Those of us who have attended board meetings know how carefully she scrutinizes those numbers!)
“We don’t have as much money now as we had ‘before horses,’” Diane laughs, “but I’ve come to realize that “the majority of our friends now are horse people.”