We just completed a road trip from Oregon to Michigan (where we're both from) and back. Not only did we absolutely enjoy the amazing beauty of this country during one of the prettiest months of the year, but we also had an incredible opportunity to meet a few more Gatsby offspring in person (a rare treat) as we journeyed through Iowa! We met Ghiradelli, owned by Hannah Ross and her mom, Cathy, Gianna, owned by eventing trainer, Cindy Burke, and GemAgain, also owned by Cindy Burke. Cindy was so gracious to wait for us to finally locate her barn in the dark and after an already long day take the time to pull her wonderful Gatsby babies out of their stalls for us! Gianna is a big, beautiful, black, and of course, sweet 2 year old mare, who will be starting her career as an eventer this spring. GemAgain is an adorable 2010 colt, also black, who had some rough beginnings to his life due to an illness, but is now healthy and SOOO sweet! Here are some remarks, sent to us via Facebook, from one of Cindy's students, Lizzie Sauter, about her experiences with Gianna and GemAgain:
I am a friend of Hannah Ross's, and Cindy Burke is who I've trained with for many years. She told me you came out to see Gia and Gem! I am absolutely in love with both of those young horses, and I have been the one helping Cindy do light work with Gia and was the first one to sit on her this summer. It is definitely a credit to your amazing stallion how great her mind is and how lovely she is going to be! I just had to write you a little note and let you know how much all of us at the barn have enjoyed having Gatsby babies around! Hopefully someday I can breed my Thoroughbred to Gatsby as well!
It was so gratifying to get these comments from someone out of the blue! One of the best parts about visiting our wonderful clients in Iowa was the opportunity to ride Ghiradelli, a 4 year old AMAZING gelding, owned by Hannah Ross and her mom Cathy. WHAT A THRILL for me (Lori)!!! This was my first time riding one of Gatsby's babies, and after 5 years of owning Gatsby and sending out breedings to approximately 150 people (at least) in that time, it was a long-awaited experience! I was floored with him! Not only was he extremely cute and sweet, but he was so light, accepting of the contact, sensitive, up, "floaty" in his gaits, elastic, and just a wonderful, happy-go-lucky fellow, who was happy to do anything that was asked of him! His owner, Hannah Ross, started him herself and is thrilled beyond belief with him, remarking that he is the easiest youngster she's ever started. That is not an unusual thing for us to hear! Hannah is also a student of Cindy Burke's, so she has assisted with starting young horses for several years. Hannah's plan for Delli is to get him started as an eventer. Judging by his wonderful movement, he should be able to clean up in the dressage phase for sure! Hannah and Cathy said that Delli's dam was pretty flat in her movement and "so-so" in her conformation, so we know that Ghiradelli was definitely stamped by our wonderful stallion! It was thrilling for me to get on a green 4 year old and realize that he is already starting out in the same spot that it often takes people years to develop with their horses.
In reflecting on that experience, I realized that Ghiradelli is the type of horse that pretty much everyone wants. He's happy to do his job - in fact, he even seemed to be really enjoying himself! He's quiet, safe, easy to ride and certainly versatile enough to go in many directions. It just confirms for us what an incredible gift we are able to offer people through Gatsby. Most people live busy, stressful lives, and at the end of a long day, people who ride want to be able to go out to the barn and enjoy a wonderful ride on a wonderful, safe horse. What could be more therapeutic than that? And when you add talent and movement to the mix, you have a safe horse that you can enjoy AND be competitive with! It never ceases to amaze us what an incredibly amazing sire Gatsby is even though he is bred to a wide variety of different mare types. His consistency is truly uncanny!
