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 1997 US National Top Ten Stallion Halter AAOTH!!!
Also made the finals in Hunter Pleasure AAOTR and finished
11th in the standings. This charismatic once-in-a-lifetime
stallion was purchased from Al-Marah Arabians at ten months
of age. The tragedy of the untimely loss of this horse is
acutely painful. Gypsy was not only a stallion of exquisite
beauty, but possessed a soul and spirit that touched all
that were privileged to know him. He left me much too soon,
but will live on in my heart and his sons and daughters.
There were some exciting moments in 1989 when
he went Top Five Sweepstakes Colt in Region XIV and, in
1990, when he won his two-year-old class at North Augusta.
Gypsy was also campaigned most successfully in halter in
the West by Al-Marah. His forty-some foals have inherited
his extreme type and are long-legged with the uprightness
needed for today's halter and performance competition. The
first classes of the Al-Marah Futuity in Tucson (1994) and
in Lexington, Kentucky (1995) were won by Gypsy Village
foals.
Hattaras BWA, chestnut gelding out of an Imaraff
daughter and one of Gypsy's first "children", went Wisconsin
High Pont Champion Western, 5 and Under, in 1995. Koweta
Kingston, 16-hand grey gelding, is currently being shown
Hunter Pleasure and Side Saddle garnering blues and Championships
for his Junior owner. Thus, this stallion was one of those
rare individuals that was both a fantastic show horse, himself,
and an exceptional sire of halter an performance get. "Gypsy"
resided with Johnny Ryan at Springwater Farms in Stockton,
New Jersey, from 1995 through 1997 and was campaigned extensively
in 1996 in Open and Amateur. He went Grand Champion Stallion
(Open), Reserve Champion Stallion AOTH in Asheveille, North
Carolina, Region XII Reserve Champion Stallion AOTH, and
Reserve Grand Champion Open Halter, Springfield, Massachusetts!
Continuing his winning ways in 1997, he won two Stallion
Halter AOTH classes and was Champion Amateur Halter in one
show and Reserve Champion in the other. Also, he went Top
Five Region XII Amateur Halter. Gypsy and I were Reserve
Champion Hunter Pleasure in New Jersey and Top Five Region
XV, culminating in our big win at US Nationals. I experienced
an incredible high when we went Champion Amateur Halter
in October 1999, at the Arabians In The Park show in Georgia.
"Good-bye, my Gypsy. I had to let go
of your reins to give you your Silver Wings."
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