American Wild Horse Conservation on the Big Stage
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Over the past weekend, American Wild Horse Conservation had the opportunity to attend the Desert Circuit Three Hunter/Jumper show at Desert International Horse Park (DIHP). AWHC also had the absolute honor of being the title sponsor for the Grand Prix event on Saturday evening.
Why was AWHC there? After all, we don’t ride or show horses, we’re on a mission to keep wild horses free – but what better community to share our message with than the equestrian community?
We are fortunate in that one of our most devoted ambassadors, Jenni Kayne, is involved in the show jumping world and Jenni invited us along to share space in her pop-up event during the DIHP weekend. She also generously donated a portion of her weekend proceeds to AWHC, as did Callidae and Kimerlee Curyl.
During the weekend, we met dozens of people — passionate horse people! — who did not know about the plight of wild horses; we were encouraged by their passion and willingness to help spread our message.
But perhaps the most exciting part of the weekend was having Blazey with us.
Blazey is a five-year-old mustang who was rounded up from the Onaqui Mountains in Utah, rescued and then gentled by trainers at Montgomery Creek Ranch, the refuge that is owned by AWHC board member Ellie Phipps Price.
Our goal was for Blazey to serve as an ambassador for his wild kin, spreading awareness about their plight and threats to their survival in the West. Blazey was a big hit at our Trivia Night on Thursday, our “Sip n Shop” on Friday afternoon and at our “Meet the Mustang” event on Saturday.
His trainer, Elizabeth “Boo” Geisse, has worked hard to bring Blazey along, and boy did he show off his skills on Saturday in the minutes leading up to the Grand Prix event. That’s when Boo led him into the massive arena and showed him off to thousands of spectators. He behaved like a prince.
You would never have known that just a few years ago he was rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management. Thankfully he found his way to Montgomery Creek Ranch – and Boo, of course.
Saturday evening was thrilling as Belgium’s Jos Verlooy took the CS14* title, riding FTS Killossery Konfusion – aka Kon – to victor. He won by nearly three seconds (you can read the announcement about the winner and see the stunning final jump here). Our own Suzanne Roy got to congratulate the winners, and Jos took his victory lap with Kon adorned in a gorgeous cooling blanket adorned with AWHC branding!
We’d like to offer a big shout out to the folks at Desert International Horse Park who provided us with an amazing opportunity and made us feel so welcome and like a part of their equestrian community. We hope it was the first of many events AWHC participates in as we outreach to the large community of horse-loving Americans - natural allies in our fight to save the last of America’s wild herds! .