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Click to enlarge | Maggie
A growing interest in the sport of dressage and a riding teacher of that sport, Kaye Norment Smarslik, originally drew me from Quarter horses into the realm of sport horse breeding over 25 years ago. With Kaye’s help, I imported my first warmblood mare , an Oldenburg filly by Welt As in 1984. In 1987, I bred my thoroughbred mare to the Holsteiner stallion, Merano, and the rest “as they say” is history. From these two foundation mares we have developed the breeding program at Maggie’s Menagerie. We now stand two stallions licensed with the American Holsteiner Horse Association, Mr. Wizard and Conifer and two thoroughbred stallions, Ink Jet and Loyal Tendencies. We currently have about eight broodmares and produce three to five foals a year.
Also through Kaye, I became involved in the original meetings for restructuring and development of the American Holsteiner Horse Association in the 1980’s and have remained involved with that organization since. I have served as the Chair of the Breeding and Registration committee for most of the history of the organization and currently hold that position. In that capacity, I am responsible for planning and running the annual breeding stock approval tour, chairing two breeding committee meetings each year and addressing association breeding issues not handled in the central office between meetings. I recently attended the final two days of the Silver Creek Farms 30 day stallion testing during which time I participated in the launching of the new North American Sport Horse Federation. This federation will consist of most of the North American sport horse registries and will work internally and with USEF, USDF, USEA, and USHJA to further sport horse breeding in North America. In conjunction with Ken Ball of USEF, I headed a task force for the AHHA which lead to an agreement such that every foal that is registered with the AHHA now receives a life recording number with USEF. Since becoming involved with Holsteiners, I have trained and shown in the disciplines of dressage, eventing and hunter/jumpers. I spent many years teaching riding to beginners through intermediate. Some of my students have earned successes in the show ring and others have enjoyed just learning to communicate better with their horses. I appreciate and enjoy both and hope to continue to train both riders and horses for years to come. Go Back to Top | |
Click to enlarge | Abby
Abby has been riding and working around horses since she could walk. She got her first pony for her 4th birthday and hasn’t looked back since. She has grown up on the family farm and worked with the horses all along, learning how to handle stallions in the breeding shed at 11 years old. Eventually graduating from the small pony, Casper, to a larger pony, Blaze, who still lives on the farm and gives lessons. With Blaze, Abby experimented with many different riding disciplines but what they liked the most was barrel racing and jumping. Abby and Blaze did it all though including western pleasure, barrel racing, dressage, hunters, jumpers, and eventing along with galloping bareback around the farm of course. She eventually got her first Holsteiner to ride and began focusing on dressage. (Holsteiner`s are not very good at barrel racing!) From the dressage, Abby moved into eventing with the first Holsteiner she owned, Midnight Special. Abby and Midnight competed successfully up to Preliminary level eventing before deciding that she wanted to focus on the jumpers.
Making the shift to the jumpers has allowed Abby to not only work with some top trainers but also to watch them ride and teach as she believes that one can learn almost as much from studying a top trainer`s methods and teachings as from riding with them. While eventing, Abby had the opportunity to work with Bill Hoos and to clinic with David O`Connor. In the jumpers, she has worked with and studied Otis Brown, Buddy Brown, Mariano Bedoya, Greg Best, Ron Danta, and George Morris among others. Upon graduating from the University of Georgia in 2000 with a degree in Agribusiness, Abby turned professional and has been riding and training full time. She really enjoys the challenge of bringing along the farm youngsters and watching them blossom into great competitors. She feels that in her training and teaching, a solid, confident base is the most important thing you can give not only to a horse but also to a rider. Go Back to Top | |
Click to enlarge | Eric
Eric graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 1970 with a BSEE in electrical engineering. He and Maggie then moved to Maryland where he began working for Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1970. Eric also began working towards his masters in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1972. A job offer from Georgia Tech Research Institute in 1975 enticed he and Maggie to move from Maryland to the south where they settled on a small 5 acre farm in Canton, Georgia. Eric worked for Georgia Tech for the next 30 years until his retirement in 2005.
The growing number of animals on their small farm prompted Eric to go back to school again, this time to study veterinary medicine at the University of Georgia. Eric graduated from UGA with his DVM in 1988 and promptly began practicing veterinary medicine on the weekends and evenings working around his Georgia Tech schedule. In the meantime, Eric, his family, which now included two daughters, and all the animals, had moved from Canton to Ila where they purchased a larger farm. Upon retirement from Georgia Tech, Eric began the veterinary work full time. He continues to this day, his practice having grown considerably to encompass more clients and state of the art equipment. Go Back to Top | |
