Magician's Spell, aka Merlin, is the love of my life and one of the sweetest, most versatile, easy
going stallions I have ever met. At the age of 18, I liken him to a good wine--he just keeps getting
better with age.
My Aunt bought Merlin when he was 4 and showed and loved him for the next 10 years until she
gave him to me in 2002. She successfully showed him in plantation pleasure, garnering some
Plantation Pleasure Championships and Reserve Champions in both English and Western
during 1993 and 1994.
At the time that Merlin came to me, I was not interested in performing in any rail classes,
although this was mainly driven by lack of time. I was also living in Bellevue, Nebraska so most
shows were quite a haul for me. So, we did a lot of trail riding over the next year until Chad and I
moved to Florida. There, we bought a nice home on 5 acres--perfect for us, but I had to board
Merlin for a few months until the fence and stalls were finished. That's when I found Bill and
Mary Jane Benson, owner's of Willow Bend South in Cottondale, FL
(www.willowbendsouth.com). There, I fell in love with the idea of jumping, but wasn't sure Merlin
could do it. With Mary Jane's excellent instruction and encouraging friendship, we learned the
basic principles and got better and better, although I believe that Merlin got better faster than I
did and had to wait for my riding abilities to catch up! Eventually, we got good enough that we
started to compete in Willow Bend Schooling Shows. Merlin is a bit of a novelty at these shows
among all the Arabians, Warm Bloods and Trekahners, but has garnered his own cheering
crowd. We even started bringing home some blues.
Eventually, I started doing some research and found TWHBEA's
Versatility Program. I figured, "hey, why not, Merlin can do that."
And that was the birth of our journey towards a Supreme Versatility
Championship. Along that road, I found the National Walking Horse
Association. It is an "alliance of people committed to preserving and
fostering the natural abilities and welfare of the Walking Horse
(nwha.com)." I've met a lot of wonderful, helpful people through this
organization and have enjoyed NWHA shows immensely. Eventually,
we expanded our classes from Trail Obstacle, Model and jumping to
include barrel racing, pole bending and Water Glass. We are also
currently working on how to spin and do roll backs so we can enter
Western Reining classes as well. Merlin really enjoys the speed
events and consistently places well in them. Trail Obstacle s has been
our biggest challenge because I have, yet again, had to learn right
along side Merlin.
We are getting better and better in trail obstacle and actually placed 5th out of 14 horses at the
Blue Ridge Regional Walking Horse Championship In Fletcher, NC (June 2006). Merlin actually
got first place out of 7 in the Water Glass class at this show, but I was most proud of that 5th in
Trail because we had worked so hard for it.
Update (Sept 2007): Due to a bone spur in his right hock, Merlin is retired. My dream of a
Supreme Versatility Championship will have to be realized with his son, Magician's Pride, aka
"Junior."
Enjoy retirement Merlin, you deserve it!
