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A Once In a Lifetime Horse
Margie and Graycie Mc Laughlin are the proud owners of Golden Essence. We are a mother and daughter team, since we bought our first horse 12 years ago. When Graycie was ten, her dad bought her first horse, an Arabian mare. Graycie has been riding since she was five years old. I, Margie, dreamt of owning a horse when I was a child, but never had the means to have one. Childhood dreams don't die, they just turn into adult dreams, and dreams do come true no matter how old you are. My husband then bought me a mare too!
We do not have our own farm, but board at great facilities. We are not in the horse business, just plain 'horse crazy' people gladly dumping hard earned money into a dream which turned into a passion. It didn't take me long to get 'bitten'. About 6 years ago I decided to buy a colt and two more mares. I wanted to breed the most beautiful horses in the world, Palomino Half Arabians. I was a huge fan of Trigger as a child, and I thought it would be phenomenal raising palomino Arabians. I found the two mares quite quickly, but it turned out to be a quest looking for the perfect purebred Arabian colt. I only knew that at this point he had to be a chestnut. I had no idea it would take me almost a year to find him. I spent many nights searching the Internet for colts, eliminating them one by one for one reason or another.
Finally, just by luck, I stumbled on a Canadian Sales web site. There I saw a text-only two line ad from Searles Arabians advertising a chestnut yearling colt. An excitement rushed over me. I just knew he was the colt I was looking for. I don't know how to explain it or why I knew, even without seeing a picture or video, but I knew he was the one. I have always accredited my find to heavenly intervention. Back then I had no idea just how 'golden' of a find this chestnut colt was. At that time my knowledge of Arabian horses was very limited but I did know about the great Khemosabi. After hearing that this colt had Khemosabi in his background, that sealed the deal for me. A few days later a check was on its way to Searles Arabians. It was the first step of the incredible journey this chestnut yearling would take us on.
We named our colt, GOLDEN ESSENCE.
It took Golden Essence almost a full week to get from Canada to New Jersey. The horse transport had layovers because of a huge snow storm that had crippled the northern states, and by the time he got to us he had lost a lot of weight. Golden Essence came off the trailer, thin and geeky with a full winter coat. But the first second I laid eyes on him getting off the trailer, he took my breath away. I thought he was the most gorgeous horse I had ever seen. But my first glimpse wasn't felt mutually by others, quite the opposite. The ridicule I got for buying a colt unseen and even afterwards when he arrived was unbelievable. Shortly afterwards we moved on to another farm.
It has been a long journey to get where Golden Essence is today. We had many setbacks which delayed his training a couple of years. Patience and perseverance are golden. It was good fortune for us the day we found Resi Wolfe, of Classic Arabians, a performance trainer. Resi liked his well behaved manners. He was a fast learner and wanted to please. I remember just after one month of training, she told us that he would do great things. And she was right, he has. Resi loves him as much as we do. Once she got him in the show ring, there was no stopping him. Every year he does better than the year before. He is just amazing. Jenny Wolfe has started him in dressage last year. First time in ring he achieved scores of 65.22 and 63.04.
Graycie also shows him. She has won in main ring halter and in sport horse, which happens to be his natural forte'. Under saddle he is a dream and a real pleasure to ride. She says he is her push button horse she always wanted. Because he is a kind and sweet stallion, they make an awesome team. What he has accomplished
in 3 short years, is astounding.
I still cannot believe that this 'once in a lifetime' horse is ours. It's hard to believe that this has been a seven year dream. Please no one pinch me. I might wake up! Michele Searles, I, Graycie, and Resi Wolfe have always believed in him. Now many others believe in him as well.
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