Walking into the living room of Sue McMurray’s traditional style farmhouse, the first thing that draws your eye is a large framed image of a group of horses hung over the fireplace mantle.
“Do you see Jake in my picture?” Sue asks. As I look at the framed horses, I realize what Sue means. The middle horse bears an astonishing resemblance to Sue’s dun AQHA gelding, Jake. Sue and Jake have been together for three years now, and Jake fits into Sue’s life as pretty as a picture. The pair are the 2013 MM Versatility Buckle winners.
LTH Highbrow Power, aka “Jake,” was a green six-year-old when Sue bought him. “I was always drawn to Jake,” Sue says. “He was so cute, and I liked his soft eyes.” When Sue was paired with Jake’s owner, Donovan Palmer, at a MM Training and Consulting ground clinic, Sue got a chance to work with Jake and liked him even more. She mentioned to Donovan that if he ever wanted to sell Jake, she was interested. The next day, Sue got a call that Donovan would be willing to sell Jake to her.
Horses have always come into Sue’s life as if they were meant to be. Not being born into a “horsey” family didn’t prevent Sue from feeling a connection with horses from the time she was a tot. “I think I was born having a connection with horses and animals in general,” she says.
Sue has photos of herself at 3 years and younger on her toy bouncy horse eating dinner, watching TV, and “riding” pretty much all the time. Fortunately for the horse crazy youngster, Sue’s brother worked at a stable and had connections in the horse world. He found her a pony for free when Sue was 8 years old and the girl who was born to ride began her journey. After the pony came learning balance while riding behind a friend, then “Joe,” another free horse, helped Sue through adversity when her family was struggling with some hard times. At 14, Sue was trading chores for lessons with a hunter/jumper coach and was able to ride National Champion caliber show horses. Later, Sue leased Shad, an Arabian gelding that had been a bottle baby and was then a green 4-year-old. Although the owner wasn’t sure she could give up Shad, when she saw Sue’s barn, she felt that she had seen in her mind’s eye that this should be Shad’s home. Sue was eventually given ownership of Shad, and they were partners for 23 years. All in all, Sue says that four horses were provided for her to ride in addition to her coach’s horses as she was growing up. Sue says it was Divine intervention that enabled her to keep horses in her life.
With Jake, Sue has learned that she can do a lot of her horse’s training herself. She feels a training tune-up in the spring and regular lessons with Marcia, combined with at-home practice, is the best of both worlds. It has been a highly successful strategy, culminating in the duo being the top scorers in a combined three show series to win the Versatility Buckle award. Jake and Sue compete in English Equitation, showmanship and trail. Sue appreciates the focus on equitation for the Versatility Buckle, rather than pleasure.
“You don’t have to have the best horse. Jake isn’t a western pleasure horse. Just make the best of the horse you have,” she advises. In the future, Sue plans to continue Jake’s training and may expand into jumping and reining. Her big goal is to keep him willing and find things he likes to do.
“I feel horses are placed with me for a reason. I don’t buy and sell,” she says, “I have learned from each of them. I think if I ever get another one the same thing will probably happen.”
For the girl who was born to ride, the right horse will always be provided. Congratulations Sue and Jake!