Rowan

When Allegra Holm began university, she decided to stop riding to focus on her studies. It didn’t last long. She found herself at the barn often and looking at horses to purchase. In the spring of 2008, she found herself at Mandala du Lac in Sherwood Park speaking with horse breeder Laurie James.

Rowan was a 5 year old Swedish Warmblood dressage prospect and exactly what Allegra was looking for. Ever since beginning riding at Whitemud Equestrian Centre and purchasing her first horse, Bullwinkle, at the age of 11, Allegra was terrified of jumping anything over knee-height. But dressage appealed to her and she was able to progress up the levels to FEI Juniors on various horses before entering university.

So, in 2008, after giving up the idea of putting off riding while in university, she purchased Rowan. “When I first went to look at him I was impressed not only by the caliber of his breeding, but also the wonderful and talented horse that stood before me,” says Allegra.

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Kowboy

By the time you read this, a true hero will have been retired from a long and accomplished career with the Calgary Police Service. His name is Kowboy, and he is a registered Canadian sorrel gelding.

The end of September marks the end of Kowboy’s service with the Mounted Unit. He was acquired in the fall of 2003 and has been pounding the pavement of Calgary with Sergeant Derrick McGougan ever since.

In 2003, when Sergeant McGougan went to evaluate the three year old gelding from breeder Dennis Dyck in Rosemary, Alberta, he thought Kowboy would be a good fit in the unit. “He was laid back from the get go, really personable and liked to be around people,” Sergeant McGougan remembers.

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Travolta

After first being featured in this column in March 2011, Travolta and his owner Joni Lynn Peters have been training hard and been rewarded for all their efforts.

This last year has been a whirlwind for Joni and Travolta. They are both back from a successful winter tour competing in Florida as a declared Canadian Olympic athlete. Joni and Travolta were included in the top 7 in Canada to await notice of final team selection for the Olympics. Only five horse/rider teams went to London. While not quite making it to London, being short listed for the Olympics is a huge accomplishment.

“It is what I have worked toward all my life and yet was still a unique and profound experience,” says Joni. “It is one thing to train, and to compete at Grand Prix, it is quite another to do this amongst Olympic contenders in an Olympic year at Olympic selection trials. Simply to have qualified for this privilege was an accomplishment I am proud of. To be competitive while there was a great boost to my confidence. I have known my horse Travolta is a good one; to have this confirmed at this level by finishing top seven in the Nation means a great deal.”

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Lucasia Rosebud

It’s summer and many people’s thoughts turn to catching a local rodeo for the thrill of watching bull riding or a chuckwagon race. Brett Lucas’ then 3 year old son is no different, except he wanted to take the excitement further by driving a team in a chuckwagon race when he picked up the lines of a team of Percherons at the family’s ranch and cried out “Yah! Yah!”

One of the 2000 lbs horses hooked up was just a green youngster in training, but luckily for him, the other horse hooked up was Lucasia Rosebud, a dapple grey veteran and gentle giant who knew not to take off like she was running the “Half Mile of Hell.”

That, not surprisingly, is Brett Lucas’ favorite memory of Rosebud. Although, he has had many other opportunities to be proud of her. Rosebud has many accomplishments in the show ring as well.

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