MEMBERS’ PHOTOS
Everyone wants to see your Desert Norman and hear your stories. E-mail your photos and information to desertnorman@cogeco.ca
Robin Mountjoy of Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A. with her champion Desert Norman gelding, Shamrock Bey
A DESERT NORMAN MEDIA STAR
Shamu (show name Shamrock Bey) started winning the day he first stepped into the show ring as a three-year-old, not long after he was purchased by Robin Mountjoy of Richmond, Virginia.
As one of the very first registered Desert Normans, Shamu’s long list of championships, coupled with his unique breeding and stunning looks, soon attracted the interest of the equestrian media. The 16.1 hand gelding has been featured in several articles in various equestrian publications including Dressage Today, Equine Journal, Arabian Horse World and Modern Arabian Horse.
“With the strength, power and gentle-giant attitude of the Percheron coupled with the stamina, lightness, beauty and fire of the Arabian, he is the best of both worlds,” said Robin Mountjoy.
“Shamu is not only talented and beautiful, but has a wonderful disposition. He spent Mother’s Day 2009 being the lead-line pony for both adults and children at a farm cookout, after which all the kids gave him a bubble bath for 2 hours,” she added.
Shamu was born in 1997 out of the registered Percheron mare Shamrock Jeski Miss by the Arabian stallion BR Bey Medley, a Bey Shah son.
The Sport Horse division of the Arabian Horse Association was just gaining ground and the size, substance, movement and temperament of Shamu were perfect for this new world.
He was consistently showing and winning the Half-Arabian Sport Horse in-hand classes along the East Coast, winning these classes with nines on his feet and legs and several perfect 10s on his walk.
Shamu showed and won many dressage classes and hunter pleasure classes as a three- and four-year-old and was virtually unbeatable in the sport horse ring.
In 2002 Shamu attended The World Percheron Congress where he competed as a five year old in the Percheron Crossbred class against 18 finalists including mares, gelding and stallions. Shamu was named World Percheron Congress Champion Crossbred.
The following year, Shamu entered the first Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in Lexington, Va. He competed in five classes earning one National Championship, two Reserve National Championships and two top tens.
At age 12, Shamu returned from a well deserved break to win the 2009 Region 15 Half Arabian Sport Horse Gelding ATH Championship and the Reserve Championship in the Open Half-Arabian Gelding class with his 17-year-old handler, Brittany Carr of Dinwiddie, Va.
He will be competing in 2010 with Robin in Half-Arabian Hunter Pleasure 40 & over.
A DESERT NORMAN DRESSAGE STAR
MaryJo Hoepner of Colorado Springs, CO, U.S.A. rides a Prix St. Georges test on her Desert Norman, Made in the Shade.
MaryJo Hoepner purchased a Colorado-bred Arab-Percheron gelding as a green four-year-old, and brought him up through the dressage ranks.
MaryJo calls Shade (show name Made in the Shade), her best friend. Shade has now reached Intermediare 1/Prix St. Georges Level, and helped MaryJo earn her USDF Silver Rider medal.
We’ll let MaryJo continue the story in her own words.
“But this award is only an indication of a relationship between Shade and me, those I train with and have trained with, the amateurs and professionals that inspire me, and the person that bred Shade. It takes a village. None of us can accomplish anything on our own.
“So that makes us like thousands of other amateurs in this country who juggle work, riding, church, family, and friends. I am middle aged, average ability, average income, above average ‘stature’ and above average ‘medical’ issues (bless God the EMTs and their oxygen tanks).
“We have come up the ranks together competing in multiple disciplines--Shade was USEF Zone Champion Half Arabian Working Western, has championships over fences with me at schooling shows, we did a starter event, we trail ride extensively. I am not wealthy. I budget for everything.
“One advantage we do have is that Shade and I may get ‘beat’ by those younger, more elegant and talented, but not many can beat us in sheer will and desire. Shade is ALL heart and desire. He is extremely smart. Clever. And he figures his job in life is to take care of me. He is as agile as an Arab with the size and strength of a draft.”
Shade is also featured on the site’s home page, being shown by MaryJo’s coach, Grant Schneidman.
THE HORSE THAT STARTED IT ALL
DN Registry coordinator Kay Langmuir on her first Desert Norman, a cheap horse bought from a dealer, that gravity seemed to let go of when he jumped a fence.
Here’s the amazing Desert Norman who started it all for me. This photo was taken on a summer day in 1977. I was 18, home from university, and had just bought a six-year-old project horse for $1000.
He’d been green broke, roughly handled, and repeatedly bucked me off out of sheer fear, before his keen intelligence kicked in and he began to trust - and then to do whatever I asked of him, with sensitivity, power, and boundless energy.
This photo was taken the first day he ever jumped a fence.
I had one brilliant season of showing with him, before I reluctantly sold him. I still faced three years away at university, and he was too good to be a pasture ornament.
Barry went on to have a brilliant career as a junior jumper, and open jumper based in Nova Scotia, Canada.
I never forgot him. He changed the way I looked at horses. He was no fluke. There was something special in his odd breeding. The Arab and Percheron breeds complemented each other beautifully. Barry was out of a grade percheron mare, and blood bay in color like his Arab sire, El Jari.
But it was to be 30 years, and several other horses later, before another Desert Norman came into my life, with the help of many internet searches.
This one, however, was a registered Desert Norman, bred by sporthorse breeder Peggy Stockbridge of Deansboro, N.Y – the founder of the Desert Norman Horse Registry.
Kay’s current Desert Norman is the black bay gelding “Jones New York,” a 50/50 cross she has also trained from green.
This is Jones New York, at one of his first dressage shows, a year after I bought him as a five-year-old in the spring of 2008, and brought him across the border to my home in Kingston, Ontario. He’d had a month of training, and lived a quiet life before coming to our boarding stable. But he has made great progress, has several shows under his belt, and is usually in the ribbons. Dressage definitely seems to be his talent. I also hack him for hours. He’s steady in traffic and is green broke to harness. 
In his first show season, Jones New York accumulated enough points to win a reserve championship for the region, earning judges' comments such as "very pleasing type of horse", and "as rhythmic as a metronome", and "a pleasure to judge".
From the ribbons, left to right, you can see the steady first-year progress in his class placings.
Best of all, Jones is the wonderful family horse I hoped he be. My
daughters can ride him, and goof around on him. Even the cat rides him (see him there?) He has a very endearing personality and we love him to pieces.
In between my dressage shows, my daughter Tori, 14, shows him in hack classes at local shows. It’s the first year of showing for both of them, and he has been a steady confidence-builder for her, despite his relative inexperience. Next year she hopes to jump him.
OUR FOUNDER’S VISION 
This is the magically beautiful EAF Remington's Jewel, a registered Desert Norman sired by Remington Steele (Arabian) out of Royal Crest Betty (Percheron). She was bred in Deansboro, N.Y., by the founder of the Desert Norman Registry, Peggy Stockbridge. Peggy and her horses, including Jewel, now live in California, where Jewel is continuing her dressage training.
A JUMPER THAT TURNS HEADS AND MELTS HEARTS
The highly successful Desert Norman mare, Baron's Lady Katherine, had a typically humble beginning.
Because Desert Normans are such an unusual cross, their many fine attributes have gone unnoticed by the wider equine market, and the few people breeding them are often casual backyard breeders.
Paul Davis Smith and his wife Maria hadn’t intended to buy a weanling filly when they visited a local breeder in Wisconsin.
But they ended up bringing home the friendly, little black filly “mostly because my wife felt so sorry for her when she saw what poor living conditions she was born in to,” said Mr. Smith.
Katie’s sire was the Arab stallion Baron Von Black, and her mother a big, sweet-natured Percheron mare called Misty.
“We trained her ourselves and could not be more proud of her. She is the biggest sweetheart of a horse,” he said.
As the 15.2-hand mare progressed through her show career, her sweet nature and powerful, willing jumping style earned her a fan club of admirers.
“Everyone seems to stop to watch this special mare do her thing – jump,” he said.
The Smiths, with Paul riding, showed Katie on the Arabian circuit as well as at A and AA hunter/jumper shows, where she did well against expensive imported warmbloods. Katie was the 2007 Arabian Sport Nationals HA/AA Jumper Champion, and has also won several USEF Horse of the Year awards.
“She is truly a special part of our family,” he said.