Young Rider Continues One Hundred Year Tradition
By Janet Esther
The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association hosts its week-long Show and Celebration each September at the national headquarters near Ava, Missouri, deep in the Ozarks. Show ring competition is intense with national championships on the line, but the event has the general feeling of a big family reunion as fox trotter owners from all parts of the United States renew old friendships and make new ones.
Enthusiastic trail riders bring their fox trotters to enjoy daily rides into the Ozark hills where the breed was born, then watch performance classes and visit at night. Last year's youngest trail rider was eleven-year-old Tanner Esther of Lebanon, Missouri, the great grandson of the late Dale Esther, one of the Celebration's original architects and founder of the Golden Governor-Zane Grey bloodline. It was Tanner's first season to go on organized trail rides and compete in local fun shows.
Tanner's eleven-year-old black mare Holly was foaled on Esther Farm and selected by his Grandpa Dale as the foal most likely to make Tanner a good first horse when they both grew up.
Riding fox trotters has been a tradition on Esther Farm for more than a century. Walter Esther, an Ozarks cattle buyer and Tanner's great great grandfather, purchased the property in 1910 at a time when he was riding his all-time favorite mount, a palomino fox trotting mare named Raleigh.
The most coveted prize in the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed is winning the Open Senior Performance Stake that brings each Celebration to an end. Fifty-one fox trotters, out of the 97,727 registered since 1948, have captured the big stake class and “won the Celebration.” Tanner's Holly and 75% of the Celebration's fifty-one Grand Champions are descendents through Golden Governor of fox trotters ridden by Ozarks cattlemen long ago.
Photo cutline: Tanner Esther (seated right) and his Missouri Fox Trotting mare Holly. His sister, Hannah, looks on. Tanner was the youngest trail rider during the 2011 Celebration.
By Janet Esther
The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association hosts its week-long Show and Celebration each September at the national headquarters near Ava, Missouri, deep in the Ozarks. Show ring competition is intense with national championships on the line, but the event has the general feeling of a big family reunion as fox trotter owners from all parts of the United States renew old friendships and make new ones.
Enthusiastic trail riders bring their fox trotters to enjoy daily rides into the Ozark hills where the breed was born, then watch performance classes and visit at night. Last year's youngest trail rider was eleven-year-old Tanner Esther of Lebanon, Missouri, the great grandson of the late Dale Esther, one of the Celebration's original architects and founder of the Golden Governor-Zane Grey bloodline. It was Tanner's first season to go on organized trail rides and compete in local fun shows.
Tanner's eleven-year-old black mare Holly was foaled on Esther Farm and selected by his Grandpa Dale as the foal most likely to make Tanner a good first horse when they both grew up.
Riding fox trotters has been a tradition on Esther Farm for more than a century. Walter Esther, an Ozarks cattle buyer and Tanner's great great grandfather, purchased the property in 1910 at a time when he was riding his all-time favorite mount, a palomino fox trotting mare named Raleigh.
The most coveted prize in the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed is winning the Open Senior Performance Stake that brings each Celebration to an end. Fifty-one fox trotters, out of the 97,727 registered since 1948, have captured the big stake class and “won the Celebration.” Tanner's Holly and 75% of the Celebration's fifty-one Grand Champions are descendents through Golden Governor of fox trotters ridden by Ozarks cattlemen long ago.
Photo cutline: Tanner Esther (seated right) and his Missouri Fox Trotting mare Holly. His sister, Hannah, looks on. Tanner was the youngest trail rider during the 2011 Celebration.
