Our Unexpected Journey
Our journey into the show ring was completely unexpected and can all be attributed to the late, Mark Wharton of Peregrine Blood Stock, Lexington KY.
We have owned Arabian horses since 1996 and have trained, bred, and ridden for our own pleasure as a family hobby. After a serious accident in the fall of 2019, we decided a new brood mare might be our best option to remain engaged with these beautiful animals.
Our research led to Mark Wharton (may he rest in peace). Mark was listed as the agent for a young mare we found on-line. Although that mare had sold, Mark had several other mares for us to consider. A trip to Lexington and several hours of counsel with Mark resulted in our purchase of JE Statuesque (affectionally called Sugar). Mark knew our goal was the breeding barn and he was confident Sugar would be a great brood mare. She has the pedigree and the confirmation to produce a great foal. But to our surprise, Mark encouraged us to test the show ring. He felt Sugar had the fire and charisma to be a show horse, in spite of her age (7 at the time of purchase) and her lack of experience (she had been in the pasture for the few years prior to our purchase). With Mark’s encouragement and his help securing a spot with Martha Rattner as Sugar’s trainer, we began our very Unexpected Journey…what a ride year 1 has been.
We thank Mark Wharton and Quentin Naylor for providing this opportunity. We will greatly miss Mark’s encouraging text messages and his valuable counsel, but we intend to fulfill his confidence and his vision for just how high JE Statuesque can fly. Godspeed Mark!
