My Oldest Equine Friend is Gone By Lynn Freeland Wades Jigger Cat (May 1975 - September 2013)
H
e was born May 4, 1975, on a ranch on the outskirts of Drumheller, AB. The strong sorrel colt was out of the mare Alta Cee Dee and by the stallion Fintry Page Cat. His pedigree boasted such greats as Page Lee, Old Tom Cat and Leo. He was the first registered Quarter Horse that I bought. I was 18 and attending Olds College when I met my dear friend Bernice Wade and she invited me to come to their ranch for the weekend. The first time I saw the sorrel colt I knew I had to have him. Getting him back to Revelstoke was a challenge. Revelstoke had a population of about 20 horses and only two people had horse trailers at the time. No one with a trailer was able to help, so we constructed stock racks for the back of a pickup truck and headed to Alberta to pick up “Wades Jigger Cat,” affectionately known as “JC.” He made the trip back like a pro. I finished my second year at college and, in 1977, High Arrow Quarter Horses was born. I bought a new two-horse trailer and hit the Quarter Horse show trail. Although he was not at the top of his halter game, placing second consistently behind Heza Dandy Too, who was owned by John Haughton of Kamloops, he proved to be a versatile riding horse and accumulated points in trail, western pleasure
and western horsemanship. He was named Horse of the Year in the Okanagan Light Horse program many years and won a gold medal at the BC Summer Games in Western Riding. Although he sired only 14 registered Quarter Horse foals and three other part-breds, his one son, Ducatti, went on to earn numerous BC Quarter Horse high-point awards, multiple ROMs, as well as accumulating over 60 points and qualified for the world show. His daughters became valuable broodmares and produced world-show qualifiers, multiple ROM earners and superior performers. At the age of 10 years old, he was gelded, as his future was destined to become a horse show star all over again under the guidance of my daughter Kirbi Kozek. She began riding him when she was two years old by herself on trail rides and began showing him on her own when she was five, competing against the older kids in all the western events. It was because of Sheridan Weir and Kirbi that the Okanagan Light Horse Program had to make a new age division “Junior D” for kids under 10 years of age. She was so small that I could not find stirrup leathers small enough, so we used two leather belts to hold the stirrups on the saddle. No class was out of their skill range, including the western riding horse class with its six flying lead changes (although sometimes she added a few more for flair!) His show ring attitude and his personality while riding was
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18 • Saddle Up • December 2013
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