Affliction — All the Right Parts

affliction

A L L T H E R I G H T PA R T S

by Gary Dearth In the 1960s *Bask was introduced to the Arabian world and he revolutionized the English pleasure and park divisions. For over twenty years his offspring completely dominated the saddleseat-style classes at Arabian horse shows. Following *Bask, the Varian-bred Huckleberry Bey raised those divisions to even greater heights. The children and grandget of “Huck� have been the dominant force in the saddleseat divisions for the past twenty years. As a result of that dominance, it is virtually impossible to find a horse of breeding age that does not carry his blood. Consequently, many breeders have been searching to find a horse of extreme saddleseat-type and athletic ability that is *Bask bred without any crosses to Huckleberry Bey. The impressive black colt Affliction is that horse.

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Affliction (Mamage x PSI Love U) represents a blending of several of the most successful English pleasure and park horses the Arabian breed has ever known. His sire Mamage (Zodiac Matador x CF Fire Magic), was 1995 U.S. National Champion English Pleasure and during his long and highly successful show career he amassed nine National Championship and six National Reserve Championship wins in English pleasure and park. Of Mamage, Ray LaCroix said, “I did know a lot of the Zodiac Matador get, and Mamage was an unusual one. Some of the Matador foals were very emotional and very tight and sometimes not easy to school. Mamage was totally different. One of the biggest reasons was his attitude. From the beginning he was loose, relaxed, acceptant and really a good citizen. Athletically he was very capable. He not only has the ability to pass on the *Bask athleticism, but he also has a great mind and sires offspring with good minds. I’ve been a Mamage fan for a long time.”

MAMAGE (Zodiac Matador x CF Fire Magic), Affliction’s nationally-decorated sire.

Shan Wilson, who trained Mamage and showed him to many of his biggest wins, says, “He was very soft and not defensive. You could push on him or pull on him and he would just get better and better. He would never get upset. Because it was easy for him, he never got sore, and was very durable. Mamage was so relaxed that he was actually a little lazy and laid back. But that is also what helped make him great. And like all great breeding horses, he sort of out-sired himself.”

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Mamage was the most successful offspring of Zodiac Matador (*Bask x RO Fanciray) who was 1985 and 1987 U.S. National Champion Park as well as 1984 Canadian National Champion Park. “Gene and I both looked at Matador as a young colt and we recognized the fact that he could trot like a son of a gun, but we thought there were a lot of *Bask get out there that could trot and what did we need with one that was a little small?” says Ray LaCroix. “Then we got him and we learned that he was a tremendous horse. We knew that he was important when we realized how talented he was.” And that importance grew as he sired great English and park winners like Mamage, Mafier (x Fierina), 1990 U.S. National Champion English Pleasure and 1991 U.S. National Champion Informal Combination, and Matoi (x Toi Ellenai), 1990 and 1999 U.S. National Champion Park, and 1992 U.S. National Champion Formal Driving as well as many others.

ZODIAC MATADOR (*Bask x RO Fanciray), Affliction’s paternal grandsire.

MAMAGE (Zodiac Matador x CF Fire Magic), 1995 U.S. National Champion English Pleasure.

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PRO-FIRE (*Bask x *Elkana), Affliction’s maternal great-grandsire.

ALLIENCE (*Aladdinn x A Love Song), Affliction’s maternal grandsire.

PROVOCATIW (Pro-Fire x Darborrs Fantasy), Affliction’s maternal grandam.

WITRAZ *BASK BALALAJKA ZODIAC MATADOR RABOL RO FANCIRAY RASRAY MAMAGE *BASK ARISTON *AMFIBIA CF FIRE MAGIC *WIRAZ FOURWINDS TEMPEST AL-MARAH RAINBOW AFFLICTION NUREDDIN *ALADDINN LALAGE ALLIENCE *BASK A LOVE SONG *ELKANA PSI LOVE U *BASK PRO-FIRE *PROWIZJA PROVOCATIW DARBORR DARBORRS FANTASY DESMANA

PSI Love U, Affliction’s dam, is sired by Allience (*Aladdinn x A Love Song), 1994, 1995, and 2000 U.S. National Champion Park as well as 1994 Canadian National Champion Park, 1996 U.S. National Champion Formal Driving, and 1992 Canadian National Champion English Pleasure. Peter Stachowski, Allience’s trainer, showed him in English pleasure at the Canadian Nationals and won the open when he was seven. “As he got older he learned to really drive off his hocks,” says Peter. “So we decided to try him park. We asked a little more of him and he did it. The most unusual thing about him was that most of his motion came off of his hind end. He felt like a spring. I have never ridden another purebred Arabian that could push off the hind end like he did. And he always remained light in the bridle. He had tremendous balance. Very four-cornered. There was no hopping or skipping; just a lot of drive. He was a fun horse to ride. Allience was one of the top horses I ever rode.”

Allience was owned for much of his life by Nancy and Gregg Shafer. When talking about Allience it was clear how much affection Gregg Shafer had for the great horse. “Allience was built right for the job that he did, so it was easy for him,” he said. “He had a powerful back end so he could sit down and use it. And he passes that on. He was balanced and cadenced. And on top of that he had great heart. He won the last couple of his National championships with a third of the coffin bone in his right foot missing. It had to be removed. He came back from colic surgery to win his last National championship.”

Affliction’s grandam is the great show mare Provocatiw (Pro-Fire x Darborrs Fantasy), who was herself 1984 Canadian National Champion English Pleasure and 1985 U.S. National Top Ten English Pleasure. Provocatiw’s sire Pro-Fire (*Bask x *Prowizja) was 1980 U.S. National Champion Park and was himself the offspring of two U.S. National Champion Park winners.

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The array of successful national winners in the first three generations of Affliction’s pedigree is staggering. Jim Lowe described how he came to breed Affliction: “About 10 years ago I talked to Kathy Rezzonico about needing some purebred mares to breed,” says Jim. “She gave me PSI Love U and another mare. When Mamage arrived at our ranch, I bred PSI Love U to Mamage in partnership with his owner Beth Jupp. The first foal was supposed to be mine but when we bred PSI Love U (who is still in Kathy’s name) we already had twenty horses, so my wife, Shawn felt that we should let Beth have the first foal. That foal — a beautiful, bay filly — was Vendettaa (Mamage x PSI Love U), who has been Canadian National Reserve Champion Country Pleasure Junior Horse, U.S. and Canadian National Reserve Champion in Country Pleasure Driving and Canadian National Champion in Amateur Driving with Beth. The second foal out of PSI Love U I gave away and the third I traded for a $2,500 load of hay. And then came the black colt.”

Shawn Getty-Lowe said, “I foaled him out and immediately thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this one is special.’ He was ‘my’ horse and he was absolutely not for sale. Every time Jim thought he had someone interested in my black colt, I reminded him that he was not for sale. On several occassions, Jim Stachowski had expressed interest and I finally said he was priced at $1 million — a price indicating that he wasn’t for sale. However, one day Jim came home and told me, ‘I think I might have sold our colt.’ When he told me it was to Nancy O’Reilly, I was hesistant but after much thought, I knew we should do it for Affliction and the Arabian breed. She would be able to promote him like we never could.

And he will always be trained by Jim and he will always stay with us.”

Proud owner Nancy O’Reilly, of Montecito, California, watched Affliction grow from a foal. “When I had the opportunity to purchase him I didn’t hesitate. My vision is to

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produce a beautiful horse that is also very athletic. Affliction is beautiful and he’s got all the right parts. He’s got the hocks, the go, the neck, and he’s pretty. But because he’s still growing, sometimes he’s just like a big goofy kid. However, when it’s all working he is very impressive. And, like all the Mamage get, he has a great mind and a really good personality. I’m excited about breeding the next generation of great Arabian and HalfArabian show horses.”

“With shipped semen and artificial insemination, the few who do well in the showring are the ones that get bred to,” explains Ray LaCroix. “Unless a stallion is popular he’s not going to get many mares. Locale has nothing to do with it anymore. As a result, the gene pool has narrowed tremendously. Everybody has bred for what’s popular and the Huckleberry Bey line has dominated for twenty years. When breeding for English horses, people probably only think of five or six horses, so we have a limited number of choices.

And no one thinks about breeding to anything until it wins something big. Our genetic pool is so highly skewed in one direction for saddleseat performance horses that anytime you have the opportunity to reintroduce older bloodlines for strength, particularly through the hindquarters, it is an asset to the breed. That’s why I’m going to root for this colt to succeed.”

Jim Lowe smiles when he describes Affliction, “He has a huge shoulder and a great hind leg. Everything looks like it goes together in the way that horsemen like. His hock is set low to the ground. His neck is set way high. He has been good-minded from day one. And he is just flat pretty. He’s the kind of horse that when you walk him around he attracts attention because he is so striking. He looks like what you want to breed. High neck and low hind end. It’s quality.” Affliction has already attracted the attention of many of the

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Arabian breed’s most knowledgeable horsemen. In fact, at last year’s U.S. National Show, where Affliction attended but did not participate, he caught the eye of successful breeder and horseman Tim Shea. “He is a real attractive horse with a lot of neck, and is longlegged,” says Tim. “So I followed him out to the racetrack to find out who he was and watched him long line.”

Jim’s goal with the colt is the AEPA futurity in October, “but I’m not going to show him until he is ready,” Jim adds. While Affliction appears to be one of the next great superstars of the showring, his breeding potential is even more important. He is the next logical step for the vast majority of saddleseat-bred mares because they carry the blood of Huckleberry Bey and Affliction offers a powerful outcross pedigree.

Clearly, Nancy has a vision for both Affliction and her deep involvement with Arabian horses. “I’m in it for the fun of it, ” she says. “This is my greatest hobby and a great passion for me. In my professional life I am a psychologist, so this is completely different. In some ways horses have saved my life. They have empowered me in many ways. In my work I talk a great deal about empowering women, but I knew I had to empower myself first.

There is something special that occurs when people spend time with these large animals, when you suddenly realize that they are fragile and kind of scared of things and very sensitive and loving. In some ways they are big babies. Once you develop a relationship with them, a very special bond occurs. I am in tune with all of my horses. I try to develop a relationship with all of them. They are part of my family. Arabian horses have enhanced my life physically, spiritually, and emotionally in all ways. Perhaps one day I will do some workshops empowering women using the lessons that horses can teach us. But that is the next chapter.”

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GETTY-LOWE PHOTO

GETTY-LOWE PHOTO

affliction Owned by Dr. Nancy O’Reilly | Amazing Horse Woman, LLC www.drnancyoreilly.com Standing at Lowe Show Horse Centre | Somis, California Contact Jim Lowe 805.444.8583 Design by Shawn Getty-Lowe · Produced by Arabian Horse World · 02/17