The grand finale of a story that continued for over 10 years across the miracle miles…From America to Australia.  Two amazing women and equally amazing horses who rose to many challenges and came up trumps.  MaryAnn Schafer driving Rikki at the Toowoomba Showgrounds at the 2011 Australian National Morgan Show.  Photo compliments Diane Howard.  For part 1 of this story please go to http://heavythunder.com/the-miracle-miles-from-america-to-australia-friendship-fun-and-a-morgan-horse-mare-called-rikki

9th July 2011  Welcome back people.  Well, this is it…are you ready for the unfolding of the amazing story of…

The Miracle Mile from America to Australia…Friendship, fun and a Morgan Horse Mare called Rikki…Part 2…

Diane had by this stage fulfilled a large part of her dream…

But let’s not forget MaryAnn’s unfulfilled dream of not competing in the National Morgan Show in America with her beloved Rikki.  She went to visit her Morgan’s in Oz and found the horses totally content…Meanwhile there was talk of the Australian National Morgan Show being held in Queensland in 2011.

MaryAnn knew she would be back but was to be blown away by Diane’s offer for her to compete with Rikki in this major Australian show.  MaryAnn decided to enter Rikki into performance classes, namely harness. 

And Rikki was no stranger to harness.  MaryAnn had broken her to saddle and harness in the States and competed with her both under saddle and in harness.  But Diane didn’t have a vehicle or harness.

Not to be deterred, MaryAnn contacted an old college friend, Aussie, Sandi Jephcott to secure a vehicle for the event.  And as for the harness…Well, MaryAnn went out and bought a set of harness to fit Rikki. 

So once MaryAnn had flown into Brisbane, she met her friend Sandi Jephcott.  After catching up with her old chum for a couple of days, the ladies then headed off to the Toowoomba Showgrounds with the vehicle literally in tow. Where, no doubt, Diane was waiting excitedly for MaryAnn’s arrival.

Rikki was back into harness and went like a dream MaryAnn worked with Rikki for the three days she had leading up to the event. 

The day of the event was gloriously sunny.  The indoor arena at Toowoomba Showgrounds was buzzing with excitement.  Then…the events MaryAnn had been waiting for all her life to compete in finally arrived.

Diane entered Rikki in the Horse in Harness and Precision Driving classes for MaryAnn.  Fox Brush Custom Design, (aka) Rikki, performed like the true champion she is and, against all odds, won both of her classes.

Although the real challenge of the day proved to be the Precision Driving class, after being out of harness for all those years.  MaryAnn navigated Rikki around18 cones twice, like a true professional. 

The second time was against the clock.  Something neither MaryAnn nor Rikki had practiced. Rikki hadn’t been driven in harness for around 2 and half years and hadn't been driven around an obstacle course or cones in about 4 years.  But she still performed faultlessly.  What a spectacular team they made!    

So the dreams for these two women really did come true across the miracle miles.  Talk about win/win for these two long time friends Diane and MaryAnn. What exciting times ahead for the Morgan Horse in Australia.  And this is history in the making across the miracle miles from America to Australia.  With friendship and fun and this chapter of the Morgan horse history began with a Morgan horse mare called Rikki.

Who said dreams don't come true?  It's amazing what can be accomplished if you focus just like Diane and MaryAnn did over 10 years ago…But do you know what the most fantastic thing was?  Both women never, ever gave up!

If you would like to know more about the Morgan Horse please go to http://www.morganhorse.com                  

Erica Richard is the Registrar of the American Morgan Horse Association and would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you so much everyone for dropping by and we'll look forward to seeing you all next time.

Cheers

Paul and Jann