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A
talented Arabian and a determined cowgirl splinter the
stereotype of what it is to be a reining horse.
Cowboy
Dressage
By
Tracy Williams
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A ribbon
of mockery whispers through the crowd as the silver-gray
stallion ambles into the ring, his classic dished face betraying
an old Egyptian Arabian ancestry – a face that has
fated him to battle tides of prejudice as he recomposes
the definition of reining horse. The whispers recede into
silence as he begins to move; as he spins and slides across
the ring, applause finally shatters the silence.
C.N.
Ibn Laurence, better known as JoJo, and his advocate, owner
and rider, Mary Lou Raulerson, pay no mind to the mockers;
their sliding stops and spins coupled with JoJo’s
sweet spirit negate the need to defend his classic Arabian
features. There is no point in battling the scorn with words;
JoJo’s talent and disposition naturally sear Arabian
stereotypes, allowing the pair to take the reining world
by storm.
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JoJo
and Mary Lou’s focus on friendship is the key to their
success both in and out of the show ring.
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A
Horse Apart
Sixteen-year-old JoJo, last foal of Laurence and El Reata
Jossie, began his reining career at 10 years old, although
his success suggests he is bolstered by more years of preparation.
He had no formal training prior to this other than completing
a colt-starting clinic with natural horsemanship trainer
Ray Hunt. Instead, he served as Mary Lou’s companion
and trail horse. “He wasn’t even broke good,
but we rode him anyway,” she says with a reminiscent
chuckle.
Mary
Lou gave 10-year-old JoJo a 90 day trial with local reining
trainer, Jon Ingram, but he warned her not to build castles
in the air of future reining glory. “[Arabians] are
either the worst or the best,” he cautioned. Mary
Lou kept tabs on JoJo’s progress, and with each check
she was half-expecting to load him up and bring him home
for a different career track. After 90 days, Ingram dispelled
any lingering fears. “Don’t bring your trailer,”
he said confidently. “This is a really good one.”
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The
World of Arabian Reining
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a discipline that esteems Quarter Horse build, talent
and personality, an Arabian is seldom welcomed into
the club in the Eastern United States. “You can
basically draw a line down the country along the Mississippi,”
says Eleanor Hamilton, president of the Arabian Reining
Horse Association. In light of this, Hamilton and the
association actively seek to build up Arabian credibility
as reiners. In addition to supporting shows with sponsorships
and donations, the association is encouraging reining
classes at the local level and promoting reining clinics
across the East. On a larger scale, they are organizing
half-Arab and pure-Arab futurities with tempting cash
prizes and endorsing ARHA judges to become certified
with the National Reining Horse Association. Hamilton
sees the industry starting to respond. “People
are starting to develop breeding programs designed to
produce reining horses, whether they are half-Arabs
or purebreds,” she says. With breeders intelligently
designing their horses to succeed and with the ARHA’s
backing, breed barriers may crumble.
Horses
like JoJo make the ARHA’s task a little easier,
although he and Mary Lou have fought their own battles
with Arabian prejudice. “They all figured he’d
go in the ring, throw up his tail and run off,”
she says of their early showing days. But JoJo is
a living testament to the unimportance of breed. “If
a horse is built like an athlete, they should be able
to do anything,” Mary Lou says. “You just
have to find out what they like to do.” Whether
it’s reining or any other discipline, the deciding
factor on success should be the talent of the contestant,
not the bloodline.
JoJo
and Mary Lou perform their first sliding stop at the
2003 Scottsdale show.
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Although
JoJo began training in Florida, his Arabian ancestry soon
became a conflict of interest. Ingram was primarily a Quarter
Horse trainer, which left him and Mary Lou pursuing different
show circuits. To continue the discipline, Mary Lou shipped
JoJo to the West to work with LaRae Fletcher Powell, reining
trainer in Washington, then to trainer John O’Hara
in Texas. Mary Lou credits JoJo’s success to the part
each trainer played in crafting his finished form. “Everybody
added something to him,” she says. While JoJo excelled,
the distance kept the two apart sometimes until the day
before a show. Fortunately, JoJo’s willing personality
and natural talent eased them both into the show ring despite
the lack of practice time. Years of companionship outside
the ring made acquiring new skills a smooth transition.
For example, Mary Lou didn’t learn the epitome of
reining riding – the sliding stop – until the
day before a show. Armed with confidence in her mount and
a little instruction from her trainer, she was eager to
learn. “I ran down there, stuck my feet out, sat down
hard in the saddle, said whoa, and I heard (my trainer)
from the other end of the ring: ‘Holy cow! I thought
you said you’d never stopped before!’”
she recalls with a laugh over the successful venture. Each
new reining skill was simply a polishing touch on their
foundational relationship.
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Although
distance strained Mary Lou and JoJo, their show ring victories
swelled. His résumé for 2003 and 2004 catalogues
an illustrious record of awards: RegionXII Amateur Reining
Champion, U.S. Arabian National Top Ten and AOTR Reining
Champion, and the Scottsdale Arabian Show Open Top Ten and
AOTR Top Ten. He is sure to add more accolades to the list
when he returns to the show ring, but in the meantime, JoJo
has been busy in the breeding shed. In 2004 and 2005, he
sired four and two foals respectively, and seven foals are
expected this spring. On February 11, the first of this
season’s crop awoke, blinking in the new sunshine
– a filly stunningly reminiscent of JoJo when he was
a newborn. Mary Lou expects JoJo will return to the reining
pen in 2006 – as soon as she finds a trainer who doesn’t
require another westward journey.
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Although
JoJo is a talented athlete, his true greatness lies in his
innate sweetness.
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some performance horses whose athleticism is sullied by vicious
tempers, JoJo’s reining and breeding talents are secondary
to his personality. “His gentle disposition has won
the hearts of everyone that has handled him. He is a sweet,
sweet stallion,” Mary Lou says. This innate sweetness
is more than just chance; it is a product of a life spent
with Mary Lou. |
The
Woman Behind the Horse
It isn’t often that an interview is an introduction
into a family, where a series of questions becomes an immersion
in the life and culture of a subject. But on Mary Lou Raulerson’s
sun-sprinkled farm, her pastures of Arabs and half-Arabs are
merely an extended family, and Mary Lou welcomed me with a
personalized introduction to each one. Her sharp wit and ever-ready
smile escorted me through her pastures as yearlings, broodmares
and everything in between flocked to her, nuzzling her short
gray hair, sidling as close as possible to solicit a good
scratch. “I don’t care if I get dirty; I can wash,”
Mary Lou crooned to one mare as she rubbed her withers. “I
can make you happy.” |
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The environment she has created is as close
as possible to what evolution would dictate – life
in the outdoors, plenty of forage, room to roam, run and
roll in the mud. She clears a wide path from the spoiled
show horse. “I don’t like those hothouse flowers,”
she says with a wrinkle of distaste. Nonetheless her horses
are a fine-tuned balance. They are strengthened by freedom
to be horses, yet they bubble over with personality –
each diverse yet each reminiscent of Mary Lou’s engaging
character. She has meddled just enough to build relationships.
Born and raised in south Florida, Mary Lou
came to Sumterville after a 33-year career teaching high
school and middle school art and science classes. Despite
that chunk of time in the classroom, Mary Lou isn’t
satisfied; her inquisitive mind is ever-ready to store new
information, and she is now auditing the Equine Studies
program at Central Florida Community College.
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True
to his laid-back personality, JoJo is unperturbed although
buried in a pile of colorful ribbons.
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life has been entangled in horses since she was a little fourth
grader. “I came home from school dragging a horse I’d
bought for $20,” she remembers. These early days surrounded
her with Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses, but after boarding
at an Arabian barn, she was magnetized by a new breed. As
she watched these Arabians perform a myriad of disciplines
without a moment’s pause in between them, she was captivated.
“I liked that idea,” she remembers thinking. “I
can do everything; I can have one horse and do it all.”
They are now forever intertwined. |
Above
All a Friendship
My jacket, face and notebook all bore traces of the wet, whiskered
muzzles I had just met – each seemed to be trying to
chronicle its individual influence on Mary Lou’s world
in my retelling of their story. But last on our farm tour,
we reached JoJo, and he swallowed the rest. Leaning on a sun-warmed
fence, I watched the pair from the sidelines, as they stood
in the pasture, talking to each other, comparing notes on
the day, speaking and listening in turn using whatever communication
life has gifted them with. |
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Although JoJo is both a successful reiner
and an ambassador for the Arabian breed, he is first and
foremost a friend Mary Lou has known since the moment he
opened his eyes. “I bred him,” she says. “This
colt was born in my arms.” And years of companionable
trail riding and the life of a pasture pet before his career
began has cultivated an easy friendship, tempered with mutual
respect – the reason behind JoJo’s return to
the East. Perhaps such a move has put his career on hold,
but Mary Lou is more driven by her animals’ welfare
than their success. “He was seriously depressed,”
she said of JoJo’s first experience away from home.
“I hate having him gone, and he likes having me around.
He thinks the right thing is for him to live right here.”
As long as they are together, the rest is secondary.
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To
read more about JoJo and view pictures of his offspring,
visit www.marylouraulersonarabians.com.
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| As
the interview drew to a close, I mentally recalled JoJo’s
long list of qualities. With so many to choose from, what
has captivated Mary Lou? Is it his ability to slide across
a ring, his versatility or his gentle and willing disposition?
Not quite. Her steady stream of conversation paused for a
moment as she contemplated the question. Placing her hand
on JoJo’s silvery neck, she turned to me with sincere
eyes. “How often do you get a horse that loves you back?” |
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Nothing
but Seminole
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Lou began feeding Seminole feeds in the early 80s. Through
the years she has occasionally sampled other products,
but the switch never lasts long. “I’ve tried
other things, but I always come back to Seminole,”
she says. “They just look better.” She carefully
reads feed tags and ingredient lists and appreciates
the quality and variety of Seminole’s products.
“If you can’t find what you need (at Seminole),
it doesn’t exist,” she says.
JoJo
thrives on Ultra Dynamix supplemented with Ultra Bloom
and Equalizer. In addition, Mary Lou feeds Alfa Balancer
and Grass Balancer Minerals, Seminole MSN and the
Mare and Foal formula to her varied herds of horses.
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