“I met him and immediately loved him,” JJ recalls.
“I had gotten a call from my old trainer letting me know she had suggested me to the Costellos. It was a little intimidating at first. After all, everybody in the Midwest knew this horse because George Williams had ridden him!” That first ride, she says, was like a first date. “I was just getting to know him as well as meeting his owners for the first time. I was certainly a little nervous,” she recalls. “But I also felt an immediate connection with this horse. Early on in our work I rode him in a snaffle to improve our communication and his throughness. Yet from the very beginning, I always felt that connection and felt sure that he would never go against me. And he never did.”
NEW CAREERS JJ would ride Donavan for the rest of his career, competing him for four years until he was 19 years old and continuing on with exhibitions after that. Wendy did not sell him and instead decided to focus her energies on promoting him as a breeding stallion. Both Wendy and JJ say Donavan was a catalyst, creating turning points in their lives. “When I decided not to sell him, it changed my life
completely. I focused on promoting him as a stallion. I never thought this was what I’d be doing but I loved it. I learned about the business of breeding. I’ve had the joy of being able to use my creativity by writing and designing, creating the promotional pieces, magazine ads and website (
www.esdonavan.com) all needed to promote his breeding career,” Wendy says. “And I have met the best people along the way.” “To spend my time learning and being able to use my creative talents has been wonderful. He was
certainly a stimulus for good things—I feel like a happy cloud has followed me around since he came into my life,” she continues. For Wendy, her early adult years raising a family put horses so far on the back burner that she almost forgot they existed. “I loved horses as a young girl and used to ride with my father when we had the opportunity. But in college and then as a military wife, I set riding aside. It was only when my horse-crazy daughter got a horse that I realized how much I wanted one too!” For JJ, her riding career was catapulted to a whole
new level when she was introduced to Donavan and the Costellos. Wendy and her husband Marty were her first high profile clients and she started working with them just a year into her professional career. “That was huge for me,” she says. “Working with Donavan helped me be taken seriously as a professional. It was like a springboard for my career. It was also a sink or swim moment. I knew I had to do well!” Today, Wendy says, JJ is like another daughter to
her. The two have been working together since JJ was just 21 years old. JJ is now in her thirties and well established as a trainer, and Wendy says she is thrilled to have helped support this talented rider’s career. “Donavan and JJ have led us into a world we would not otherwise have entered. We are so grateful to them both!” JJ, of course, will never forget the horse that helped launch her career—the one that she developed such a trusting relationship with. “When we were performing, whether shows or exhibitions, he always let the electricity of the environment flow into him. Fortunately, he always let me control it,” she says. “I think he really liked working with women. I guess he’s just a ladies’ man!”
Photo by Karen Lietz
24 Mar/April 2011
Photo by MJ Costello
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84