Howard Gass
Margie Gass
track that he liked very much, so he bought it. As it happens we had the mare, and we thought, ‘well, we’ll just start breeding them,’” she laughed. “But quickly we didn’t do much showing after we started raising show horses, sort of ironic.” “Probably our best stallion was Lasting Wind, who was by Restless
Wind,” she continued. “We also had Budesan, but I can’t remember his breeding right now. We had Libby’s Pet Bully, who was by Pet Bully.” They had those stallions over a period of time, as well as about 25
mares at their highest number. “Then of course we had the crops of foals,” she said, “most of them didn’t sell until they were probably three. Some were sold unbroken and some just barely started.” “One of the horses we sold in California, that was a successful
Grand Prix horse, was Wandering Wind. Hap Hanson rode him, and he belonged to Jill Richardson Brown. He was by Lasting Wind. We raised him, we started him, we sold him then we got to watch him,” she says with a smile. “We bought one thoroughbred at auction that did really well also,
his name was Vesuvius. We only showed him at one show before we sold him to Leon Butts. The horse went back east, and I think he might have been a Junior Jumper Champion at one time.” While thoroughbreds were what everybody rode back then, for many years now those horses have taken a back seat to the warmbloods which have become popular. “The thoroughbreds have so much heart and so much forward go that they don’t fit everyone nowadays,” Margie said, “but I’ve still always loved them. Some of these warmbloods are so big and on the clunky side that they just don’t fit some of the women today.” “For us personally, we kind of quit the breeding about the same
time the warmbloods were becoming so popular – not for that reason, but simply because we were getting older and it was too much work! We had been running that farm for roughly 18 to 20 years.” Megan grew up at the farm in Hermiston and rode at home. Then
she went off to college, but that did not interrupt her equestrian path. “She still rode as a working student for both Joan Curtin and Liz
Denny, and then she decided to become a trainer herself. She settled in the town of Oregon City but she trains out of this facility – Venture Farm.” As of now, Margie and Megan have formed a business partnership.
“We do it together. I actually buy the horses and she rides, and we do it that way,” Margie explained. “She has two that are mine right now that she’s showing in the bigger jumper classes, Lolita and Top Shelf. There is also Atlantis, who is owned by us together, as well as two other people.” Lately, Megan has been doing quite well with these horses in
California. “There is not as much competition up in this area as there is down there. She does really well up here, but down there it’s harder and it makes her a better rider and Megan is making her mark on the tough California show circuit.” With her mother beside her as her partner, expect to continue
to hear bigger and better things about the Megan-Margie duo, and their horses. They plan on being at the Thermal Desert Circuit the beginning of next year, where with Margie, Megan, and the two young boys, it will once again be a family affair. Margie likes it that way as she is able to do what she loves the
best, being with her family and watching the horses compete as she continues in the business she loves.
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