CELTIC GRACE
In 2010, Bobbi Wojtowicz of Missouri and a friend went to see a mare named Celtic Grace (“Gracie”). Going to look at Gracie was a long shot—while she was rumored to be a nice quality mare, she was also rumored to be a rogue. Gracie was a seven-year-old Friesian Sporthorse mare, sired by the Friesian stallion Celtic out of the Thoroughbred mare Zena. Her breed- ing sounded interesting to Bobbi, whose primary interest is carriage driving. Bobbi immediately liked the mare.
“There was something in her eyes,” she recalls. But Gracie was also overweight, belligerent and strong-willed. She’d had a little bit of dressage training years earlier and she was broke to drive, but she was also known for her naughty antics in both disciplines. Bobbi wanted to give her a chance though, and espe- cially since the mare was free, agreed to take her on trial.
Celtic Grace enjoys driving with owner Bobbi Wojtowicz.
A Rocky Road “It wasn’t easy in the beginning,” Bobbi remembers. “We spent months working on ground manners and building her trust.” Although Bobbi had acquired Gracie to be a driv- ing horse, people suggested to Bobbi that dressage training might help make the mare a better driving horse. She found a dressage trainer named Jonni Allen. “I was very lucky to find Jonni. I didn’t want to put Gracie in full training, and Jonni was willing to let me haul her in for training two to three times a week, which most trainers won’t let you do. And Jonni was great with her.” Bobbi jokes that in the beginning Gracie had a 20 minute
limit—she’d work for 20 minutes and then she was done, period. She also didn’t like to canter, but with Jonni’s patient training she began to progress. From the very beginning Bobbi recalls that one of Gracie’s best qualities was that she was never a spooky horse. “She was smart and she’d become bored easily, but she wasn’t spooky and nothing phased her.” After a couple of months, Jonni took her to her first schooling show, where she won both of her Introductory Level classes with scores of 72.5% and 81.0%. Not a bad start for a free, “rogue” horse! Jonni and Gracie competed in their first recognized show in 2011, earning three scores of more than 70% at Training and First Level. Clearly Gracie was no longer a rogue. Bobbi continued to take her to Jonni’s two to three times a week for training, while also carriage driving her herself two to three times a week.
Full Speed Ahead Together Jonni and Gracie hit the dressage scene with a bang and never slowed down. In the following two years
they were USDF All-Breeds Friesian Sporthorse Association Champions at Training Level, First Level and Second Level. They also finished in the USDF Horse of the Year Top 20 at each level (Training through Second) and competed at the USDF Region 4 Regional Championships at each level as well, finishing no lower than fifth in the Open Championships classes. Gracie was also enjoying a successful driving career with
Bobbi through the Preliminary Level and to date is the only Friesian Sporthorse to have earned her Silver Elite perfor- mance status in the two disciplines of dressage and driving. “She’s so smart and learns so quickly, I call her a ’super freak’,” Bobbi says.
Bizarre Accident Then on May 23, 2013, Bobbi’s world was turned upside down when her beloved Gracie suffered an inexplicable seizure-like event, flipped over backwards and hit her head on the concrete barn aisle, suffering a brain stem injury. Luckily for Gracie, the veterinarian had just arrived to
perform chiropractic therapy on her and so was able to begin treating her immediately, which likely saved her life. Gracie alternated between flailing in the aisle and lying there quietly, and at one point she quit breathing. Others from the vet clinic also came out to help, as they moved hay bales to stabilize her and made makeshift IV poles from pitchforks to administer fluids. Gracie’s veterinarian was also injured as Gracie flailed in the barn aisle, later requiring knee surgery himself, but he stayed by her side throughout the entire ordeal in spite of his own pain. Gracie was unable to get up and her prognosis was grow-
ing steadily worse with each passing hour. They needed to get her to the University of Missouri’s veterinary hospital, but they had no idea how since they couldn’t even get her to stand.
Warmbloods Today 17
Courtesy Bobbi Wojtowicz
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