Cayuse Gold and Billy Jack -

The Dynamic Duo at the Kentucky Horse Park

By Margaret Odgers

July 28-29, 2007 marked the 2^nd annual appearance of the Horse of the Americas Registry as Weekend Guest Breed at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Parade of Breeds.  This year, HOA was represented by the dynamic duo of Cayuse Gold and Billy Jack.

Billy Jack is my 7 year old grulla gelding, newly acquired in March 2007 and definitely a little heart-breaker. Trained and ridden western by his previous owners, he is being re-trained in dressage – and altogether a good sport about it.

And he has proven himself a real crowd-pleaser with his very striking color and laid-back demeanor. His journeys through the Kentucky Horse Park always generated ‘oohs and aahs’ from an admiring public. And his Fabio-like bi-colored mane and long forelock proved his most remarkable and remarked upon features.

But our weekend-long exhibition was dominated by Sharon Sluss’ silver dun stallion - Cayuse Gold. Truly, a star was born. Cayuse Gold (aka "Cisco") looks like he stepped off the screen of John Fusco’s animated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. His beauty, poise and exquisite movement under saddle was breathtaking to behold.

The Parade of Breeds professional announcer took one look at Cayuse Gold and promptly cued our music to the soundtrack of Spirit. While this may not seem particularly remarkable – in fact it was a high honor bestowed. This very popular music is usually reserved for the spectacular Friesians – the grand finale act of the Parade of Breeds. So it was very sweet indeed to get ‘our’ music back to where it belongs – with the Colonial Spanish horses. Thank you Cisco!

And it was evident by word and deed that our dynamic duo generated quite a ‘buzz’ both behind the scenes and among park visitors. Needless to say, Sharon and Cisco secured a carte blanche invitation from the management to return anytime. A red carpet awaits his majestic return!

Billy Jack, however, won’t be joining his partner-in-crime next time around. He’ll be otherwise occupied – having been offered an exclusive spot as a regular at the Breeds Barn for the 2008 season - representing the Colonial Spanish to over 900,000 park visitors throughout the year.

All in all, a pretty good weekend for HOA.