Zazu is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to own my own horse. That dream started when I was 3 years old but I had to wait 30 years to make the dream a reality. I got Zazu as a two year old filly and trained her myself. At the time I found her, she had been recently imported into the United States from the farm in Canada where she was bred. Training her was a huge undertaking as I had never trained a horse before but lots of love and determination saw me through. I've had her 11 years now and we have had all sorts of wonderful adventures together.
Zazu has been trained and has competed up to Second Level in Dressage as well as Western Pleasure and Western Trail (arena). I've also competed in Competetive Trail Riding and done all sorts of horse camping and general trail riding with her. Most recently, we competed in a local "A" show where we took first place in six classes including Amateur Trail and Western Pleasure Mares.
Zazu is sensitive mare with a generous and loyal nature. She is the boss mare in our little herd. I keep her separated from Tessi and Nora when they are in the back yard (a.k.a. the paddock area) because she does not do well with other horses in confined areas - she is too bossy. Zazu is kept separate from the other two by a ribbon of hot-wire, but in their pasture across the street they are all together and she is fine.
In the last two years Zazu had a couple of difficult health problems - a hypothyroid condition which caused her to gain a great deal of weight and feel very fatigued, and a hind leg injury that was the result of her kicking her stall because of the discomfort the hypothyroid condition was causing her. Once the hypothyroid condition was diagnosed and she was put on medication to control the condition, the stall kicking stopped but the injury to her hind leg did not completely heal. I'm still working with my veterinarian to try to improve it further.
Zazu produced a beautiful buckskin filly - Tessi - but motherhood was not really her cup of tea. Luckily Nora (Zazu's Auntie), adored Tessi and did the vast majority of mothering. Zazu loves to compete. She especially loves Western Trail classes. I continue to train Zazu about twice a week and my dream is to win the amateur world championship in Western Trail with her in Oaklahoma City within the next 5 years.
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