Featured Exhibitor

Alice M. Unger - as written by Alice

Nancy Leigh and Alice

I’ve been around horses since I was seven. The first horse that I had was a white Arabian named Myrna. You have to understand that when my Mom asked me what kind of horse I wanted I told her the Black Stallion, and she told me that I couldn’t have the Black Stallion (not that I knew what “stallion” meant). My second choice was a white horse, and so my Mom found Myrna on a shopping trip for carpet for our new house in northern Wisconsin. After I started to learn to ride, my Mom wanted to get a horse for herself so that she could ride with me on the trails. Her thoughts immediately went to a Saddlebred, since that was where her heart ran because of her involvement with them when she was younger.

She picked up a magazine at the grocery store that pertained to horses in Wisconsin and found an ad for LaFleur Stables. We went to visit them and ended up with my first saddlebred, Greenway Sally Shamrock. It was fate that I would get this mare because her barn name was Dallas after the Barbie Doll horse, and much to my mothers chagrin—I was a Barbie Doll addict. I had Dallas, I had every Barbie Doll my Mother would buy, and now I had my own live Dallas. Somehow my Mother decided that my first horse show would be the Kentucky State Fair. I got to show in the 10 and under Walk and Trot. That was the last time that Helen Crabtree judged. Dallas took me to the center of the ring and wanted to leave, but Mrs. Crabtree saw that I wasn’t scared and let me finish the class without being excused. I ended up with an 8th place ribbon out of nine riders.

Alice and Mother Nancy

I still remember that class better than many others. Because Louisville was my first horse show, I feel grateful in that it has never been a scary place for me to show. Ignorance sometimes is bliss. I never realized all the hoopla that went with Louisville and my Mother has never pressured me other than to do the best that I am capable of doing. After Dallas I had several different horses. We moved to Bonnie Byrne Stables and I had Let’s Burn A Debt, Duke’s Cherry Brandy, It’s Phi Day and RWF Radioactive to show. I also got to lease and show the grand walk trot mare Cherished Jewel with Dave Patton as trainer. I was pretty involved with swimming in high school and the horses to a lesser degree and it wasn’t until I was off to college my freshman year that as a going away present my Mother let me ride Caraway in Freedom Hall. I had always loved this mare and to me it was a dream come true. My Mother then let me show her at the fall horse show at the Kentucky Horse Park. I always felt there was method in my Mother’s madness in letting me show her. It started a spark and avid interest in the horses. I always appreciated and loved the horses, but now it had become a passion. I guess it’s better late than never to become horse crazy.

My Mother won the Amateur 3 year old Park Pleasure Futurity at Louisville with Caraway’s oldest son Spike Leigh and much to my surprise he was to be mine to show the following year. Andy and Lynda bought Bonnie Byrne’s stable that January and under Andy’s wonderful tutelage I was undefeated in Junior Pleasure classes with Spike Leigh. It is hard for me to convey how much Andy’s patience, thoughtfulness, and most of all his caring wonderful heart have allowed me to grow both as a rider and as a human being. With each new project starting with Spike Leigh to Mr. Bayleigh to Sky High Money to Downtown Strutter I have found myself more comfortable and enthused about horses and the next project to come. When my Mom bought Downtown Strutter aka Strider, I fell in love with him from the moment I put my leg across the saddle. I have to say that I enjoyed every step of the journey we were on for the next three years. I can’t wait to get to see Paul Treiber show him this summer, and I know that he will enjoy him as much as I.

Alice and Sky High Money

I never thought that I would want to drive a horse. But the other part of my story is that Lynda and my Mom decided that I needed CH Heirstown aka Cappy. Again, ignorance is bliss. My third time driving a horse was the qualifier at Kansas City. Clueless, utterly clueless we went into the ring with every groom, Andy & Lynda glued to Cappy’s side and me oblivious with a big grin on my face. Not only was I getting to drive a really cool horse, but I was getting to be a girly girl, with a hat, fancy clothes and my hair down and waving in the breeze. Life doesn’t get much cooler than that! Then the icing on the cake, we won. A very bad precedent had been set. Many hats later, many lessons on how to back, many lessons in how to walk, reverse, and steer etc., I realize why it required so many people at the in gate my first horse show. Cappy is a dream come true and a real gentleman. I am truly blessed. I am so grateful to Lynda for having faith in this horse and having faith in me that we could do all of the wonderful things that we have done. I have never had a horse that no matter what, he finds something to entertain himself and he never drops an ear.

I met the man of my dreams while an undergraduate at Swarthmore College. Thank heavens I have learning disabilities and I was on the five and a half year plan. I met this guy through a mutual friend and he just kept hanging out around my dorm room. He quickly became my best friend. It was hard to take hearing however, that he was not going to date until he was 35. Marriage was something that would happen after he had either made his first million or was well on his way. Something had to be done!!! Let’s just say that the love of my life, Jaspal Singh didn’t know what hit him. (The baseball bat still has a little blood on it, but he has recovered nicely.) He doesn’t understand the horse business (being an economic major) but he happily supports my passion. However, he has stolen the affection of my dog Lucy.

I have found in my life that there are many people who never find a passion. I am lucky because I have found three. My last passion and the one that has been with me the longest is my art. My Mother never let me have a coloring book. Instead, I had all of the blank paper and crayons my heart could desire. We took many a long road trip together through the years from the time I was 6 weeks old. My Mother drove us from Pennsylvania to Florida to Wisconsin constantly with two golden retrievers and three cats. There was many an argument in the back of the Volvo wagon about whose child seat it was, mine or Perrin’s, the cat. On these long trips I kept myself occupied by drawing and creating little worlds of my own. Now that I have experienced other mediums I have found that my first love in art is ceramics which I discovered at Swarthmore. I also work in glass, textiles, oils, and mixed media ,which I discovered while at the University of Wisconsin Madison while working on my MFA. As many a horse person knows I also enjoy photography. I took up photography as a way to help my understanding of how a horse moves. Then to my joy, people pay me for something I enjoy doing.

I cannot imagine my life without these three passions. I look forward to the next adventure and with the support of my family, Andy and Lynda, it should continue to be a blast!