1984
was the height of Jet's participation in the Versatility Program.
It was also a "fun" year because he and I both learned new
things. A TWHBEA Regional Heyday
was scheduled in the Houston, Texas, area in
September. A month before the
Heyday, we began training over fences and around poles and barrels.
Jet decided, "This is fun!"
Neither one of us had any formal instruction.
We just did "what comes naturally."
I was pleasantly surprised at his ability to be so versatile and to learn
so quickly. He had proven himself
over and over as a show ring performer, but could I teach a 15-year-old stallion
to do fences, poles and barrels when I had never done them myself? The results were exciting:
Jet won the TWH Over Fences and the Barrel Race classes, and was a close
reserve in the Pole Bending Class. He
was also the Adult Heyday Champion, taking additional blues in the Lite-Shod
Futurity and Basic Reining classes, and earning high placements in the Trail,
Western, English, and Water Glass classes.
At
the 1984 State Fair of Texas Horse Show in October, the large
Southwest Walking Horse Breeders' Association (SWHBA) Futurity classes
were dominated by Jet and his three daughters.
They won the Stallion-and-Get-of-Sire class (DELIGHT OF JET STAR, JET
STAR'S ANGEL, and JET'S MIDNITE DELITE) over four other well-respected stallions
and their twelve get. The
Two-Year-Old Plain Shod class was won by DELIGHT OF JET STAR, as was the
Two-Year-Old Halter class. JET
STAR'S ANGEL won the Weanling Filly and the Weanling Grand Championship over
twenty-seven impressive weanlings. During
all of this excitement, Jet was also busy winning blues in English, Western, and
the Plantation Championship.
In
1985, Jet's 3-year-old daughter, DELIGHT OF JET STAR, was teamed with our
7-year-old son Bo. Although their previous show ring experience was limited,
they made a great team and were named SWHBA Juvenile Reserve Plantation
champions. That was just the
beginning of this championship team! In
November, 1989, they earned the final point to become YOUTH SUPERIOR CHAMPIONS
in the TWHBEA Versatility Program. Their
story was featured in the May, 1990, issue of VOICE.
The 1985 show season was topped off by JET STAR'S DELIGHT winning the
SWHBA High Point Plantation Horse for the fourth year in a row!
After
the 1985 show season I suffered from "burn out" of showing horses.
The long hauls and the anxiety attacks every time I went into the show ring had taken their toll.
We stayed at home and enjoyed the "vacation."
Jet was "put out to pasture" with only breeding duties and fly
avoidance to worry about. I enjoyed
his freedom, too! But alas! friends
were urging me to finish what I had started in the Versatility Program to get
his Supreme Championship. A very
dear friend, JoAnna Stinson from Nacogdoches, TX, took the long drive north to
teach me more about jumping. We got
a TWH Over Fences point while she was visiting.
At the end of 1985, we needed five points in either Basic Reining or Over
Fences to complete the program. It
might as well have been fifty-five!
A
year or so later, another division was added to the option/requirements in the
Versatility Program -- Western Riding. It
didn't mean anything to me until I started 
coordinating the 4-H Horse Show
Program in our Cooke County. Not
knowing much about it (except that it looked like a complex pattern in the
Versatility Book), I was suddenly faced with having to learn all
about it in order to put on the local 4-H county show.
As I became more familiar with
the pattern, I began to appreciate its discipline. It is not difficult, and I feel that it is a true test
of the Western ability of any horse. In the fall of 1989, at my husband's urging,
I decided to get the "old" black stallion out of what he thought
was permanent retirement, shake the cobwebs off of him, and see if we couldn't
get those final eight points in Western Riding.
This time, the unsuspecting "trainee" was 19 1/2
years old! He was
probably thinking, "I can't get no
respect!"
The
discipline necessary for Western Riding was not insurmountable for a somewhat
arthritic Grand Ole' Man. Jet Star
was able to execute the Western Riding pattern with smoothness and precision.
He earned three points in Western Riding at his first attempt in Nov. of
1989. The following spring he
earned two more points. Five down,
three to go! At a June horse show
there were enough entries that all he needed was a third place to get those
three points. His "order of
go" was near the end of the class. I
agonized during each of my competitors' performances, because there were some very
well executed patterns, including that of Youth Superior Champions, Bo Smith and
Delight of Jet Star. I prayed hard
-- I didn't need first or second, just that very precious third place.
When we didn't get first or second, it seemed like hours before third place was announced. When it was finally
announced that Jet Star's Delight and Bonnie Smith had placed third, I was
totally besides myself!!! I
immediately promised Jet Star's Delight the permanent retirement he thought he had already earned.
Our announcer asked us back into the ring to give us an impromptu
retirement ceremony. There's no
turning back on that retirement promise, now,
Jet, because there were many witnesses present!
The
twenty-two-year-old Supreme Champion is back "out to pasture" again,
running up and down the beautiful rolling hills of Valley View Farms, doing
whatever grand old stallions like to do best!
Jet Star's Delight is also the sire of three other versatility Supreme
and Superior champions: Delight of
Jet Star, Jet Star's Memory, and Night of Jet Star. He died September 1,
1998, at the age of 29
years, 7 months.