Backing the winning horse
SUMMIT TWP — Ricardo IA is at it again.
The 11-year-old paso fino show horse claimed its third consecutive national title at the Paso Fino Horse Association's Grand National Championship last month in Perry, Ga.
Ricardo IA, owned and ridden by Celeste Hortert of El Cacsejan Farm in Summit Township, won the reserve championship in 2007 and the pleasure division the past two years.
"To do what this horse is doing at his age is amazing," Hortert said. "Most show horses hit their peak at age 8 or so. Ricky was the oldest horse in the ring at the national show."
Ricardo IA competed in the paso division — the highest division — for five years before moving into the pleasure division for the past three years.
"We'll go for a third straight national title next year. That would put Ricky in a special class. Only about 10 paso finos have won at least three in a row like that.
"We're a little concerned about his joints. They're not bad now, but because of his age, we don't want to push him too much in the coming year."
Ricardo IA had been in shows every other month. Hortert said he will take part in four shows next year.
"You can get enough points to qualify for nationals in one show," she said. "There's no need to push him."
Hortert's mother bought Ricardo IA for her when Hortert was 14. She now is 22.
Besides his success at nationals, Ricardo IA won the Paso Fino World Cup and International Grand competition in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2007, in the amateur and professional divisions.
"Ricky's one of the best," Hortert said. "They say you can't win them all, all of the time, but we've gotten used to that with him."
Ricardo IA won 10 of the 12 competitions he was in last year.
El Cacsejan Farm has been working with Butler County youths, having them ride horses and teaching them how to show horses.
Hortert has been invited to Puerto Rico in 2010 "as part of the U.S. Equestrian team for our breed," she said. That trip will take place in July.
Hortert has shown about 10 horses on a national level. Her family began raising horses in 1992 and owns nothing but paso finos.
