In Loving Memory of Multiple APHA, PtHA World Champion, HR Zip Me (2005-2017)
By: Brittany Bevis
To the outside world, he was known as HR Zip Me, or even “The Great White One,” but for owner, Abbey Turner, there are a host of nicknames that reveal the character of her beloved, gray and white gelding’s personality and his endearing, and sometimes quirky, nature.
“We called him Speck, #110, Noo Noo, The Noo, Shark, Chark, Le Chard, Dr Noodle, The Noodle Meister, and the list goes on…” she says. “He had so much personality and touched so many lives. Everyone that had the opportunity to know him just absolutely adored him. The outpouring on Facebook is evidence of that. Harlene and Russell Rowe bred him; Scott Suggs trained him; and Paige Stawicki and Beverly Bass rode him before me. There’s not a dry eye in the house. He’s gone way before his time, and he will always be remembered as one of the great ones. I’m just so grateful that I’m part of his legacy.”
Abbey and Speck became a team on January 31st, 2012. By that time, he already had a decorated show career with an APHA Reserve World Championship in 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure in 2007; World Championship in Open Western Pleasure and Reserve World Championship in Western Riding in 2009; #1 14-18 Top 20 designation in 2010; and a Reserve World Championship in Youth Western Riding and Reserve World Championship in Amateur Western Pleasure in 2011.
In searching for the perfect horse, Abbey and then trainer, Laren Harmon of Dubin Farms, had a unique set of specifications. Due to Abbey having one prosthetic leg, she needed a horse that would be sensitive to voice and leg commands, but also one that would be reliable and safe enough for her to ride in competition.
“There was nothing about Speck that made him the perfect horse for me, other than he was breathtakingly beautiful,” she says. “Laren and I had followed his career since he was a 2-year-old. We were very close friends with (former owners) Beverly Bass and Paige Stawicki, and the first time I rode him, I cried. In fact, there were as many people that said, ‘No, don’t do it,’ as there were that said, ‘Yes, he’s the one.’ I’ll be honest, it took awhile.”
“A horse with a lead change as beautiful as his was very sensitive to leg pressure, and my prosthetic leg didn’t help matters. Laren didn’t let me do any lead changes on him for the first year. She said that until I could get through a flat class without one (or three), there would be no Western Riding.”
Abbey and Speck spent the first year of their career under the guidance of Dubin Farms in Florida and competed only within the Sunshine State, with the exception of the Pinto World Championship Show. “I entered way more classes than I should have at the PWC, considering I’d only been riding him about three or four months, but we managed to bring home a Reserve World Championship in Hunter Under Saddle. It was a great start. We also made the Masters Amateur Top 20 that year, coming in 14th place, and we never left the state of Florida for a Paint show.”
“Unbeknownst to me, Laren had been planning that after she had Dubinized Speck for a year (i.e., got him ready to take on the challenge of a one-legged rider), she was going to send him and I to train with Blake Carney in Rome, GA. I had been training with Laren in Florida for nearly 30 years, commuting first from GA, then from FL, with an 11 hour drive between us. Blake would be a quick three hour drive and would give me the opportunity to ride my horse on a weekly basis.”
In 2013, Abbey, Speck, and Blake took on the World, literally. Highlights from that year include an APHA Reseserve World Championship in Amateur Western Riding, High Point Masters Amateur title at the Paint Congress, and 4th place on the Masters Amateur Top 20 list. “My Western Riding debut was at the Paint Congress with Blake, and we did win the circuit champion. After the first year, my prosthesis didn’t seem to be an issue, although I did have to get custom made spurs that were much smaller than the ones I used on my previous horse, Metallic Zippo. There were days that I didn’t have enough right leg, and days I had too much, but Speck usually gave in before I gave out.”
In both 2014 and 2015, Abbey and Speck finished #4 on the APHA Masters Amateur Top 20 list. In 2015, they returned to the PWC and won three World Championships, two Reserve World Championships, and half a dozen Top 5 and Top 10 placings. However, 2016 was the best year yet. They won six PtHA World Championships, two Reserve World Championships, and half a dozen Top 5 placings. In addition, they won the High Point Senior Amateur division and placed #2 on the APHA Masters Amateur Top 20 list. Most exciting, they finished #1 on five Honor Rolls (4 APHA, 1 PtHA).”
Abbey says Speck’s soundness was never an issue until late in 2016 when she noticed something wasn’t right. “Usually a little Bute in his feed was all it took, but after the Tampa show in December we decided to do an MRI just to see what was going on. The results were unimaginable, considering the extensive amount of showing we did and having traveled over 15,000 miles in 2016. This horse never missed a show or even a class. Five vets agreed that there was irreparable soft tissue damage in both front legs that was degenerative. There really was no other humane option than to put him down.”
“I will literally miss everything about him! I’ll miss how incredibly handsome he was and how so many people would come up to me at a show and tell me that he was their most favorite horse on the show grounds, and they’d never seen a more beautiful Paint, ever. He was quirky, he was loving, he ate bananas, he’d bite you on the butt if you weren’t paying attention. He had rules, and we were expected to follow them. He hated Blake’s arena from the first day he came there, and after four years it got no better. He didn’t like to ride in the wind, the cold, or the clouds. He loved it when it was HOT! If you chose to go against HIS rules, you had to be prepared for the consequences, which was usually a jump to the left, and a hop to the right, and always when you were least expecting it. Funny thing, that was only at home. At a show, that boy knew his job, and he always gave me 110%!”
Rest In Peace
HR Zip Me aka “Speck”
(2005-2017)
