An Amazing Breeder Of World Class Halter Horses – Vicki Livasy
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146 – July/August, 2025
By Susan Winslow
A lifelong resident of Decatur, Illinois, Vicki Livasy can’t remember a time when she didn’t love horses. However, since she came from a non-horsey family, her father thought horses were too dangerous. Livasy recalls with a laugh, “So, he bought me a minibike!”
Though the thrill and speed of little motorcycles may have filled that niche for a while, her love of horses never waned through school, college, marriage to her beloved husband, Mark, and raising her children. She had a fulfilling career as a teacher when a chance experience with her daughter brought her into the horse world and reignited that passion.
In a shining example of the adage, “Good things come to those who wait,” Livasy realized her dream of riding when her youngest daughter turned 10 and asked to go on a trail ride at Big Creek Riding Center in Big Creek Park in Decatur. Vicki accompanied her daughter and instantly knew she was exactly where she was always supposed to be. She recalls, “I loved it. I ended up buying a three-year-old, green broke gelding. Then two months later, I purchased a black gelding for my daughter, Erin.”
After dipping her toe into the horse world, she finally jumped in with both feet. The following year her friend, Connie Morse, who ran Big Creek, introduced her to a bay tobiano filly named Toot N For The Bucks. Livasy recalls, “I instantly fell in love with Tootie. I showed her as a weanling, and she ended up high point weanling in Illinois. I showed her in longe line as a yearling and we won high point in that, too. I had a wonderful trainer, Tom Walmsley, who broke Tootie out to ride. My daughter ended up showing her, and her first show was our State Fair. She did fine in the walk-trot but when it came to loping, Tootie tried to pass every horse out there–twice!” Livasy continues with a smile recalling her filly’s big personality, “My daughter got a green ribbon for ‘Go!’
Click here to read the complete article
146 – July/August, 2025
