Love of horses a family affair

It’s fair to say horses don’t run in Jodi Caul’s family. In fact, they gallop.
She and her husband, Keith, have been horse fans since before they were married 25 years ago. Now, the family has three children on their farm near Devlin—and two of them are as horse-crazy as they are.
Last weekend, Jodi, Keith, their daughters, Kayla and MacKenzie, and five horses were at the Borderland Quarterhorse Association’s annual show at the Emo fairgrounds, along with hundreds of other like-minded people from across the district and beyond.
It seems the only one the horse gene skipped was their son, Riley, who is as crazy about go-kart racing as his sisters are about horses. How crazy?
“We’ve been doing this since before we could walk,” claimed Kayla, 18.
“When she was a baby, I used to get Kayla to fall asleep by putting her on the saddle in front of her father and waiting for her to nod off,” her mom joked.
Of course, maintaining good horses requires a lot of commitment—both physical and financial.
“There’s a lot of work,” Jodi Caul stressed. “The kids ride and clean stalls every day.”
The Cauls were just one of several district families at this year’s show and their experience is probably typical. They’ve found their love for horses also binds them together as a family.
“I think a lot people do it because it’s family-oriented,” Caul speculated. “It’s a lot of work, but it keeps the kids out of trouble.”
Out of trouble, perhaps, but not necessarily out of harm’s way. Kayla still is nursing a bruised pelvis from when one of her horses rolled on her a few weeks ago.
And there always is the risk of heartbreak when things go wrong. “We’ve lost some good horses over the years,” Caul acknowledged.
Active mounts such as quarterhorses always are at risk to life-threatening injuries during training or competition, and colic is ever in the back of any equestrian’s mind.
Nowadays, West Nile virus poses a serious threat to horses, but like most people, the Cauls have taken advantage of vaccines that provide almost complete protection.
But there always are the competitions to keep things interesting.
Both sisters did extremely well last weekend in Emo. The eldest, Kayla, captured top honours all three days in the two-year-old Western Pleasure category while MacKenzie took first place in the Senior Western Pleasure and Youth Western Horsemanship on Friday, as well as another first place in the Youth Hunt Seat Equitation category Sunday.
Jodi Caul said quarterhorses are among the most popular in North America. Apart from their versatility, they tend to attract people from all over whenever there is a major show or competition.
“Every year, they have the Quarterhorse Congress in Columbus, Ohio,” she noted. “It’s the largest horse show of any breed in North America.”
The Borderland Quarterhorse Association’s annual show may not be the biggest in North America, but it has been going strong for more than 30 years.
And if current attendance trends are any indication, it may well be here for at least another 30.