By Linda White
The Three-gaited competition at the 2008 World's Championship Horse Show may well have exceeded all previous years' contests, in terms of its depth and sheer quality. As the week progressed, it probably seemed to the judges as if some celestial jeweler was presenting tray after tray of dazzling gemstones for their perusal, each assortment of brilliance rarer and more breathtaking than the one before. By Saturday afternoon, the showgrounds were abuzz with speculation.
Louisville audiences can usually pick out a winner, and Class 236's finest came into focus the first way of the ring. Audience support was deafening each time CH Our Charming Lady made a pass down the rail, on both sides of the coliseum. Elegant finish, tippy ears forward, lightness in the bridle, and an almost lighter-than-air step distinguished the bay mare, making her as irresistible as she had been in Wednesday evening's Ladies Over 15.2 qualifier. Irresistibility seems to be CH Our Charming Lady's stock in trade. The capable Mary Marcum Orr has been in the irons for owners Donna and Jack Finch each time the mare has showed. This Greensboro, North Carolina, couple has been undefeated since they purchased the willowy prodigy in February of 2007.
"We have won with her 20 times," says trainer Cash Lovell, understandable pride in his voice; he and his wife, Parker, hired Evan and Mary Marcum Orr in 2002. Mary is the riding instructor at Cash Lovell Stables and Riding Academy, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "I knew when I worked her Tuesday night that she was dead ready. To keep her fresh, I always jog her, and we usually only ride her the night before she shows," he explains. "This year here, I hand-walked her Thursday night, and jogged her Friday night. That's the first time I've done that. We showed her Saturday night, and we won."
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