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n 2006 at the Canadian National Championships I judged the most spectacular Arabian junior western pleasure horse I had ever seen. Her name was Melody V (Sundance Kid V x Magdalena V). Not surprisingly, she was also U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse in Louisville later that year. Eventually Melody V would go on to be named 2008 U.S. and Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure. Now a decade later, her son RGT Mozart is a top contender to repeat his dam’s junior horse accomplishments. He was just named the 2016 Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse, and in 2014 he was U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Futurity. RGT Mozart’s sire, Zimmeron PGN (Shah Azim x Mimis Memory), had an equally stellar western pleasure career. Like Melody V, he was U.S. and Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse, in 2001. And like her, in 2006 he was also named the U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Horse. The common denominator between National Champions RGT Mozart and his sire and dam, Zimmeron PGN and Melody V, is Rick Gault, of Archdale,
RGT Mozart (Zimmeron PGN x Melody V).
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North Carolina. He had been looking for a western horse for a client when Zimmeron caught his eye at the 2000 U.S. Nationals in the western pleasure junior horse. With Jody Strand in the saddle as a catch ride, they won Top Ten. “After the show I told my clients about him,” Rick says. “We flew out to Minnesota to look at him and we bought him on the spot.” With Rick, Zimmeron went on to win 2001 U.S. and Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse, and 2006 U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure. Another pivotal moment in RGT Mozart’s story was a day eleven years ago when Rick first saw Melody V at Varian Arabians. “Valerie Brown was looking for
a real nice amateur western horse. And she wanted a mare,” Rick says. “I had heard about a very nice big, bay threeyear-old filly at Sheila Varian’s that Jaime Hernandez had started under saddle. I fell in love with her, and called Valerie from the airport and recommended that she buy her. Soon, she was on her way east. “As I worked her over the winter, I knew she was pretty special,” continues Rick. “She was U.S. and Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse that next year. Part of what made her unique was her ability to concentrate and tune out everything around her and focus on what she’s doing. Nothing ever rattled her. This colt of hers is the same way. He just has so much confidence in what he is doing that
he never gets upset about anything. And like his mother, you don’t have to work him down.” Rick dreamed of creating the next great western pleasure horse utilizing the two stars he had found and trained. “I am not aware of two U.S. and Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horses being bred together,” he says. “I thought that Melody and Zimmeron would be the perfect combination. They were both big and hooky necked and very good thinkers. So I purchased several Melody embryos. The first one was very costly because it took four years to finally get a foal. That filly, RGT Zymphony, was just named 2016 Canadian National Champion Hunter Pleasure JTR 14-18. The next
Rick Gault recently rode RGT Mozart to win 2016 Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse, adding to his 2014 U.S. National Championship Western Pleasure Futurity title.
RGT Mozart’s sire Zimmeron PGN (Shah Azim x Mimis Memory).
Mozart’s dam Melody V (Sundance Kid V x Magdalena V).
RGT Mozart, who is known as “Duke” at home.
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foal only took one attempt and that was RGT Mozart. He was totally what I was hoping for. The way he is built, his mind, everything. He is the best combination of both parents.” “Duke’s” owner, Janice Lorick, of Hendersonville, North Carolina, first met the handsome colt when he was two days old. “Like everyone else, I fell in love with him,” she says. “I never dreamed at that time that I would someday own him. And I was there to see Rick’s first
ride on him. I asked Rick, ‘Are you sure you haven’t already been on this colt?’ He said, ‘No, but he is the easiest colt I have ever started.’ He told me that of all the western horses he had ridden this was the best one, which at first hurt my feelings a little bit because my ‘Andy’ (Anthem V) is pretty special.” But the path to acquisition was not direct. Rick had another client who had also been watching Duke grow up and following his training progress. “Janice kept coming 51 ▪ ARABIAN HORSE WORLD ▪ SEPTEMBER 2016
over and watching the process of breaking Duke,” says Rick. “She videotaped my first ride on Duke and sent it to her husband Neville. But I had another client who already said she wanted to buy him. So she was ahead of the Loricks. But when I told her that a condition of the sale was that he be kept a breeding stallion, that broke the deal. That’s when Janice and Neville jumped in and bought him. With his lineage, I feel he should be a breeding animal.”
RGT Mozart at the 2016 Canadian Nationals with owners Janice and Neville Lorick, left, and breeder/trainer Rick Gault.
When Duke was named the 2014 U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Futurity Horse, he was announced as being bred and owned by Rick and Laura Gault. Unbeknownst to everyone watching the young colt win his first national championship, he had changed ownership ten days earlier. “I have ridden him three times at the farm and I feel even more comfortable on him than Anthem V (*Jullyen El Jamaal x Alyce Bey V) because he just feels so solid,” Janice says. “He is never on edge. He’s always quiet and never hot. Rick encouraged me to show Duke in the Maturity at Nationals this year, which I
would love to do. But I feel it would be too much for him to show in junior horse and with me in the maturity. I will wait until next year when he is in the bridle.” I love hearing an owner say that they are willing to put the well-being and longevity of their horse first rather than make him show five times at the U.S. National Show. Janice will be rewarded for her patience and her horse will benefit from her good stewardship. “Even though we own Duke, he is Rick’s horse and I want him to have the best chance when he shows this year,” Janice adds. “When Rick is riding Duke he looks like he is in the zone. He practically closes his eyes 52 ▪ ARABIAN HORSE WORLD ▪ SEPTEMBER 2016
he is concentrating so hard. Duke only has one bad habit and it is Rick’s fault. Because Rick gives him carrots all the time, he is spoiled rotten.” There is no doubt that the special colt of the Loricks and the Gaults deserves to be a little spoiled. His is an innate greatness inherited from two extraordinary parents and developed by a talented horseman who recognized the potential of that mating. This October in Tulsa, Oklahoma, RGT Mozart will attempt to match the achievements of his sire and dam in western pleasure junior horse and secure his place in Arabian show horse history.
in
Heading to Tulsa
Western Pleasure Junior Horse with Rick Gault
2016 Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse 2016 Region 12 Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse 2015 Region 15 Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse 2014 U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Futurity Horse 48 ▪ ARABIAN HORSE WORLD ▪ SEPTEMBER 2016
Bey BeyShah Shah Shah ShahAzim Azim Juda Juda Zimmeron ZimmeronPGN PGN Kaiyoum Kaiyoum Mimis MimisMemory Memory Azebask Azebask
RGT RGTMOZART MOZART
Desperado DesperadoVV Sundance SundanceKid KidVV Sweet SweetShalimar ShalimarVV
Melody MelodyVV *Sanadik *SanadikElElShaklan Shaklan Magdalena MagdalenaVV Marigold MarigoldVV
Zimmeron ZimmeronPGN PGN
Melody MelodyVV
THIS SIDE BINDS TO MAGAZINE Proudly Proudly owned by: owned by: Janice Lorick and Neville Lorick · Hendersonville, North Carolina Janice and Neville · Hendersonville, North Carolina
2016 Canadian Champion 2016 Canadian NationalNational Champion Junior Horse Western Western Pleasure Pleasure Junior Horse Trained by and Trained by and standing at: standing at: Rick Gault Training · RickGault and Laura GaultNorth · Archdale, North Carolina · 336.558.7771 · Rick’s cell 336.471.8822 Rick Gault Training · Rick and Laura · Archdale, Carolina · 336.558.7771 · Rick’s cell 336.471.8822 Email: rickgault@northstate.net · www.rickgaulttraining.com Email: rickgault@northstate.net · www.rickgaulttraining.com
www.rgtmozart.com www.rgtmozart.com
2014 U.S. National Champion 2014 U.S. National Champion Western Western Pleasure Futurity Horse Pleasure Futurity Horse