50 Year Career Anniversary
Jeff Wonnell is unique among horse trainers. Not only because he has been one for fifty years, but because his expertise encompasses the whole spectrum of the industry. His list of Nationals winners includes english and western pleasure horses, reiners and working cow horses, park horses and driving horses, hunter-jumpers, equitation riders and halter horses. His list of honors and awards is long. You name it, he's done it! More importantly, he continues to do it. Much as he has done with our horses, it is as our friend and teacher that he transforms his professional role into high art. His obvious pleasure in teaching a horse to do a job well becomes joy when he is able to teach the owner to achieve the same result. Many busy trainers today will admit to having learned a lot from Jeff. His list of apprentices is very impressive indeed. Many of us are deeply grateful for his friendship, as he is as caring and full of humor as he is skilled in his profession. ~Linda Walsh, for ceremony honoring Jeff's fifty year career anniversary at 1999 Region II Regional Championship Arabian horse show in Santa Barbara
One legendary encounter for the Arab horse world is here described eloquently by Liberty Dewert, for Ezine magazine: "Khemosabi was actually a last chance foal. Trainer Jeff Wonnell had brought several horses to a Salem horse show. Among them were Amerigo, a striking gray stallion, and Jurneeka, a 1964 champion at both english and western pleasure. "Jurneeka had been bred to Amerigo the spring before and was assumed to be in foal. To the dismay of Wonnell, she began to show signs of being in season. After the classes were over Wonnell made one last effort for a 1967 Amerigo foal. He took the two horses to the only desolate place, the fairgrounds' racetrack, where the breeding took place. Eleven months later, a wonder of the Arabian world was born."
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