Fence-jumping horse sires prize winner

Unplanned pregnancies rarely result in prestigious awards. But that’s just what happened at the Spokane Class A Arabian Horse show last month.

Reckless, a half-Arabian owned by Glovers’ Stethmir Arabians, was awarded the Legion of Honor. Stethmir is a family business, owned by retired dentist Tom Glover, his wife Dr. Elaine Glover, and his two daughters, Sylvia Glover and Susan Glover-Neff.

“My book club named Reckless,” said Sylvia with a laugh. “His dad jumped the fence. He’s our only unplanned mating.”

Most Arabians are carefully bred via artificial insemination. But despite his surprising beginning, Reckless has turned out to be a true champion.

He’s accumulated the 65 points needed for the Legion of Honor at “breakneck speed,” according to Sylvia Glover. His stable-mate Just Plain Jake earned his Supreme Legion of Honor at the same show.

The business is a labor of love. In 1960, Tom Glover bought 60 acres north of town with the idea of owning horses.

“I grew up on the DeSmet Reservation,” he said. “I always rode horses. I had a dental assistant who talked me into getting a foal for Sylvia. She was probably 4 at the time.”

And from there the stable grew. Stethmir is unique in the horse industry in that they breed and show their own horses. Tom Glover was present at the birth of both prize-winning horses.

“I cut the umbilical cords,” he said.

“At one time we did it all.” They even broke the young horses.

“But,” he continued with a rueful shrug, “as we got older, the ground got harder.” Now they work with trainer Wanda Leubner in Alberta.

What makes a prize-winning horse? Breeding and pedigree are important, but according to Sylvia Glover, “They’ve got to have talent, and they need to be trainable. We try to breed them to be oriented to humans. We want to enjoy the horses.”

Reckless definitely has a mind of his own, yet when the trainer’s young daughter comes out to see him, he lets her brush his tongue with a toothbrush. Then he unties her shoes.

The Glovers have a new addition to the family. A month-old buckskin foal peeked shyly from behind its mother in a corner of the bright, airy barn.

A tack room filled with blue, yellow and red ribbons speaks of the many accomplishments this stable has achieved. When asked if they show the horses for the prize money or the glory, all three Glovers laughed.

“The glory!’ ” they said. Purses at local and regional shows are notoriously small. But each award does add to the value of the horse.

While Tom Glover attends to the daily care of the animals, his daughters prepare the horses for competition and show them. Both work outside the family stable.

Sylvia is senior counsel and assistant attorney general for Washington State University. Appropriately, one of her clients is WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Susan works part time as a dental assistant. She and her husband, Steve, also own Moose Meadow Arabians.

The women work with the horses three to five times a week during the show season. “I enjoy it,” said Susan. “It’s therapeutic – the competition, being with the animals, being outdoors.”

Sylvia believes a common misperception about Arabians and half-Arabians is that you have to spend big money to get a show-worthy horse.

“Now, there are a lot of horses that are affordable and can win.”

The daughters and their dad laugh when they recall Reckless’ inauspicious beginning. They sold his father.

“We sure wish we’d kept the fence-jumper,” said Sylvia.

“We’re breeders; we can’t keep them all,” said Tom. A barn cat rubbed against his legs as he glanced around the sunlit stable.

He watched as his daughters led the horses out to the ring.

“I’ve always enjoyed animals,” he said, “I guess that’s what started it all.”