KATHY PETTIT'S HOMEGROWN PACKAGE IS ENVY OF CLASS.
BY LARRI JO STARKEY, COPY EDITOR
Kathy Pettit rushed all morning August 26 during the 2008 Bayer Select World Championship Show, getting four horses ready and showing them back-to-back. Finally, after she finished showing her yearling gelding, she had time to talk to the Journal about the world championship she won earlier in the day with her homebred weanling gelding, Package Envy.
Q. Tell us about Package Envy.
Kathy: When he was born, he was so long-legged that he couldn’t get up. So when he finally got up, the vet said, “Oh, my God, he looks like Shaquille O’Neal.” So we named him “Shaq,” and a friend of mine said, well, if you’re going to geld him, you need to name him Package Envy, so that’s how he got his name. He’s been a great colt. The only complaint I’ve had is that I couldn’t get a hair coat on him and most of us halter people are really picky about that, so I had to body-shave him. And then his hair didn’t come back in like it was supposed to, so it was one thing after another, but I knew he was a good colt, and I didn’t care what other people thought – I was going to take him anyway.
Q. Tell us about your difficulties getting here.
Kathy: Well, I had a trainer friend who had a customer who didn’t have a ride. I have a three-horse trailer. I was bringing four horses. And he had a customer, so he said, “You take your truck and my trailer, and you can take all five horses.” So when I went over to his place to pick up his customer’s horse, I did make a very large turn in the driveway and I busted out the back window in the pickup, so we cardboarded and duct-taped it, and I headed off across the country. Once I got here at the hotel, they broke into my truck and they only took a couple of things – nothing important – and then yesterday when they came to fix the truck, they brought the wrong part.
Q. How did you manage to concentrate when you finally got to the arena?
Kathy: I love to show. And I love to show stock sired by my horses. It’s really important, and he’s by my horse (The Package), and we raised him there at the ranch. There’s always something extra instead of going out and finding one and writing a check when you actually raised it yourself.
Q. What were you thinking as they were calling out the names getting closer to you?
Kathy: I looked at the other geldings in the class, and they were big and filled out and more mature, and I thought, “He’s still a good colt. It doesn’t matter. He is what he is. If they’re judging conformation, they’ll find him, no matter how young, no matter what his hair looks like – as long as he stands there and is quiet and correct.” And he did. And they found him.
Kathy Pettit and her homebred Package Envy, the 2008 world champion weanling gelding.
Q. Was there a special reason you wanted to make this show with all four horses?
Kathy:Well, I have cancer, and they’re going to operate in the fall, so the doctor said no horse showing in the fall. He said you’ll be down and out for four to eight weeks and so I said, OK, is it bad enough I have to do it now, or can I wait to go to the Select. So I had to explain to him what the Select was and he said, “Argh, horse people.” But he said it was OK.
Q. Who’s your trainer?
Kathy: I don’t have a trainer. I do it myself.
Fun Fact: Because of the heat on the drive from California to Amarillo, Kathy drove at night. She credits her safe arrival in Amarillo to a lot of coffee and a lot of diet Coke.
WINNER STATS
Horse name: Package Envy Pedigree: 2008 sorrel gelding by The Package x CRL Ima Coosa Snip by Coosa Exhibitor: Kathy Pettit, Sanger, California Owner: Kathy Pettit, Sanger California Total class entries: 8 World Champion Prizes: Custom-designed gold-tone trophy, Montana Silversmiths buckle, neck wreath, gold medallion, Cripple Creek-logo jacket, world champion patch, Tex Tan product
