YEARLING STALLIONS

TOUCH MY IMAGINATION TOUCHED GOLD.

BY CHRISTINE HAMILTON, FIELD EDITOR

Connie Lee, newly of Weatherford, Texas, could barely talk. She was so excited after walking out of the Bayer Select World Championship Show arena. She’d made it through a long class with her yearling stallion, Touch My Imagination, aka “Ty,” and came out with a gold trophy and their first world championship. Her husband, Fred, was shaking, too, when she handed the trophy to him. “I need a drink of water,” she said with a laugh and added, “This is unbelievable!” The Journal asked her to tell us more.

Q. Is this your first world championship?

Connie: This is my very first one. I came in 2004, and I made the finals with my horse Mighty Tru Skip by Ima Tru Skip (aka “Kenny”). Wade Ellerbroek got reserve today, and I got Kenny from him. That was the greatest thing I’d ever done up until now.

Q. How did you get this horse?

Connie: I bought Ty when he was 5 months old, and he was just out in the pasture and hadn’t even been halter broke. We put him on the trailer and hauled him three hours home, and he’s just been the calmest, coolest horse. Today was the most nervous he’s ever been in his life.

Q. What made you pick him out, out in the pasture?

Connie: Basically, Kenny had four stocking legs and a big, white face (just like Ty). And he was 16.2 (hands). I loved Image Of Kid and I loved the Mister Conclusion mares. (Ty’s dam is by Image Of Kid out of a Mister Conclusion mare.)

Connie Lee of Weatherford, Texas, and her 2008 Select world champion yearling stallion, Touch My Imagination.

Q. How did it go in there? Did you have any difficulties?

Connie: Yes! (She laughed.) He was very nervous with the speakers. We schooled him, and he did great but the speakers kind of ticked him off. He stepped on my foot, and I was like, "Keep your cool, keep your cool, walk again, walk again." And then we made it. And I thought, "Oh, we’re not going to get anything because he won’t walk." But then he settled down some by the third or fourth judge and started acting like himself a little bit. And then he was great, just great.

Q. Tell us about yourself.

Connie: I’m semi-retired now. I’m an X-ray tech that does mammography. I got into mammography because my mom had breast cancer. She died two years ago, she was 80, but she had breast cancer when she was 56. I wanted to learn more about all that, so I changed professions and went back to school. I married Fred in ’99 and moved to Collierville, Tennessee; he’s from there. He just retired and we’ve always wanted to live in Texas, so we just thought, "Let’s go!" We put the house up for sale and sent the horses out here to Josh (Larman) and bought a house in Weatherford. We moved in about a month ago.

Q. How did you get into showing Quarter Horses?

Connie: I always wanted to ride from the time I was 2; it was the only thing I ever picked out in books and the only thing I ever played with. It is born in you. I made my dad take me to riding stables; he was a lifetime Marine at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. They have a huge equestrian center there. And it was every Saturday, 6 a.m., and “don’t come get me until you have to.” I rode every kind of horse they had. I got my first horse when I was 15. My neighbor had Quarter Horses and I got introduced to them then. I’ve had Quarter Horses ever since.

Q. Is there anything else you want to add?

Connie: Bill and Ann Lanning (Edgewood/Lanning, Pilot Point, Texas) are the best people in the world. They helped us with our move out here. We sent everything to them. They haven’t let us worry about anything.

Fun Fact: Connie used to own a horse named The Investigator. “I got him when he was 10 months old and broke him myself,” she said. Connie sold the horse to top youth competitor, Nancy Murfin, now Murfin-Moxley. “She ended up second in the nation in youth pleasure in her last year of youth,” Connie said. The talented gelding remained in the Murfin family until his death in 2002.