Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408150010
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
She rode her first horse at age 4 - just her grandfather's plow horse, but enough for her to be bitten by the horse bug.
After eight years of begging her parents for a horse, she had almost given up. But at age 12, she finally got her dream horse. Seven years later, she owns or manages about 25 horses at her own stable and two other locations.
She also gives riding lessons, breeds and sells a growing number of horses, and has collected enough ribbons and trophies at horse shows to all but take over her parents' Dublin home.
``I always wanted a quarter horse or an Appaloosa,'' she said. ``I hated Arabians.'' But when her Christmas gift in 1987 turned out to be an Arabian named Tex, she quickly changed her mind.
Her horse's official name is AH Commendation; the initials stand for businessman Armand Hammer, who paid $1 million for one of the horse's forebears, a national champion. ``But we just call him Tex.''
Her family was visiting her aunt Jennifer Miller in Russell County on that memorable Christmas. Miller began reading Hobbs a poem that she had written, about a little girl who dreamed of getting a horse and whose wish came true.
``And then my aunt grabbed me and she pointed out the window and said, `Look! There he is!'''
And there was a 4-year-old gelding, standing in the rain wearing a Christmas bow, being held by Hobbs' father, who also was getting wet and was more than ready to hand over the reins to his daughter.
Tex, born on the Florida horse farm where his sire lives, was sold to a West Virginia riding school. A Virginia woman bought him and later offered him for sale for $500. ``And then he was sold to me, and he'll never be sold again,'' Hobbs declared.
She spent every waking moment with him - and sometimes slept in his stall - while visiting her aunt in Honaker until she found a place where he could be kept in Pulaski County.
Now he has his own place, a barn and 40-acre farm off U.S. 11 between Pulaski and Dublin that Hobbs bought and named Shadow Ranch. Her horse business is named Three Shadows Arabians. She also manages Oakwood (formerly Knob Hill) Stables in Radford.
Hobbs even met her fiance, Eric Reid, through her horse business. She was training a horse for his mother. The wedding is scheduled for October.
Reid has become part of her operation, along with Jennifer and Kim Sharp; Hobbs' sister, Karen Barker; Barker's husband, Alex; and Hobbs' parents, Bill and Pat Hobbs.
Even Hobbs seems a little dazed by it all. She grew up wanting one horse, and now makes her living with horses. With about 15 more foals due in the coming year at Shadow Ranch, Oakwood Stables and her aunt's farm in Honaker, she will be raising even more of them.
But Tex, her first horse, remains first in her affections - and vice versa. ``When I come up in the morning or at night, if I don't speak to him first, he goes off in a corner and pouts,'' she said.
Tex has other likes and dislikes. ``He will not take a cocky person. If you get cocky, he'll throw you off. And I know, because he's done it to me,'' Hobbs said.
He recognizes his own saddle, bridle and other equipment, she said. ``He won't eat out of any other bucket except his.''
At first, Hobbs was happy to finally get Tex from Honaker to Pulaski County where she could ride him every day. ``Then my friend Cheri [Wasserman] talked me into showing him,'' she said.
Hobbs could not afford the saddles and other equipment for the various categories of horse show competition. So Wasserman loaned them to her and drove her and Tex to shows throughout Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky until Hobbs' folks agreed it was time to get a horse trailer of their own.
Nevertheless, Tex garnered enough ribbons to fill three walls of Hobbs' home, trunks full of plaques and more than a dozen trophies, including some from the Virginia Arabian Horse Association and the Virginia State Fair.
She shows her versatile Arabian in many classes, including Western, English, hunt, jumping, barrel race and pole race.
``I get bored doing one thing,'' she said, and figures Tex thinks the same.
Last year, Tex was seventh among the top 10 International Arabian Horse Association awards. He also took the association's Outstanding Youth Pleasure Horse prize and Superior Award of Merit.
``He's not perfect in everything he does. He just does a little bit of everything,'' she said. ``My little $500 pony has turned out to be quite a horse.''
by CNB