“She’s coming home! Thank you Amy Gumz for the opportunity to bring, Elegantiva (Ellie) back to Nebraska. She was one of the great ones and I am so excited to get her back,” says Bobbi Theisen, who first owned this mare over a decade ago.
Recently, Theisen was scrolling through Facebook when she saw Amy Gumz of Gumz Farms post about the superior hunter under saddle mare being for sale.
“Amy was so excited about the possibility of me getting her back and bringing her home. She said she had a ton of inquiries about her, but we made the deal and I was thrilled to get her,” Bobbi explains. “She was always such a popular mare. It seems like almost everyone remembered her even after all these years.”
In 2007, Gumz purchased Elegantiva at the AQHA World Show Sale. “She is such a big beautiful mare,” Gumz told GoHorseShow. “She’s had some really nice babies for us but we are concentrating more on our western program with our junior stallion, Its A Southern Thing. I couldn’t be more pleased that she is returning to Bobbi. What a perfect ending to a great story.”
Theisen bought Ellie as a yearling from her friend, Linda Ketter of Castle Rock, Colorado. Bobbi showed her in the hunter under saddle classes and Ellie was also shown in the lead-line at the Nebraska Silver Classic when her daughter was just six years-old. The Nebraska native sold the mare her three year-old year. Bobbi didn’t have the chance to show her very long before she sold her but the duo did win the circuit championship at the Black Hills Summer Circuit and also the Nebraska Silver Classic Futurity.
“Ellie was always so special to me,” Bobbi says. “She was really my first horse that I sold for great money–sort of my first home run. My husband and I used the money from her to build a beautiful barn that I still work out of today. I have had a lot of great horses, but Ellie is the one that most people remember. Her size, movement and overall elegance left an impression with almost everyone that saw her.”
Theisen also showed one of Ellie’s babies, The Unpassable, where they were Top Ten at the 2005 Congress in the Three Year Old Non-Pro and limited futurities. “It would be really cool to raise another baby out of her and take it to the show ring,” Bobbi says.
According to Theisen, the “Encoriva” horses were ahead of their time in the show ring. “They all had a very extreme thoroughbred look and amazing movement. When the opportunity came up for me to get her back, I knew I had to bring her home,” Bobbi says. “We will probably try to get a couple of babies from her, but, most importantly, she will have a wonderful forever home here in Nebraska.”
