The first time you attend a World Show, you don’t usually expect to win a World Championship. You certainly don’t expect to win two, especially when you’re riding a horse that not so long ago was a competitive trail horse housed in a simple barbed wire pen.
But for Wisconsin native, Victoria Burger, the surprises kept coming. At her first World Show, on her very first Paint Horse, ZZ I Wanna Rock, the duo won the Amateur Walk-Trot Hunter Under Saddle. Then, again the next day, they were crowned World Champions in Amateur Walk-Trot Hunt Seat Equitation. “My dreams keep coming true!” exclaimed Burger.
A real diamond in the rough, “Ozzy” was found in a backyard by trainer Blake Carney of Rome, Georgia. “Ozzy is out of the great multiple world champion mare, Reflected Illusion. About two years ago I was contacted by the owner, who had somehow bought him for competitive trail riding,” said Carney, who explained Ozzy wasn’t quite making it in that discipline.
So when the owner’s husband found the perfect trail horse for her, Carney was asked to come get Ozzy as soon as possible, a gift for the taking. Carney’s friend picked up Ozzy, and found him “in a barbed wire turn out, with terribly broken up feet, long hair, and although slightly underweight, no worse for the wear,” explained Carney.
Carney spent time letting him acclimate and get his feet and body in better condition, including enough rides to make a sale video. Though he’d not had any formal training since he was started at Breeder Deb Jarvis’ ranch as a two-year-old, Carney found him to be good-minded. “He was easy to get along with and very willing to learn,” he said.
After he was sold, he changed hands a few times, and ended up with Victoria Burger in January 2015. “You could just tell he was green,” said Burger. “He was nervous about sounds, but he had a kind eye and just wanted to lick you to death.”
Ozzy was purchased as Burger’s novice horse, but her own diagnosis of a herniated disk in April 2015 and a resulting surgery caused a change in plans. “I wasn’t supposed to ride at all for six months, and that lasted about two weeks. But loping was too big-strided for me, and I really wanted to be able to show,” she said. Burger and Trainer Julie Marweg made the decision for her to obtain a walk trot card.
Together, Marweg and Burger prepared the gelding for competition, despite his vast inexperience and a few training issues. “There were times we really had to work through things,” said Burger, who used her Great Danes to help desensitize Ozzy to noise, finally seeing great progress in October at the Fall Color Classic in Lansing.
Burger admits, however, she did not feel ready for her first World Show Hunter Under Saddle class because of how green Ozzy was. “We had not been able to get into this arena with a crowd and noise, and we knew him trotting down the line would be the biggest hurdle. Julie assured me this was a lameness check, so I was soft with my hands and encouraged him with my legs. After that, he went perfectly, and he floated down the rail,” she revealed.
Like many World Champions, he immediately sparked interest in others, including those who were ready to purchase their next winner. After his second win, Burger was met with an opportunity to sell Ozzy. Since she had another horse at the World Show with her, Absolot Glitz N Glam, Burger broke her tendency of keeping horses forever and agreed to let him go. “By the end of the sale, there were tears. We’d been working through things together and had a lot of fun. It was bittersweet to see him go,” she explained.
Off to make more dreams come true, Ozzy begins his next journey with Kristi Gage under the guidance of Debi Jones Performance Horses. Like a true champion, Victoria had this to say, “Best of luck to you with the Oz Man. You will love him!”
