Versatile is the perfect word to describe the seven-time World and Congress Champion mare, Scotch Margarita. Rita was owned the majority of her life by Stephanie Griffin of Owosso, Michigan. Last week, Rita passed away peacefully at the age of 29.
The 1986 chestnut mare was by Scotch Bar Time and out of Margarette Mac and was bred by Jim Dudley of Columbia, Missouri. In the 90’s, Griffin and Rita dominated the amateur division under the guidance of Jim Evans and Christie Morse Showerman. Always rising to the challenge of the All-American Quarter Horse Congress, the commanding team won the very popular Amateur Versatility at the Congress an impressive four times – 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. Additionally, they accumulated in excess of 2,000 AQHA points.
“I am incredibly thankful for this once-in-a-life time horse that helped me make my dreams come true. So many other people were able to enjoy Rita over the years. I can’t even begin to count how many people had their first horseback rides on her,” Griffin recalls. “Today, I am thankful for all of the amazing friends that came into our lives showing horses.”
Stephanie (Scheid) Griffin’s story began with tragedy before she acquired Scotch Margarita. Her youth horse had been leading the nation for the AQHA All-Around when lightning struck the barn and was tragically killed. After begging her father for a new horse, he finally relented. Although Rita was over their budget, the persistent Stephanie flew to Denver by herself and fell in love. After some additional begging, the purchase was made and Stephanie’s dutiful father set out for the northwest corner in Iowa to pick the mare up in a little steel bumper pull during a January snowstorm. “Twenty five years later, I think even my dad would agree it was money well spent,” Griffin reflects.
Stephanie fondly described Rita’s personality at first as a “ticking time bomb.”
“Rita wasn’t an easy horse to show but that made it that much more gratifying when we put it all together. We didn’t win right away, so it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears until we finally became an extension of each other,” Griffin shares.
In addition to winning the Congress Versatility four times, Stephanie was crowned Congress Queen in 1995 with Rita as well as winning Congress Championships in the Queen Horsemanship and Amateur Showmanship. In 1997, they were AQHA World Champions in the Amateur Horsemanship, and, in 2000, Rita and Stephanie finished out their career with a Reserve World Championship in the Amateur Showmanship.
“At the end of Rita’s show career, there was a big to do with AQHA wanting people to change pivot feet for the showmanship. We tried and Rita had just been doing it ‘wrong’ for too long, so we finally just gave in and went back to the way she was most comfortable,” Stephanie remembers. “We ended up finishing Reserve in the Showmanship that year at the World Show which made me really happy. I felt like the judges were honoring the fact that even if it wasn’t the preferred way of doing it, she did it so well and had been doing it that way for so long – that was the last time I showed her.”
One of Griffin’s favorite Rita memories was when her sister, Courtney Elwell (pictured left), showed her in the 15-18 Showmanship at the 1993 Congress. “This was the only time my sister showed that year. She took a lesson the week before and Christie (our trainer) told her she didn’t know why in the world she was showing at the Congress,” Stephanie recalls. “They won the class, so Courtney won a big show with her a few years before I did.”
Another fond memory for Griffin came at Congress when she had just received reserve in Amateur Horsemanship in the Coliseum and needed to go straight to the make up pen at Celeste to show in the Versatility.
“She had been fabulous in the horsemanship and we missed the win by one point. It had gotten dark, though, and she was always awful at big shows because of all the tents and overhangs. So, she started trotting in place and snorting while we were walking to Celeste,” Griffin recalls. “Christie was like ‘Oh my God Stephanie. Are you sure you want to do this?’”
Stephanie shares, “By this time, I was bound and determined to show her in the Versatility, so we started taking turns longing her in the overhang outside Celeste. She was running and bucking so hard that everyone was staring and whispering. She actually fell down she was running so hard. Christie said, ‘You’re nuts.’ But we dusted all the dirt off her side and as soon as I walked through the gate into Celeste, she let out a deep breath and was a different horse. We won the Versatility, but it did probably cause some gray hairs for everyone in my crew.”
One of the people in Rita’s “crew” was well-respected horseman, Jim Evans. Stephanie remembers fondly, “Jim was always waiting for us at the back gate after our big wins. He passed in 2013 and I know he was waiting for Rita at the pearly gates to walk her in.”
Even after her show career was over, Stephanie still spent a lot of time with Rita. “This picture (below) represents one of my favorite memories with her. For years long after she was retired, I would go out after work every day and hand gallop her bareback up and down the driveway. We both loved it.”
Rita’s legacy didn’t end after her show career. This talented mare also made her mark as a dam. Rita had nine foals, seven performing, with six being point earners. Her offspring have amassed nearly 1100 points. Her first baby, Be Why Oh Be, was Reserve in the Congress Amateur Versatility with Griffin. This team was also Congress Top 5 in the Amateur Horsemanship. Rita’s son accumulated 350 points, but he was retired after his five year-old year due to an injury. Her second foal, One Potent Margarita, is the dam of NSBA Horse of the Year Good Cowboy Margarita. Rita’s most accomplished foal is A Sleepy Margarita, who has over 900 points and is currently being shown by Meggen Morrow Baynes.
Griffin shares some final thoughts about her beloved mare. “I was 18 when we got Rita and somehow I am 43 now, so we shared an awful lot of life during the past 25 years. At the end, the day before we put her down, she wasn’t able to bend her knee to lay down, so I stood next to her in the pasture with my arms around her for a couple of hours and she leaned on me to help take the weight off her leg.” (pictured right is Rita with Stephanie’s son, Jackson in September, 2015)
Stephanie continues, “We leaned on each other a lot during our lives, but I knew she was telling me it was time,” Griffin reflects. “The final day I couldn’t bear to leave her alone and my sister and I stayed with her until she took her last breath. She died with her son, daughter and other life long friends in the pasture with her, where she would always stand sleeping in the afternoon sun. She is buried there now and will rest easy where she loved to be, leaving behind a legacy in her babies and grand babies and a lifetime of incredible memories.”
