The All American Quarter Horse Congress is often a time for people to achieve their goals and for their wishes to come true. However, for Ann Crawford of Lexington, Nebraska, her dreams came true after she passed from this earth.
Crawford, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), had always loved horses but never had the chance to show and compete at the Congress. Crawford, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 25, had her wish come true at this year’s Congress.
The Crawford family had been longtime friends from Nebraska with Clarice Cooper’s husband, Ryan Shotkoski. Ann had interned for Cooper Quarter Horses‘ breeding farm in Georgia, and while doing so, mentioned that she always would like to have a horse good enough to compete at the big shows. Very generously, Cooper decided to give her a breeding to her stallion, AQHA World Champion producer, Dont Skip Zip. The Crawford family chose their mare, PS An Impulse to breed to Dont Skip Zip. PS Im Home, a mare born in 2009, resulted from that cross. They named the filly “Annie”, named after Ann.
Just last week in Columbus, Ohio, the pretty western pleasure mare competed at the Congress in the Green Western Pleasure under the supervision of Marc and Brea Pile of Hastings, Nebraska. Marc and Annie ended up being a finalist out of a tough class of six splits and a total of 155 entries. Brea Pile told GoHorseShow that, “Annie is very special to the Crawford family, so we are happy to have the honor of training and showing the mare.”
While Ann never was able to see the foal and watch it develop into a show horse, Cooper says that she believes that Ann’s dream did come true. “Ann always said she wished that she had a nice horse and even though she wasn’t able to witness it in person–I believe she knows and is happy that the foal was able to grow up and do so well.” (PS Im Home, “Annie”, pictured left)
“Ann passed away in July and the mare was born the following spring,” says her sister, Kelli Bender, who also has CF and shares a love of horses. “She never got to see this beautiful mare here on earth. We were sitting around as a family and discussed that we wanted her registered name to reflect the year Ann left us. We came up with, PS Im Home, because Ann is home in Heaven no longer suffering and looking down on her beautiful mare. Even though it still brings tears to our eyes, it is a sweet reminder of her being with Jesus and her celebrating with us in Heaven.”
Before Ann died, she told her mother, Sherri, and father, Terry, that she wanted her sister, Kelli to have Annie. “Even though the filly wasn’t born yet, she knew the mare would be special and she was right. I have shown the horse a couple of times in amateur and have had some hard times getting back in the horse show atmosphere without my sister,” Kelli reveals. “I do want to carry out her wishes and her special gift of giving me a horse that I could finally have success with. My sister has always been my hero even though she is five years younger, but we have always had a special bond with horses and both having Cystic Fibrosis.”
Kelli adds, “She was always giving of herself and worked so hard in all that she did. Everyone knew Ann at shows because of her friendly personality, warm, kind heart, and she could make you laugh until your stomach hurt. I miss her dearly.”
