3 time’s a charm as racemare finds her place

Magna’s Majesty never got her chance to race, or be a broodmare. But, she is a natural in the show ring!

A mare who spent too much of her early life in the wrong place at the wrong time has found just the spot from which to launch herself into a successful career.

Magna’s Majesty had the cards stacked against her as both a racehorse and broodmare.

“She was well bred for racing, and she probably would have done well on the track, but it’s like she just had bad luck,” says owner and rider Katie Buxton. She notes that her first career was cut short when the mare’s race owner was forced to sell her for financial reasons. And bad luck continued when Magna’s Majesty failed as a broodmare. “She was bred in 2014 and unfortunately lost her foal. They attempted to breed her again in 2015 but she didn’t catch.”

Magna’s Majesty
Barn name: Lily
Sire: Magna Gratitude
Dam: Aplesantnight
Foal date: Feb. 8, 2010But according to Buxton, a third try at a career was the charm.

The Ontario-based horseman took on the mare in May 2015 as a resale project, but was so impressed with the horse’s desire to please, and capacity to win, that she sold another horse in order to keep Magna’s Majesty for herself.

“When I went to pick her up she was at a very nice breeding farm where the horses didn’t have a whole lot of handling. She hadn’t been on a trailer in three years, yet, she walked right onto my trailer without blinking. Most horses would have been difficult, but she just said OK. She’s so trusting,” says Buxton.

And Magna’s Majesty continued to impress her new owner by adapting rapidly to her new life. “Within a week of training, she was going walk, trot, canter like she’d been doing it for years. And the first time I got on her back, she turned, looked at me, and said, ‘this is fine.’ And then she trotted on the bit, like she’d been doing it her whole life.

At her first show, and her first time off property, Magna’s Majesty went out and did her job.

“I think she’s so happy to be getting attention and to be doing something, that she doesn’t want to get her steps wrong.”

When the mare recently required dental work, rather than have her head tied, she rested it quietly on Buxton’s shoulder throughout the procedure.

And in the show ring as well, the big-bodied mare with the agreeable disposition is proving herself to be grateful, steady and as reliable as they come.

“We took her to her first schooling show last November. It was her first time off property, and she just went in and did her job. She brought home a 2^nd, 3^rd, and 5^th in the hunter hack division out of 10+ horses. She didn’t put a foot wrong,” she says. “I found out the night before the show she’d have to do walk-canter transitions in the ring, so I taught her that night. When she got to the show, she didn’t miss a single one!”

Though the mare has the look of a hunter, her big, ground-covering gallop may be ideal in an Eventing career, says Buxton, noting that she plans to try short dressage and combined jumping and cross country events this year. And without even leaving the in gate, Buxton is already feeling that selling another horse in order to keep this mare was one of her best decisions.

And so the large, pretty mare, has finally found a place where she belongs.