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As a college student, Cathy Thomson used to wait each month with her mother to see the new issue of Arabian Horse World, so that they could drool over the pictures inside. They had Half-Arabians, because at that time purebreds were too expensive to fit into their budget. However, they could look at the horses inside the magazine and dream.
After college, where Thomson earned her degree in chemistry with a strong background in biology, she took the fast track to the corporate world, leaving the horses at her mother’s place far behind. Years went by, and Cathy married and continued on her upward track through the corporate ranks to management.
And walked away.
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"I had the corporate thing sorted out," said Thomson. "I was promoted into management, but it became just too much of a head game and I just walked out of it. After that, I sort of messed around for a while. It took me four months just to catch up on the magazines that were lying around on the table. I started playing tennis, and one day at the club I was talking with a lady, and said, ‘What do you do?’ Her reply was, ‘I have a horse farm.’ When asked what kind, the answer was, ‘Arabians.’" And as Cathy relates, "I followed her home and never left!"
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| At least for several years, because Cathy purchased an Arabian mare that she boarded with the woman from the tennis club. The mare was Avatar Alhandra (Avatar Al Sufi x Avatar Bihandra).
Cathy proceeded to drive the 40-mile round-trip every day to see her mare. "I went every day – if our oven hadn’t had a programmable timer, I don’t know what we would have done – starved to death, I guess," said Thomson. "She was my first mare, and it broke my heart every day to see her beautiful face hanging out the stall door, staring at me in the rearview mirror as I drove out the driveway."
The disappearing view of her mare’s face in the rearview mirror prompted Cathy and husband, Jim, to look for their own farm. "I told Jim I wanted the mares in the front yard," said Thomson, "so we started looking for a place. We looked for a farm high and low – even within two or three hours of Charlotte. Either I liked the barn, or I liked the house, or I liked the land, but never all three together. So my husband decided we needed to find our own land and build what we want and do it our way. |
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"We finally found a chunk of land way out in the boonies. We have 77 acres, most of it still naturally forested, but we have about 14 acres cleared for pasture. We built it from the ground up. There was nothing here. We laid the roads, cleared the land, built the barn, and built the house. The barn has only nine stalls, because my husband said he knew if he built it any bigger, I’d fill it up!"
And so Cathy Thomson has. Eight years later, with three Top Tens, three stellar broodmares, and the promising stallion Versaces Gold.
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To everyone who knows him, this charismatic bay, 15 hand, young stallion, Versaces Gold is simply known as "Nugget." He was named before he was born, and is very special to Cathy, because she literally cradled him in her arms as he was born – and his start in life nearly ended the same day. "Goldie" (Versaces Gold’s dam, Fortune In Gold) delivered him standing up, which should have been my first clue," said Cathy. "It was her first foal, and she did not have a clue. At least he was presented properly. I caught him when he came out and laid him gently on the ground – that’s one reason he is so special to me. He was named Versaces Gold before he was born and I knew I was going to call him Nugget. It didn’t matter whether it was a colt or a filly, I figured it would work. The first thing I saw after the feet was this perfect head with this perfect star on it and I was like, there’s my Nugget, and I still didn’t know whether it was a colt or a filly. |
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"I broke the sack open and he immediately started trying to stand up and I told my husband, ‘this has gotta be a colt.’ Goldie, being a maiden mare, did not know what was going on and proceeded to go berserk, nearly killing all of us. She was wheeling around in the stall kicking like a bucking bronco. We had to sedate her for three days before she would totally accept him. It broke my heart to leave him in there with her, but I knew if she was going to bond with the foal that was the best thing to do. After she calmed down, she let him nurse and was okay." |
Since that time, Goldie has produced more Versace foals and in the process, has learned her role as a mother and broodmare. Goldie’s sire is the great Fire Wind son Wind Fortune, and her dam is Ciara Bey – full sister to National Champions Bey Teyna (Bey Shah x TW Forteyna) and Shahteyna. Cathy Thomson did her homework when selecting her broodmares, and is adamant that quality, not quantity, is the rule to work by. Purchased from Maurita Morrill, Fortune In Gold is living up to her name."
" In the very beginning, I just wanted to ride western pleasure and have a good time," Cathy recalls. "I started getting books on conformation, and then thought, you know, I may want to have a foal. It wasn’t part of the plan, it really wasn’t. But when I saw Goldie, I thought, that’s as near to perfect as I’ve ever seen, even though we all know there’s no such thing as a perfect horse..." |
| About the time I got Goldie, Maurita had spotted Versace in Arabian Horse World, and by then I was also taking World and I looked at him and I said, Wow, this is some kind of horse! I decided I needed a small broodmare band, called down to Rojo Arabians, and talked to John Brown. I really needed a bay mare and I really liked Fame VF. It just so happened they had a Fame daughter down there, Auntie Fame out of Tshalimar RA by Ivanhoe Tsultan. |
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| They had another mare for sale by Echo Magnifficoo, named Echo Belle, out of Belbowrie Baskana by *Bask. They sent me the video, and I thought, These are just two gorgeous mares!" The result was a broodmare band of three and a long-term commitment to breeding to Versace.
In truth, the name Gemini Arabians comes from the fact that the three original broodmares Cathy started with, and Cathy herself, are all Geminis, and together with husband Jim, it sounded like "Jim and I."Cathy has been breeding to Versace for seven years. "
I had bred to Versace for two years before anybody knew he was a SCID carrier. I guess once you see what gorgeous foals he sires, you go ahead," she says. "I had my three broodmares tested and they were all SCID clear. And I continued to breed to Versace because I knew I would never have an affected foal. It’s just that simple for me."Cathy continues, "My Echo mare is in foal to Nugget for 2004, and I think that is a wonderful thing. That mare has had six Versace foals for me, but I’m looking forward now to breeding my mares to my Versace son.
"I will continue to breed Fortune In Gold to Versace. Goldie had an incredible filly this year ... a chestnut female version of Nugget. She’s pretty special. She’s SCID clear and I’ve got three people fighting over that one." |
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Letting go of her "babies" is hard for Thomson. She is there for every birth, and her approach to her foals is totally hands-on. "Three foals a year is my maximum, because of the way I like to train them – it is all I can handle, ’cause I’m no spring chicken anymore. But I do imprinting the day after they’re born, I handle them daily. I have a halter on them even though the tiniest halter you can buy falls all the way down to their withers. I have them leading in and out of their pasture by the time they are twelve to fourteen days old. And when I say ‘lead,’ I’m not talking about 10 feet, I’m talking about 500 to 600 feet. That’s just the way I like to do it."
Nugget was no exception. "He was just as sweet as could be," says Cathy. "When he was about a month old, he got really furry – and I went out with my portable clippers and with no halter or anything just stood there and body-clipped him. He’s just been that way to handle ever since, and even having been bred, is still extremely sweet and willing."
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Did Nugget meet her expectations, or was he better than she thought?
"Actually, he was better than I thought," mused Thomson.
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| "The first time I ever took him anywhere was when he was five or six months old. I took him down to Rojo to be trained, and there were all these people to watch the unloading. If you listened to the comments, you’d swear you had a perfect horse standing in front of you. Again, there is no such thing, but people were oohing and aahing over his beautiful head and big bulgy eyes, and someone else was talking about what a pretty arched neck he had and somebody else was talking about his topline, and I thought, gosh, he’s nicer than I thought he was! Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy in terms of criticizing my horses." |
As soon as Versaces Gold hit the showring, he pretty much started winning everything he was in. He was Region 12 Champion Yearling Sweepstakes Colt, 2001 AHAF Tampa Grand Champion Stallion, 2002 Region 12 Champion Futurity Stallion (unanimous) and he repeated his AHAF Tampa Grand Champion Stallion win in 2002. Add to that of course, his Top Ten in Junior Stallions in 2003 at the U.S. Nationals.
Cathy recounts what it felt like to see her Nugget, whom she had brought into the world – both by design and literally – standing in the showring at Nationals. "I think I held my breath through the entire class at Nationals, and when the announcer said, ‘Number 441, Versaces Gold to the Top Ten,’ it all came out in a rush with one happy little shriek. It was a tough class, which is what you expect at that level, but it was also a small class. Several horses scratched throughout the week. By Saturday night there were only 11 left, so the Top Ten was really only six and he ended up in a tie for fourth place."
While the spectators were getting an eyeful of this powerful young stallion in the showring, Cathy wanted to have him closer to home. "I decided last year that the drive to Rojo was starting to get to me. I found Ted Carson at Butler’s and they seemed like nice people, with a state-of-the-art facility and great reputation, so I decided to move him there." |
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Versaces Gold has been started under saddle because Thomson wants a using horse as well as a pretty horse. "If all they ever do the rest of their lives is be a pasture ornament or a broodmare, they’re still going be trained to ride because I think it’s good for their heads," asserts Thomson.
"Nugget is no exception. I’ve raised good, beautiful halter horses, but they need to achieve the full balance of what the Arab can and should be."
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| Athletic ability was one of the things Vernon Schryer was looking for when he was searching for a stallion to breed to his Padrons Psyche mare. "I was looking for a correct, handsome stallion with a good disposition. I saw Versaces Gold’s picture and was immediately attracted to him. I met him at Nationals and was amazed at his sweet disposition. I knew immediately he was the one! I was looking for a stallion that would sire an exquisite foal and hopefully minimize some white. Additionally, I had seen Versaces Gold under saddle and appreciated his athletic ability – something else I want in my foals." |
| Still, at the end of the day, it is raising her foals that gives meaning to life now for Thomson. Everything she does is for the horses’ benefit – what they are happiest doing. "I’ve had offers from people to buy a horse for western pleasure, for instance, and if I don’t think the horse would be happy doing that, I will find a home that is more suitable. My foals are my babies. This is what I’ve been waiting for all my life, I think. My Echo daughter can’t have a foal by herself. I don’t know if she has a small pelvis or what, but I have to help every one and it’s just so rewarding to go and do that. These are my foals – they follow me around like little baby ducks after a mom." |
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In eight short years, Cathy Thomson has gained a reputation for breeding some exceptional horses – out of a three-broodmare band. She has the "hardware" to show for it – Versaces Belle (Versace x Echo Belle), 1999 U.S. National Top Ten Yearling Filly, and her full sister Veronica GA, 2003 Top Ten Canadian Two-Year-Old Filly (who had been sold by that time to Patti Scheier of Scottsdale and shown by Greg Hazlewood), and of course Versaces Gold – 2003 U.S. National Top Ten Junior Stallion.
However, that is just the frosting on the cake. Somehow, all the trophies and accolades seem to pale against that moment when Cathy can bring another foal into the world. And none shines brighter than one of her first – her Nugget – Versaces Gold.
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