Finalig, Saturday, October 4,1980
Lebanon County
BY SHEILA MILLER
FONTANNA - A Lebanon
County couple and their 10-
year-old Arabian gelding are
on their way to a national
championship. At least those
are the hopes of Karen and
Martin Kleiner for their
Mishugina Stable equine.
While Karen brushes the
gray-turning-white coat of
their prize 'winner Al-Marah
Selfras Sun, nick-named
“Pudgy”, Marty runs down
the gelding’s long list of
accomplishments.
In the four years that
Selfras Sun has belonged to
the Kleiners, he has been a
consistent winner.
In 1979, the Arabian was
selected as the Pennsylvania
Arabian Horse Association
High Point Champion in the
Open Show Horse Division,
and received the Reserve
Champion trophies for
Mounted Native Costume
and Hunter Horse.
And, with Marta Lipensky
astride, last year Selfras Sun
took the Reserve Cham
pionship in English Pleasure
at the Pennsylvania State 4-
HShow.
His accomplishments in
1978 followed much the same
course, with a PAHA
championship in Mounted
Native Costume and Open
Show Horse and a reserve
championship in the Hunter
Horse division.
That year, with Karin
Shengrund on board, the
gelding worked his was to a
PAHA reserve cham
pionship m the Youth Horse
division.
What year end awards are
in store for Selfras Sun this
year will soon be decided.
But with a show record that
includes a reserve cham
pionship in Native Costume
at the Mason-Dixon Show in
Quentin and the East Coast
championship at Devon, he
is well on his way to sur
passing his all-time record.
What makes this Arab’s
show record so outstanding?
As Marty explains, Selfras
Sun only started on the show
road after he was six years
The latest edition of the Mishugina Stable is
“Spot”, a part-blooded Arabian. Karen and Marty
have high hopes for her in both Arabian and Paint
competitions.
old and then he was started
slowly. .
“We didn’twant him to
turn sour and hate the show
ring so we only took him to a
few shows the first year. By
the next year, he started
coming into the ribbons,”
Marty explained.
This is completely con
trary to the sentiments of the
woman from whom the
Kleiners purchased Selfras
Sun who believed “the horse
didn’t belong in a show
ring”.
The Kleiners bought
Pudgy from a woman who
kept the gelding at a stable
near Bloomsburg where
Karen stabled her Quarter
Horse “Sunny”.
“He always seemed
spooky ... weird,” said
Karen. “But later when the
opportunity to buy him
turned up, I jumped at the
chance because I believed he
was a good horse. His sire
was the leading producer of
Arabian brood mares from
the famous Al-Mirah
Arabians in Bamesville,
Maryland.”
At the time they bought
their first Arabian, Marty
and Karen had to squeeze
their pennies to afford him.
“But he’s paid off for us,"
smiled Karen.
Now the Kleiners have
expanded their Arabian
stock and have another
purebred filly and a new
addition named “Spot”,
their first part-blooded filly.
Three-year-old Saborra
lets her presence be known
in her stall down the alley
way, demanding attention
through a senes of whinnies.
As Karen tells the jealous
female to be quiet, she
boasts of Saborra’s ac
complishments.
As a yearling, Saborra was
the Reserve State Champion
PAHA Hi-Point Halter filly.
And a third-place ribbon in
the East Coast Futurity
adorned this member of
Misbugina Stable’s halter.
Peering out over the
wooden stable door in the
stall next to Selfras Sun, the
couple on way
to Arabian National championship
latest addition to the stable
is a marked change from
either of the two purebred
gray Arabians.
The foal, Spot, has part of
her Arabian ancestory
mixed with the bloodlines of
a Paint. One look at this
charmer gives her breeding
away her coat is marked
with blended patches of red
and white.
Even at her young age,
Spot has been nominated for
five Futurities. Her Egyp
tian Arabian grandfather
was the Reserve National
Champion stallion.
The Kleiner stable no
longer has Karen’s Quarter
Horse, Sunny, keeping the
Arabians company. Karen
recently sold him (he was
her first horse, won in 1970 in
a county-level 4-H contest) to
a Lebanon County 4-H’er.
Before Poco Bar Sundance
was given to her, Karen had
never had a horse of her
own. Her knowledge of
horses came through her
involvement in the
Schuylkill County 4-H club
and her summer work ex
perience at a local stable
near her home town of
Shamokm.
Marty, who was bom and
raised in the suburbs of
Philadelphia, had never
ridden a horse before he met
Karen. Their paths crossed
while they were students on
the Bloomsburg College
debate team.
“I learned to nde at the
riding stable where Karen
boarded Sunny. A corrupted
5-gaiter by the name of
Dusty taught me how to stay
on with his rocking-chair
trot,” Marty recalled.
“With Karen, it was ‘love
me, love my horse’ so when
we got married the horses
were part of the deal.”
Now, Marty says he is
satisfied to let Karen do
most of the showing while he
takes pictures and “plays”
with the horses at home.
When Karen isn’t bathing
and grooming horses,
cleaning tack, or getting the
trailer loaded with food and
equipment for the weekend
shows, she is busy sewing all
of her costumes and nding
clothes she wears in the
show ring.
“My mother bought me
my first hunt jacket when I
was 15 years old since
then I’ve made all my riding
clothes,’’she said.
As far as the hectic
schedule that showing
requires, the Kleiners insist
that they show and breed
their horses “for the fun of
it” and to please themselves.
“The big thing in showing
is not to take yourself too
seriously take yourself
with a gram of salt,” said
Marty.
“Someday we hope to have
a national champion, but
even placing at some of the
big shows is satisfying
enough,” said Karen. At the
present time, Selfras Sun is
qualified for a national
championship in costume,
she pointed out.
Next year the Kleiners are
planning to go for the Legion
of Honor for Selfras Sun.
This honor requires the
amassing of 75 points, said
Marty, and this year the.
gelding has gotten 23 points
to add to the 13 or 14 points
he earned in 1978 and 1979.
jren has ridden Al-Mirah Selfras Sun to win the PAHA Hi-Point Cham
pionship in Mounted Native Costume in 1978 and the Reserve Championship in
1979. Karen sews all of her own costumes.
“Once this award is
presented at Devon, we plan
to retire him in 1982,” said
Karen
In their four-years of
showing, Karen and Marty
have experienced the highs
and lows of the show nng.
One of the things they would
like to change about showing
in Pennsylvania is the fact
that judges here are not
required to be certified.
“Just about anybody can
be a judge here, with very
little qualifications. It’s a
problem. You pay your
money and take your
chances on whether your
horse will get an honest look
and the judge knows enough
to do a fair job.”
When asked which shows
they enjoy more, the
Kleiners said they like the
professional circuit, the A
shows, best.
' “People are more cut
throat at local shows,
whereas at the bigger shows
the horse people don’t have
time for dirty tncks,” said
Marty.
Karen agreed but added
that at shows where the
professionals are pushed to a
must-win mentalitity the
shows are not as much fun.
They concluded by ad
vising fellow horse people
that it is possible to “win and
lose with more grace if they
don’t push to win constantly.
Showing can be a fun and
pleasant experience for
horse and rider if you just
relax.”
That’s good advice from
the editors of the Eastern
Amateur Arabian Horse
Show Circuit newsletter,
“The Circuit Rider”.
Karen and Marty will be at
the up-coming State 4-H
Horse Show, representing
the Pennsylvania Arabian
Horse Association’s 4-H
Promotion Committee, as
they give away a purebred
Arabian gelding to a worthy
; -H member.
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“You can’t take yourself too seriously when
showing” Marty and Karen remark. Jhey pose for
a humorous picture, complete with their Springer
Spaniel.
Montgomery horse
winners named
LANSDALE - Kathy
Albright of Cedars was
named Grand Champion in
the 1980 Montgomery County
4-H Grooming and
Showmanship Show held
recently in Lansdale. Kathy
also piloted her horse, Indian
Heather, to a champion title
m the Senior Division.
Kitti Kopistecki of
Hoyersford and her Ap
paloosa, Joker, were named
winners in the Junior
Division and went on to win
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Reserve Grand Champion
honors.
Results were anounced by
County Agent, Nancy
Kadwill:
Junior 1 Kitty Kopistecki Royersford
Perk Penn Club, 2 Marne Cupchak
Quakertown Perk Penn Club 3 Chris
Thompston, Blue Ball, Central Horse
Club, 4 Steve Knebel Lansdale Hatlield
Horseshoes 5 Lon Scott Quakertown,
Perk Penn Club
Seniors 1 Kathy Albrifht Cedars
Central Horse Club, 2 Kim Fenwick
Oreland Central Horse Club 3 Cici
Coates Gwynedd Valley, Merry Riders, 4
Linda Nodine, Glenside, Merry Riders. 5
Tarn Landis, Mainland, Central Horse
Club
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