Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar

Appy Trails Film's Famous Appaloosas

by Geraldine Herman

Appaloosas were in the money at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity held last December in Oklahoma City, Okla. Terry Thompson of Aubrey, Texas collected $6000 for the owners of Appaloosas he rode in Futurity events.

Stuart Millstone of Jacksonville, Florida won the $1000 ApHC Incentive for his stallion Ima Frosty Lena's run in the open freestyle reining. The premium is awarded to the highest composite scoring Appaloosa competing at the Futurity in any Open or Non-Pro class.

Paul Stewart of Cooper City, Florida, owns and bred Mo Gossip. They earned $5,000 from the Appaloosa Reining Horse Association for the highest scoring Appaloosa competing in both rounds of the Open Three Year Old Futurity. The gelding was born, raised and trained at Terry Thompson's facility. Paul rode Mo Gossip himself to a second place finish in the Limited Non-Pro Futurity at the All American Quarter Horse Congress last October in Columbus, Ohio. Moe is also the 2003 ApHC National Champion in Junior Reining. Nice to see spots in the reining arena! ... Read the entire article

Appaloosa Journal

One Cool Horse

by Michelle Anderson

Ima Frosty Lena is more than a World and National champion reining horse. This colorful and athletic stallion is also an ambassador of Appaloosas who gets people talking.

A frost-colored stallion ridden by a fireman entered the darkened World Show arena in 2001 during the freestyle reining competition. The music started, the stands quieted, and a solemn reverence fell over the crowd.

Just more than a month after September 11, Ima Frosty Lena and trainer Terry Thompson paid tribute to the heroes lost in the tragedies. Eyes filled with tears and people stood in salute. In one powerful performance, Ima Frosty Lena slid into the Appaloosa world's spotlight.

Something Special

There's something special about Ima Frosty Lena. Maybe it has to do with the National and World championships he's collected, the money he's won in the National Reining Horse Association, his exceptional athletic ability or even the potential shown by his first colt, Ima Frosty Lena Jr. But mostly it's in the way people talk about him.

"He's super intelligent, super gifted, super talented, has a great personality, correct build and conformation, and he's sound," Terry says. "You'd have to go a long way to find anything wrong with him."

Frosty"s success in the reining pen has drawn attention away from several admirers, namely his different owners who've maintained and promoted the stallion. Terry purchased Frosty for a client and has since guided the stallion's career and overseen his sale from Ricky Little of Marshville, North Carolina, to Shawn and Tracy Reynolds of Columbus, New Jersey.

In July, Stuart Millstone of Jacksonville, Florida purchased the stallion from the Reynoldses. Now Frosty has moved to Windemere Equestrian Center, also in Jacksonville, under the management of trainers Patrick and Teresa Gagliardo.

"Horses like him are made for people to enjoy," Terry says about Frosty's recent sale. "It'd be sad if only one person got to know what a great horse he is and got to be around him every day." ...read the entire article.