Happy Anniversary

November is typically the time of year for reflection and expressions of gratitude.  The Thanksgiving Holiday this year falls on November 24th which is a significant date in the History of the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society.  It was 15 years ago, on November 24, 1996, the first two Vanner fillies (Bat and Dolly) were imported into the United States and our Society was founded.

Tempus fugit!

In 1996 Bill Clinton was President, a gallon of gas cost $1.22 and aUS Postage Stamp was 32 cents. The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, and Sling Blade were at the movies.   "Hidden behind bushes and under bridges" Gypsy Vanners were known to only a few.

Fast forward 15 years Barack Obama is President,a gallon of gas cost $3.75 and aUS Postage Stamp is 44 cents.  The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and The Greening of Whitney Brown are at the movies.  The Gypsy Vanner Horse Breed has attracted many interested followers who have found what the Thompson's discovered years ago.   The Gypsy Vanner Horse Society continues to grow and now has over 300 members more than  2300 Gypsy Vanners registered.

A lot has happened in between. The Society has held a steady course with its' commitment to protect this Breed.   Our future is bright. Recently two Director seats were added and ballots were mailed out to membership for the Election of five new Directors for the Society.   In 2012 the Board of seven Directors will elect a new President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer to continue to carry out our Mission.

I would like to thank the membership of the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society for the honor and privilege of serving as President.   I would also like to thank Dennis Thompson, and posthumously Cindy, for not only finding the Breed but for creating the Mission and Vision and Goals to protect it.

Sincerely,

Bill Ricci

"Joyce with Bandit, chosen as the official invitation to The Literary Horse  Program." 

On November 24, 1996 the GVHS was established.  At that moment in time my daughters and I had just relocated from Hanau, Germany to Bitburg, Germany.  It would be a move that would rekindle a childhood dream and bring me face to face with a horse that appeared to have been dreamed.  First dreamed, then through careful and consistent selective breeding being conducted by a handful of gypsies this incredible dream horse was born - a rare, new breed.

            My personal journey to understand this horse began in the autumn of 1996.  Over the next two years I would purchase two of these horses - one for my daughter and the second was for me.  He was indeed a horse I felt I had waited a lifetime to have.  His name is Bandit.  His unexplainable beauty, intelligence and uncanny desire to interact with people caused me to question exactly how this horse came to be.  At that time it was near to impossible to get answers from the gypsy community - they were private and unapproachable.

            Then one night in 1998 while continuing my search I came across the Gypsy Gold website which had just opened.  I began email communication with Dennis and Cindy Thompson and that is when my involvement with the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society began.  What excited me most was that they not only saw the differences in horses bred by gypsies, but they had taken the time, broken the gypsy barriers, spent the money to not just buy horses but rather to understand a horse that was without question breed worthy.

            It was that moment in time when a standard of quality was demanded; that quality was the direct result of selective genetics; herds of horses like Bandit that were consistently reproducing themselves.  Many of you reading this know this story.....yet it is this story that we applaud fifteen years after the Thompsons boldly established the world's first registry for the gypsies' selectively bred horses - The Gypsy Vanner Horse Society.  The purpose was to lift out of obscurity and a hodge podge of indiscriminately bred horses the horses that clearly stood out due to selective breeding.  That group of horses was at that moment given a name - Gypsy Vanner Horse.  The society was formed to recognize, protect, and promote the Vanner Horses.

I personally wish to extend my sincerest gratitude to Dennis Thompson for what he and Cindy did.  I know she would be so proud to know that in fifteen short years the GVHS has grown from sixteen original horses to now nearly 2400!  I'm not sure she would want to know all the struggles and storms the organization and breed have had to weather.  However, I know she would smile with pride to see the consistency in foals from those sixteen horses she helped choose.  She would also celebrate the many other bloodlines that have been added to the Vanner roles and would be most pleased to know the GVHS continues to demand the original standard of quality that set those early horses apart and declared them breed worthy. 

The Thompsons' work helped me understand my horse.  It has been mine and Bandit's privilege to work tirelessly for the GVHS over these many years and I look forward to all the exciting things ahead for our beloved breed as we move forward into the future.  Happy Anniversary GVHS! !

Sincerely,

Joyce M. Christian and the Vanners that drive my passion:  Magic, Bandit, Cushti Bok's Lord Marlborough, Babes, Shaylee's Bevin and VV MayacaymusHor=