Horse lovers celebrate their passion

Arabians are centerpiece amid art, music, food and carriage rides

By JACQUI KRIZO For the Capital Press 5/9/08

PHOTO: Jacqui Krizo/For the Capital Press Sara Bagg plays with 17-day-old Arabian filly Ceilki, the official greeter for the celebration.

MALIN, Ore. — Winding through farmland and ranches in horse-drawn carriages, Marie Gregory and her carriageclub friends rode from her ranch to Sara and Laurence Bagg’s Arabian ranch. They were searching for the perfect carriage tour route for their May 24 “2008 Celebration of Our Arabian Horses.”

People from Oregon, California, Washington, Utah and Hawaii will attend the event, so there is a lot of work to do.

Marie and Pat Gregory and the Baggs came from other states and occupations to Malin in the Klamath Basin to follow their farmland dreams.

Marie Gregory’s passion is driving carriages. “I’ve always liked the driving because my grandmother did. She never drove a car; she always drove a carriage.” So four years ago she bought two Belgian draft mares from an Amish community in Ohio and began Manes and Memories Carriage Service.

Besides driving at weddings, reunions, hay rides and a variety of events, she wants to learn to farm with the horses. “It’s a step back in time,” she said.

Pat Gregory raises breeding stallions from the Crabbet and Polish blood lines of pure-bred Arabians. He shows horses and stands stallions at stud. His Arabian Emigrent won second place in the national reining competition in 2006.

Gregory came by his passion naturally since his grandfather was a horse trader and his father raised Arabians. Gregory also raises alfalfa to feed the 30 Arabians, five draft horses, dairy cow and calf, and nine dairy goats.

Arriving by carriages at Sara Bagg’s ranch, Marie Gregory and her friends were surrounded by corrals and barns and 29 horses. Bagg’s Arabians are of the same bloodline as Pat Gregory’s horses. A 2-week-old Arabian foal galloped up with its nose in the carriage drivers’faces and began tugging at their clothes. Welcome to Bagg’s Scarab Farm Inc. If the foals don’t make you feel welcome, the mares and cat will.

“I’ve had a passion for horses since I was 4 years old,” said Bagg. When she was 11 she received her first half- Arabian gelding and rode “bareback and barefoot” growing up in Hawaii.

Bagg breeds Arabians of Gainey and Polish bloodlines, and she imported two mares from Poland in 2005. She also began a half-Arabian half-Friesian program, breeding some of their purebred mares to the Friesian stallion Knight Invader. “The cross is wonderful for dressage and combined driving,” she said.

Her horses have won several championships in halter shows, and this year a Friesian/Arabian cross won Reserve Champion Nor-Cal Futurity 2-year-old Half Arabian Gelding.

“I was always going to be a horse breeder. I was obsessed with painting, sculpture and horses,” she said. “Some people don’t have any passions.”

Bagg does have passions, and they are her life.

She led the women to her gallery of drawings, paintings, photos and sculptures. She has received several awards, including Best in Show at the Western States Horse Expo Art Show, and she won the pastel division in a Grass Valley show. Many of her art pieces will be displayed at the May celebration.

Bagg has worked cattle, driven carriages, shown horses and entered endurance races.

She pointed to the shed full of antique tractors and a barn full of balers, saying her husband promised to have his equipment out of the barns before the May event. Lawrence Bagg came from Massachusetts, and his passion is farming. He grows and markets hundreds of acres of alfalfa and does custom farming with the antique tractors.

When Sara Bagg isn’t working with her horses or doing her artwork, you can find her on an antique tractor farming with her husband. When asked if baling was her passion, too, she didn’t comment.

On May 24 the Baggs and Gregorys will celebrate their 2008 foals. They will present seven foals, stallions, art, a New Holland small farm tractor display and a Oregon State University experiment station presentation. There will be horse-drawn carriage rides, live music and a barbecue.

They want people to have fun, and see and learn about Arabians, Friesians and Belgians.

Information
“2008 Celebration of Our Arabian
Horses,” 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 24
Gregory’s Arabians — Pat and Marie
Gregory, fairhavens@centurytel.net, 541-
723-2260
Scarab Farm Inc. — Laurence and
Sara Bagg, sararb@centurytel.net, 541-
723-2017; they are 30 miles southeast of
Klamath Falls