DANIELSON ARABIANS - Key Persons

Terri Danielson's breeding program, and the farm which supports it, are a unique blend of clear eyed business sense and radical, romantic love of the horses. Both grew up with horses, and the synergy of their childhood experiences played an integral role in the approach they took to creating Danielson Arabians in 1990. They managed to avoid many of the mistakes and pitfalls common to fledgling horse operations, and the horses they are breeding now are not only attractive individuals, but ones whose pedigrees are demonstrating depth and reliability. Terri Danielson, a soft-spoken woman Jerry Schall calls "quiet and reserved, but the most quality and loving person in the world," dates her equine involvement to 1976, when neighbors introduced her to Paints. "The love of horses bit me," she says ruefully. She was very competitive, she recalls, always wanting to be the best at what she did, and that included showing horses. "I was in the right place at the right time when a gelding by the name of Red Tom Tom became available," she recalls, "and I bought him." (Her right time/right place luck has extended into their Arabian purchases as well.) That year, the highly talented Lynn Simons called, offering to show Red Tom Tom at the Paint Nationals. "I never dreamed that someone would call me like that," Terri says candidly. The experience catapulted her into the "big picture" of horse showing. By the time the gelding had gone to the Paint Horse Congress too (something she"d never heard of at the time), he was the High Point All Around Halter Horse. "Then it was like, 'Okay, I think I can get into this,'" she grins. She was invited to go to Lynn and Andrea Simons Paint Horses in Aubrey, Texas, to learn to show, and subsequently spent a year on the road, going from event to event. Her exposure to the highest level of showing in her breed culminated with Tom Tom being named first in the nation in both open and amateur halter. "I showed Tom Tom in amateur and Mr. Lynn Simons showed him in open halter," she recalls. "That was a year to remember. The Simons farm had the number one halter stallion, number one halter mare, and the number one gelding in the nation, along with the number one youth." Later on in Arabians, when she and Ross set their sights on the Nationals, she knew what it would take to get there, and they did not underestimate the amount of work necessary to follow their dream.