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Show Horsing around is Wendy Park's business... Park Record Thursday, June 29, 1989 Page A9 y SENA TAYLOR Record staff writer The "noblest conquest man has ever made" has been to tame the horse, according to 18th century French naturalist George Louis Leclere de Buffon. English novelist David Herbert Lawrence concurred in 1931, writing that, "you were a lord if you had a horse." He described equus as "the symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action, in man," and he intuitively noted that "far back, far back in our dark soul the horse prances." There aren't many people around who can tell you that their hearts haven't been stirred by the passing of parade ponies or the charm of an amusement park carousel. Many childhood dreams have centered on the wish to have a horse, and many of those dreams have gone unfulfilled. unfulfill-ed. But there's at least one person in Park City who can spin a tale of always being a horse lover, then molding a life that would be certain to include those creatures. Wendy Park was a city-born girl, raised near the University of Utah and a student of East High. She came from a family devoid of horses, putting aside her dreams for the animals and always thinking think-ing that she'd go on to college after graduating. But she was a little head-strong, perhaps a little daring, to pursue when she was 18 an opportunity to race horses. "I always thought I'd further my education after high school," said Wendy one morning while she turned two of her geldings out to play before saddling them up for serious training. "But I went to work for an old man who wanted to fire his jockey and needed someone to gallop his horses. I said to myself, 'I'll try anything,' and as time went on...I thought I would take the opportunity opportuni-ty to be a jockey while I was young." One thing led to another, and Wendy expanded her horsing skills to the field of hunting and jumping, and dressage. As she learned she began to teach others, and training ended up being her primary vocation. voca-tion. She's not sure just why. "I don't really know why I got into in-to horses," Wendy said while sitting sit-ting on a sack of feed, gazing across the paddocks of White Star Ranch where she trains and teaches. "I was raised in town and wasn't around horses, but one day I saw an ad for taking lessons, and I was m ' able to take one lesson perweek at''"' a place in Murray. I eventually - IParfs (Efoy Mile managed to lease a horse and started working at a farm in River-ton River-ton (south of Salt Lake) called the Wait and See ranch." Wendy would work there for an exciting six years, first exercising or "galloping" fast horses to condition condi-tion them for race day. A couple of years later Wendy decided she wanted to put the racing silks on too, when it came to racing at local bush tracks around the state and in Boise. "That was very exciting and thrilling," said Wendy. "It was probably the ultimate competition with horses because you know you've won when you cross the finish line." Team. With her proceeds from Brown Flamingo Wendy pursued the hunterjumper field of competition and purchased other horses she thought would be promising. "About that time I started to build a business of buying and selling show horses, and I started teaching. Training finally became my focus, and I felt that if I quit jockeying I would live a little longer." That statement is proof of the dangers that lurk with horsing around, and Wendy recalls "horrendous "hor-rendous wrecks" which she only survived because of a "higher force" protecting her. She 'The horse has always been the animal I like the best. I am sure they will always be in my life.' Climbing on an animal that can travel six lengths per second wasn't without its fears, as Wendy noted, "I used to be so scared and so afraid that I was beside myself." The thought of Wendy being fearful fear-ful of anything forces a chuckle from someone who has seen the slight but tough woman bark commands com-mands to her students. She is quick to correct and sparingly extolls praise. She knows what it's like to be a greenhorn and she knows the work it takes to progress. Wendy credits much of her progress pro-gress to having good horses, recalling recall-ing one of her first horses a gelding who did as much to train her as she did to train him. Brown Flamingo was his name, and the sight of him brings tears to her eyes to this day, although she sold him more than a decade ago. He's now retired in a warm Arizona pasture. "He broke me into the hunterjumper world, and we won numerous high point awards. We also set the state high jump record over 10 years ago, which still stands at 6' 3". Wendy, single and close to penniless pen-niless at the time, opted to sell Brown Flamingo in order to seek more training for herself in California. Califor-nia. "At the time I sold him I was so broke, and I couldn't afford to keep him because he was so valuable," said Wendy. The horse went on to compete on remembers being trampled after falling from horses, but not being 1 hurt badly because it seemed "tlv e horse's feet would just slide off re le. "Something has always taken care of me with these horses," sa rid Wendy with a puzzled but thankf ul look on her face. "Some of the ; situations I have been in..." she j said, shaking her head as her v ice wandered off. "The worst injury I could ha ve had happened one day when I vas galloping the horses. The top ol f the rail around the race track had been taken off and there were just p osts sticking up. The horse I was riding jumped to the side and I fell of: f between the posts, barely missi ing them. I, "When I think what could hai re happened. .geez, I could have h een impaled. That shook me up a li.ittle bit and it took me a while to gcrtt over that." Wendy also recalled a racing experience ex-perience when a mishap took pi ace in the gates before the crowd ye ll ed "They're Off!" "I was on this horse that thou.ght the gate had been opened, and he jumped and hit his head, almost knocking himself out. I jumped unit of the saddle, then just as the gj it es opened I jumped back on, but I w as literally behind the saddle and I had lost one of my stirrups becau se it had flipped up on the horse's neck," said Wendy. 'It took me all through that rac e the Junior Olympic Team, and car to get my stirrup back, but I endnd , ried a girl who participated last ; - - up taking second place: 1 really ft sit" year on the Olympic Equestrian that if I would have come out of ttl ie gates right, I probably would have won." It should also be noted that Wendy Wen-dy was up against unusual odds, being the only woman jockey on the ; circuit at that time. "That was alright," she said. "I think a lot of the men really helped me. I learned learn-ed a lot from them." Wendy quit jockeying in 1983 and moved to Park City to give lessons full time at the former Treasure Mountain training facility in Snyderville. . That continued until she married Jim Park in 1982. Two children have since been born to the Parks, and up until 18 months ago Wendy was spending a lot less time in the saddle. But the creation of White Star Ranch in Snyderville, owned by Michael and Jill Wright, brought her back into the arena. "One thing has led to another and my business has built up, mostly due to word of mouth," said Wendy. Wen-dy. She tutors about 16 pupils, ranging both in skills and age levels. "I teach six kids and 10 adult women, and everybody's great. There isn't anybody I teach that I don't like to teach," she said with enthusiasm. "They have a variety of aspirations, and I enjoy teaching both, as long as I like the individual." Wendy looks at her past at the same time she looks to her future. She can now afford to be more selective with her vocation. Her goal with her horses and her pupils is to have "less quantity quanti-ty and more quality. I want to spend my time on more concentrated concen-trated efforts," she said. "I want to go somewhere. In the past I have spread myself so thin that I haven't progressed as well as I could have. "Horses have given me the opportunity op-portunity to be successful and have an occupation that I enjoy. They have given me a good way to met people, and to come to an understanding of life and the things that relate to life." All things considered, Wendy has accomplished de Buffon's noble conquest through her time spent with horses. She's made it through the scares and through the trium- phs. "The horse has always been the animal I like the best," she says. "I am sure they will always be in my life." And when she thinks further down the road, further into the future, Wendy's thoughts likely concur with another writer, Robert Bontine Cunninghame-Graham. In a letter he wrote to Theodore Roosevelt in 1917 Cunninghame-Grahame Cunninghame-Grahame said, "God forbid that I '.j. should go to any heaven in which there are no horses." ' ti v f ... i- 1 '"'t. . v ..... k . : tr- ' JLTjL.V- Sana Taylor Wendy Park is comfortable in the jumping arena, whether teaching or training. mr-m I Park Cit v , V Eifum y f 7-Ellevei& PepsiCola Wish Park City A Bang-Up Fourth o f July Pepsi 6-Pks. Cans with i I .,.:r r-Trir - at PtPSI-COlA PtPsi-coiA pepsM pepsi 1 51 : UUluf 0- Pepsi Auto Shade with gas fill-up K To serve you best... Three Loeations in Park City, open 24 hours a day of any grade, 8 gal. min. while Auto Shades last Compare our prices! 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