52 SIDELINES DECEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
As Fate Would
Have It
By Dani Moritz
O
nce in a while, fate stops us in our tracks and
changes our lives.
For three women at Wishing Tree Farm, in Danielsville, Georgia,
fate came in the form a Warmblood gelding named Nike.
Little did Kathy Schultz know when she purchased Nike from
the University of Georgia just who he was; but something about
his quiet, regal demeanor attracted her to him. So without riding
him and merely watching him go on a lunge line, Kathy purchased
Nike. “I didn’t know how special he was; but I knew he was
special,” she said.
Nike headed to his new home at Wishing Tree Farm – a farm
that Kathy founded in 2005. There, Beth Stelzleni, the trainer at
the farm, began riding him and that’s when Nike’s athleticism and
talent began to shine. “Beth started riding him and she was doing
a really good job with him. She wanted to campaign him as an
event horse…and I knew she would be better off with him than
me,” Kathy said.
So Kathy and Beth made a trade – a thoroughbred mare for
Nike.
It didn’t take long for Beth to wonder just who he was. He had
all of the buttons, so she knew he was advanced. When she found
out just how advanced, she could hardly believe it. “It was when I
was looking up the sire [that I found out who Nike was],” she said.
“I looked up his progeny and Nike had his own link for his own
page. I remember calling Kathy and we were screaming that we
had a world champion in our barn and didn’t even know it.”
What Kathy found out is that Nike was a 2003 Driving World
Champion and has won the Dutch National Championships eight
times. Somehow, for some reason, Nike had fallen through the
cracks and ended up in Kathy and Beth’s hands.
Exactly how he got there is unclear. They know that he came
to the U.S. with driver Jim Richards and then somehow ended
up with the University of Georgia. And now, he is with them. The
reason he was handed down may have been due to soundness
issues. Apparently, Nike had suffered a tendon injury that created
some problems.
But when Beth purchased him, she had a thorough work up
done and vet’s response was essentially to go ride him because
he’s sound. Through correct riding, a strict ftness schedule,
chiropractic work and ongoing care by Kathy, he has remained
sound.
The next step in Nike’s career would be eventing. “He ft so
naturally into eventing because he was so good on the fat yet at
the same time he has such an amazing jump,” Beth said. “It just
seemed like a natural ft because he’s really good at it all.”
After a few hiccups at the start and a trip back to drawing board,
Nike did, indeed, ft quite well. Beth recalls the moment the lights
went on. “We were at River Glen at his second event (after the frst
one didn’t go well at all) and we’d had a horrible stadium warm
up,” she said. “He just wasn’t mentally with me. I went in the ring
thinking that I just wanted to get him around – we cantered what
we could and trotted when he wasn’t so confdent. We jumped the
last fence and I sat up to bring him to a walk and I just felt him take
a deep breath. All of a sudden life was good again.” She says the
next day of cross-country, “he just took me through it.”
As fate would have it, while Beth built upon Nike’s already
Three women and
a horse: Jamie
Mitchell, Beth
Stelzleni and Kathy
Schultz with Nike.
e
The story of a horse who fel l
through the cracks and into the
care of three women.
Continued on page 54