Owned by my Uncle Russ Deal in Medaryville, Indiana, Ibn Kazan was my first ride on a horse at 5 years old in 1977. He owned a small farm and trained and showed Arabian horses. On weekends we would drive down from our home in Portage, Indiana to Blue Valley Farms and do the barn chores and ride and get training. It was actually my sister who seemed to have the horse bug for riding and I enjoyed shoveling the barn! But of course riding ended up being what I enjoy the most. Ibn was a world champion and it was so great having these experiences. My first experience with cutting twine on a 2 string bundle at 5 years old was stabbling myself in the leg with the knife and I have loved it ever since!