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Castor resident meets award-winning namesake

Luella Kowalsky, who is a resident of Castor’s Paintearth Lodge, met ‘Miss Luella’ recently
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Luella Kowalsky of Castor meets her namesake, Arabian horse Miss Luella. Photo submitted

By Kevin J. Sabo For the Advance

For Arabian horse Miss Luella, life didn’t start out easy.

Born in 2014, the U.S. breeder who owned her had hoped that being a registered Arabian she would find much interest in the horse community, however that was not to be.

She spent two years in her stall waiting for someone to give her a good home.

She found that home in 2016 when Mike Hartman found the horse while he was working on the breeder’s farm in Oregon.

Seeing an inner beauty in the creature that had barely been out of its stall in two years, Hartman began negotiations with the breeder, and soon found the horse in his care, jointly owned with friend Glenn Kowalsky.

Not being a fan of the name that was bestowed on the horse at birth, Hartman and Kowalsky discussed names, and ultimately settled on ‘Miss Luella’ as a tribute to Kowalsky’s mother, Luella Kowalsky of Castor.

Luella grew up on a ranch located about 15 miles outside of Medicine Hat and was riding before she learned how to walk. To Hartman and Glenn it seemed fitting to name the horse after Glenn’s mom.

With patience, Hartman began the long journey of training the little filly to trust people and take a saddle, and over the last four years Miss Luella has turned into a show-winning horse, winning multiple ribbons in Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, and in 2019 she made her Canadian debut at a show in Red Deer.

“They brought her up here just to meet me,” said Luella, before laughing.

“After I petted her, she started nibbling my hair.”

Luella was able to meet her name-sake at the horse show on July 6th and 7th in Red Deer, where Miss Luella was able to continue her winning ways.

Luella Kowalsky, who is a resident of Castor’s Paintearth Lodge, has received several of the ribbons from Hartman and her son.

“I didn’t think needed anymore in here, so I even put one in the bathroom,” Luella laughed.


@mweberRDExpress
editor@stettlerindependent.com.com

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