Courageous Lord (2001 - 2023) was an

American Saddlebred The American Saddlebred is a horse breed from the United States. Descended from riding-type horses bred at the time of the American Revolution, the American Saddlebred includes the Narragansett Pacer, Canadian Pacer, Morgan horse, Morgan and ...

horse who won the Five-Gaited World's Grand Championship in the World's Championship Horse Show three consecutive years.

Life and career

Courageous Lord, affectionately known as Joe, was a dark

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

gelding

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...

ed in 2001. He was bred and trained under saddle by Mike Barlow before being sold to Lisa Jones as a four-year-old. He competed in a few horse shows that year but had a tendency to interfere and injured himself, resulting in spending his five-year-old year on pasture rest. As a six-year-old he was sold to Bill Richardson and Marsha Shepard. For a time after the sale, Courageous Lord remained in training with Barlow, but when he was injured the owners put Courageous Lord in training with Merrill Murray, a Canadian native who lives in Versailles, Kentucky. Courageous Lord's first

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and pony, ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrianism, equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days ...

with Murray was in Indianapolis and was described by Murray as "wild". His second was the 2009 Lexington Junior League Horse Show, where he won the five-gaited Championship. Murray and the owners entered Courageous Lord in the 2009 World's Championship Horse Show and he won the Five-Gaited World's Grand Championship. He repeated his win the next year, 2010, and again in 2011.Saddlebred horse trainer Merrill Murray rides for a living for fun and for championships
kyforward.com Courageous Lord was named Horse of Honor by the

United States Equestrian Federation The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF or US Equestrian) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for most Equestrianism, equestrian sports in the United States. It began on January 20, 1917, as the Association of American Hor ...

in 2012. The same year he was sold to Fox Grape Farms and put under the training of Steve Wheeler. Ridden by Wheeler, he won the Five-Gaited Grand Championship in the 2012 Bonnie Blue National Horse Show before going on to the World's Championship. There he won Amateur Five-Gaited Champion of Champions with owner Dr. Owen Weaver in the irons. Joe, as he was known to his connections, died at the age of 22 in January, 2023.

References

{{Reflist Individual American Saddlebreds