I first contacted Elizabeth about breeding my Fox Trotter mare, Misty, to Prince Moonbeam in December 2001. Misty is a beautifully and naturally gaited fox trotter, though her personality is sometimes a bit difficult. My husband and I were looking for stud that would compliment and reinforce her wonderful gaits, and would hopefully have a strong positive influence on the foal's disposition. As an added bonus, we hoped for some great color, but gait and personality were most important. I am pleased to say that we got all that and more in our foal out of Misty by Prince Moonbeam! "Moon's Jet Commander" was born in May 2003- we call him Jet.

As a first time breeder (EVER!), I had no idea what I was doing, but Elizabeth walked me through the entire AI process from beginning to end, and then some! At the same time we bred Misty, we also bred my Arabian
mare to an Andalusian stud. Elizabeth even answered my questions regarding this breeding. It's been two years since I first contacted Elizabeth and she continues to be a great resource for me, not just about Jet or my other
Fox Trotters, but concerning just about any horse related issue I ask her about.

People who meet Jet usually exclaim that he is "something else" within five minutes of meeting him. I assume this is a compliment. Among his many great attributes, he is smart, people-oriented, loving and affectionate, a
treat-monger, and easily taught just about anything. I might add that he has a bit of Houdini in him as we have spent some time improving our fencing since Jet joined us. What keeps other horses in, well, Jet likes that green grass on the other side of the fence! He keeps us hopping.

We are the first clients of our veterinary clinic to have Fox Trotters. The staff there was amazed to see Jet fox trotting beside his mother in the pasture at less than one week old. He continues to demonstrate a nice head
shaking fox trot in the pasture along with a wonderful lope. Our vets also praised Jet's behavior during shots saying that he "sets the standard for foal behavior." This sentiment was echoed by our farrier, who agrees that Jet sets the standard.

Since I am a first time breeder, my only foal experience is with Jet and my Arab/Andalusian cross, Cory. While Cory is a very sweet horse, everything has been a bit harder with him- halter breaking, leading, shots, farrier,
trailer loading, etc. Jet's disposition and intelligence made all these things look like a breeze, which I guess they were. A final testimony to how easy Jet has been to train is reflected in his trailer loading lesson.
At five months we exposed Jet and Cory to the trailer, but didn't really try to load them. This past weekend, at seven months old, we got serious about trailer loading. Within one stress-free, painless hour, Jet was
loading completely on his own, using no lead rope, and into a pitch-black trailer in the dark. Cory, on the other hand, would not load, even before it got dark. Two days later we tried again- and again Jet was an ace.
This time we put Jet on and left him there to see if that would help Cory to load, and it did! Cory was willing to load in behind Jet with no problem.

I highly recommend breeding to Prince Moonbeam for the gaited foal of your dreams. Elizabeth's excellent advice and guidance complete the package. However, you may want to reinforce your fencing and your gate latches
before that Moon baby arrives!

Kathy Keely and Dave Morris