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'Ride for the great ride'
Cedar Hill’s Karen Mundy builds on a legendary career as a quarter horse pro
| Story and photos by Mark E. Johnson |
9/28/2012 |
Karen Mundy’s achievements in training and showing quarter horses could be likened to other greats in the world of sports: basketball’s Michael Jordan and his six NBA championships, golfer Jack Nicklaus and his 18 major PGA titles, or swimmer Michael Phelps and his 22 Olympic medals.
In her discipline, Karen has earned eight American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) all-around amateur world championships — the next most-decorated person has three. Over nearly 40 years in the show ring, she has filled a room in her Cedar Hill home with trophies from the AQHA, the All American Quarter Horse Congress, and similar organizations. She has also developed a reputation as one of the country’s top trainers and teachers.
And, oddly enough, it all started with a carnival pony named Pepsi.
“I grew up in Nashville, and my family used to go to Fair Park at the fairgrounds,” says the Robertson Cheatham Farmers Cooperative customer, referring to the popular amusement park that operated from 1952 to 1987. “Among the stuff they had were pony rides, the kind where they go around in a circle. At the end of the year, they would raffle off the ponies. One year — probably when I was a baby — we won Pepsi.”
Although Evanses regularly attended the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, it wasn’t until Pepsi arrived on the scene that horses became an important part of the family’s life. The youngest of five kids, Karen says her oldest sister, Mariwyn, became “enthralled” with horses because of Pepsi and began taking lessons on hunter/jumpers.
“As we got older, that interest trickled down to me and my other sister, Janet, and got us excited about horses, too,” says Karen. “Eventually, we ‘grew out’ of Pepsi and began worrying our dad to death about getting a horse.”
When Karen and Janet were 11 and 12, respectively, their father relented and purchased a young horse — a 2-year-old Appaloosa mare with an attitude.
“When I first hopped on to try it out, the thing bucked me off!” Karen says. “Now, nobody in their right mind would buy a 2-year-old horse for 11- and 12-year-old girls … except for my father. This was our very first horse, and the thing was a lunatic. He sold it pretty quickly and got us a hunter pony. That’s how I started.”
Within two years, Karen was competing in local shows. When she again grew out of the hunter pony, the family acquired an honest-to-goodness American quarter horse named Wallady that had already been shown with some success.
“After we discovered that Wallady was trained, I began bugging my mother to take me to a quarter horse show,” says Karen. “We went, and I was hooked immediately. I just fell in love with it. I thought it was really fascinating that you could do a lot of different events with one horse, and the first time I tried it, I felt so at home. My mom said I would have to choose between the hunter shows and the quarter horse shows. Well, I never hesitated. I wanted to do the quarter horse shows.”
Karen jumped in with both boots. She began with Tennessee Quarter Horse Association events before moving to the Quarter Horse Congress shows in Ohio and the Youth World Championship in Oklahoma. Instead of bringing home trophies, she was stockpiling experience.
“My horse at the time wasn’t a quality animal, and I hadn’t progressed to a higher level as a rider,” she says. “When I was a senior in high school, I met a legendary trainer named Tommy Manion. He was a great teacher — way ahead of his time with his technique. The kids he worked with won everything. You could plainly see the high level of riding and the quality of horses they had. I thought, ‘That’s where I need to be.’”
After attending a weeklong youth camp at Manion’s facility in Springfield, Ill., Karen says she became “eat up” with the idea of being one of the horseman’s full-time trainees. The move would require a new, more accomplished horse and a year away from home in Arizona.
“You hear about these gymnasts who move away from home to go live with their trainers … that’s basically how this was,” she explains. “It was a huge commitment on the part of my parents as well as myself, but it was the turning point in my career. I went to my first semester of college at Middle Tennessee State University, and then I trained with Tommy from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1978.”
The accolades began in earnest, Karen says, and she began receiving national notice. By the end of the year, she had placed in the AQHA world championship show, among others, and was armed with skills she still uses 35 years later. She was considered one of the top prospects in the country, but she had another commitment to honor.
“I had promised my dad that if he let me train with Tommy, I would come back and finish college,” she says. “So I came home and went back to school. Toward the end of my senior year, I won the AQHA High Point All Around Amateur. By then, I knew that all I wanted to do in life was ride and show horses.”
Karen was then faced with the choice of staying in the amateur division or going pro.
“I decided that there was too much loss of control in the pro division, so I remained in the amateur,” she says. “But I had to figure out how to afford to do it; Mom and Dad weren’t buying me any more horses. So I slowly began buying young prospects, and then raising, training, and showing them. When I was comfortable with winning what I wanted to win with the horse, I’d sell it and start over again with another foal.”
Thus began Karen’s vaunted professional career as a perennial winner in the amateur division. In 1992, she achieved her goal of winning the AQHA Championship Show All Around title, the first of eight. Dozens of other national champion and reserve champion titles followed. To keep her amateur designation, Karen couldn’t receive money for training or teaching for an outside client, but she could raise, show, and sell her own horses.
“In addition to Tommy, I rode with a lot of other fantastic trainers over the years, and I picked up something from all of them,” she says. “The key was learning how to train my own horse, so when I got to a show and the horse did [something wrong], I knew how to fix it.”
Three years ago, Karen took a “sabbatical” from showing and entered the professional division as a trainer. She has students from across the country — several who have won world championships — and travels to shows and farms regularly to teach and train horses. While only keeping one or two horses at a time on the 35-acre Cedar Hill property she owns with her husband of 28 years, Don, Karen is careful with her nutrition and feeds Co-op equine feeds exclusively.
“I’ve been a Co-op customer for at least 20 years,” says Karen, who feeds Co-op Winner’s Cup Advantage purchased from Robertson Cheatham Farmers Co-op in Springfield. “I’ve just always liked the feed and have been pleased with the price. Before I started feeding the pelleted Advantage, I was using a coarse feed and adding a bunch of different things. Co-op store manager Lanny Chowning finally said, ‘Why are you buying all that extra stuff? Advantage already has it in there!’ So I switched and have loved it ever since.”
As show animals, quarter horses need to remain calm and focused rather than “amped up” on too many energy-producing carbohydrates, Karen explains. She says Advantage provides the necessary amount of energy but is well balanced with protein.
“I also supplement with a high-quality brome hay from Kansas,” she adds. “It’s a system that has worked well for me over many years.”
After her break from competing, Karen says she’s getting the “itch” to re-enter the show ring. While she doesn’t have her sights set on a particular title, she’s simply looking forward to the thrill of victory again.
“I really just like to get out there and win,” she admits. “I like winning! But I have to remind myself of what I tell my students: Don’t just go for the win — everybody wants that. Ride for the great ride. That’s where the satisfaction is.”
For more information about Karen, visit her website at www.karenevansmundy.com. To learn more about Co-op equine feeds, visit with the professionals at your local Co-op.
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