By Debbie Laure
It all started with a rocking horse at age three and grew to be a dream come true. Nancy Snow has loved horses all her life. From the rocking horse, her infatuation grew with the Pegasus scene from the Disney classic, Fantasia. She was fortunate to have an aunt and uncle who lived on a farm and owned ponies, which was where she started to learn. They gave her the opportunity to train an eight month-old filly named Ginger Britches.
At age ten, she was at a horse show when she saw her first purebred Arabian, “brilliant white, with a long, flowing mane and tail, arched neck, prancing hooves and Oh! That tail! Dark flashing eyes and nostrils that couldn’t be opened any further.” She was in love. That was how a horse was supposed to look and she promised herself then and there, that one day she would own such a creature!
As a teenager, she found a 1/2 Arabian, 2 year old filly for sale and called on it without her parents’ permission. Shawn became hers soon after. She later bred her and then had a ¾ Arabian named Dejeddah. Her uncle passed away and the haven she enjoyed for her horses was no longer available. So at age 19, making $1.60 an hour, she refinanced a pickup truck and bought 10 acres of land, a cornfield, on land contract. Shortly after purchasing her land she met some new neighbors, Bill Drew and Jim Anderson of Selket Farms, who raised purebred Arabians. They were from Wisconsin and asked if she could board some of the horses while they went home to get more. These horses became the linage of her Arabians.
One is immediately comfortable when meeting Nancy, who refers to herself as “getting older,” but doesn’t look or act it. After 30 years in law enforcement, she recently retired from the Department of Corrections. All the while, she was building her Arabian Horse Farm on Springer Road, just outside Vicksburg, which is neat and tidy. One can tell by the way the dog, cats and horses come up to a visitor, that there’s a lot of love there.
In the first corral, there are six horses, a stallion, geldings and mares all gathered by the fence waiting for their turn for attention from Nancy. They do not balk when their beautiful faces are petted. They are all brushed to a silky sheen and the flies have been kept at bay. Only clean adoring eyes are looking at her. In the second corral is the sire to them all, and dream come true Arabian Stallion named Selket–Until, grandson of one of the purebreds she boarded for Selket Farms. He nonchalantly comes close to the fence but keeps grazing, as if to say, ”I know you’re here, but I’m the important one.” He is flanked by his best friend, a pony that was named on the spot as ½ pint pesky little pony who obviously dotes on Selket. He mimics his every move and is never more than two feet from him at any given time. Selket comes right over to have his picture taken and calmly stands while he is petted, admired and photographed.
Selket–Until is a beautiful stallion. He has a small, delicate head, an Arabian trait with dove gray around the muzzle, and amazing dark eyes. His coat is a soft white called “gray” with a long, pure white mane and tail. He is maybe about 15 hands high and doesn’t at all look the 24 years old he is. His linage is Crabett and Egyptian, which are selected for disposition, height, and beauty. Selket-Until has won such titles as Reserved Champion State of Michigan, Champion in Dressage, Show, Hack and Hunter Performance and Qualified for Youth and Open. He has been requested to be the first Arabian in the Arab and Chaldean Show, the first weekend of August in Detroit. Selket–Until is available for breeding and has frozen sperm on reserve.
Arabians are the purest breed of horse and considered the most beautiful. The oldest documentation of the Arabian, with its distinctive physical features, is a fine carving uncovered in a cave in Turkey, dating back to 8000 B.C. They have carried kings into war, they have been traded for land, and won races and hearts with their loyalty. King Solomon built 40,000 stalls for his herd and it is documented that “Saladin’s Arabians, who prevented Richard the Lionhearted from conquering Egypt, were hailed by Sir Walter Scott. He writes in The Tailsman, “They spurned the sand from behind them – miles flew away in minutes, yet their strength seemed unabated…”
Snow has done an amazing job turning her cornfield into a world-class Arabian horse farm, Sha-Bin-Di Arabians, named after her first three horse friends, and making her dream come true! Find out more about Nancy Snow and Selket-Until at http://www.SBDarabians.com