U.S. Equestrian Names Honor Recipients
Monday, January 12, 2004
Bobbie Gardner Gibbon of Mt. Airy, Md., Isabel Robson, from Glenmore, Pa., and Sug Utz of Raytown, Mo., have been named as recipients of the U.S. Equestrian Pegasus Medal of Honor.
Gibbon began competing at the age of three and at six competed for the first time at the National Horse Show and at nine was in the ribbons there in the Regular Working Hunter division while riding with a broken wrist. Her ponies were champion or reserve at the major shows in the east and in 1959 she qualified two of her mounts, Roll Call and Moonbeam for the first ever competition between England and the United States. She was the only rider to qualify two ponies for what was the beginning of Pony Finals. Upon turning professional in the ‘60s she won championships up and down the east coast. Gibbon still competes frequently and also serves as a U.S. Equestrian C1 steward.
Isabel Robson began taking riding lessons and showing at the age of nine, buying her first horse, an American Saddlebred called Carry the News, when she was 12. Robson and her husband Alan’s Albelarm Farm is nationally known for its world class and world champion show horses. Among her many champions are CH Heart to Heart, CH Albelarm Supremacy and CH Olympic Flame and ponies like Revelation, I’m a Big Leaguer and Heartland Triumphant King. Robson was named Horsewoman of the Year by the American Horse Shows Association in 1971 and was the recipient of the Lurline P. Roth Award for Sportsmanship. She was also an owner of show dogs, Dalmatians, Pointers, Labrador Retrievers and Pugs. Her Pointer, CH Maryetta’s National Acclaim, won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 1986. Robson passed away September 3, 2003.
Sug Utz began his professional career in Burlington, Wis., 1939, and in 1945 moved to Raytown, Mo. Utz showed Contract’s Commander at the American Royal, winning the Five-Gaited Stallion Stake five years in a row. Other great horses ridden by Utz include Maid’s Irish Kid, American Princess, Windsor Queen, Mimi Genius and Bugle Anne. He has judged American Saddlebred Horse Shows at Madison Square Garden, Lexington, KY and the American Royal. After 70 years of training, Utz gave his final performance in the show ring on Saturday, June 28, 2003, at the Longview Charity Horse Show in Kansas City, Mo.
The Pegasus Medal of Honor was created as an annual award to recognize individuals who have exhibited outstanding service to horses and the sport. Through their dedication, recipients of the Pegasus Medal of Honor have attracted people to the sport and contributed to horse sports by advancing its popularity. Gibbon, Robson and Utz join Ellie Wood Keith Baxter and Elizabeth Searle as 2003 recipients of the Pegasus Medal of Honor. Their superior service will be acknowledged formally at the Pegasus Dinner, Friday, Jan. 16, held during the U.S. Equestrian Annual Meeting at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif. For more information about the Annual Meeting visit the U.S. Equestrian web site at www.usef.org or contact Krista Greathouse, Manager, Travel and Events at 859-225-6961 or via e-mail at [email protected].
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