Team #232: Yan Ross and Merlin
Merlin is registered as “Calico Siren,” and also known as “Enchantment,” due to New Mexico being his birth state. However, his barn name has been “Merlin” as long as I’ve known him. Merlin was born in 1989, and registered in the Jockey Club Thoroughbred registry. He was not a stellar racehorse, winning only one race as a 3-year-old, but he came into his own when he moved to the world of 3-day eventing.
He was initially trained by Jeffrey Riding, at Goose Downs, in Santa Fe, NM, then sold to the Foltz family in Arizona when he was 8-years-old. Over the next 5 years, he was trained by Alice Sarno and during that period was named Eventer of the Year. Subsequently, he was owned and competed by our close friend, Mary McDermott. I was fortunate to be able to ride Merlin on non-show weekends, while Mary was busy with family. The time came when Mary was ready for a new horse, and I fell heir to this wonderful equine.
Most of our riding is now out on the trail, a couple times a week with friends. We’re lucky to be close to wonderful local trails, including in the Granite Mountain Wilderness and along the Verde River. My wife, Randi Wagner, competes actively in dressage with Mezzo Forte, her American Hanoverian, and we have an arena at home, so Merlin also has a chance to keep up his dressage.
Yan grew up “back East,” but had occasion to visit family friends on a cattle ranch in Texas, where he was bitten hard by the horse bug. When he was 9-years-old, he successfully lobbied his parents to apply to the New York Mounted Police to adopt a retiring police horse named Lester, who was 19 at the time. It didn’t take Lester long to adjust from busy city life to living on a farm in rural News Jersey. Yan and Lester bonded closely, and rode on back roads, trails, in parades and shows, and generally had a model boy and horse experience.
Yan rode infrequently in the 70’s until near the year 2000, due to spending so much time on the road in his professional life. He got back into trail riding with Merlin when he and Randi moved to AZ. Now, as a self-styled “Recovering Attorney,” he trail rides with friends a couple of times a week. In addition to saddle time on the trail, he recognizes that dressage is good training and exercise for both horse and rider, so it’s also a regular activity.
Randi and Yan currently have three horses at home. When Yan’s not doing barn chores or in the saddle, he writes and teaches accredited courses on identity theft risk management.
A Special Note: One of our trail riding pairs (Kathy Pessin & Tango) also qualified as a Century Duo, and we performed a pas de deux on May 8th together. It was as unique as a BI-Centennial performance – our combined age is now 200!
To view Yan and Kathy's fun pas de deux, click here!
Marilyn R. Sheldon, Blue Moon Studios
Photo credit to Marilyn R. Sheldon, Blue Moon Studios
