Be My Guest and Craig Dansie Capture

the 2014 3 Year Old Futurity Open Amateur Title

By Josephine Cozean Styron

“I didn’t expect him to win,” said Craig Dansie of his sorrel stallion, Be My Guest. “I just wanted to let him get a little experience.”

Actually, Dansie could be saying that of himself, as well. The 2014 Three Year Old Futurity was the first Futurity for both the stallion and his owner/rider. It was also the first time that Dansie had shown a stallion. “I was really excited to win. I hadn’t had ‘Gus’ very long. Because he’d had a leg injury, he hadn’t had much training,” said Dansie.

“As a three-year-old stallion, with everything being new to him, Gus wasn’t short on energy. I was surprised at his consistency and how he was able to keep it under control. But, he liked the show ring. It seemed to be good for him. He didn’t try to call out to the other stallions or anything. He was nice. Even on the victory pass, when the other horses left, he didn’t try anything. He did just fine,” said Dansie.
Dansie had only had Gus since April. On a buying trip to Missouri, he had been taken with the stallion and bought him from Tom Williams and Danielle Anthony. Be My Guest was sired by Grand Central and is out of Legend’s Charming Nell R. Jarrod O. Freeman was the breeder.

Dansie plans on showing Gus in the 2015 show season and will stand him at stud.