Invasor III - Pure Spanish Horse

Aspera Terrent Farm

Snow Queen, Andalusian stallion

unique visitor at Tree Lighting

by Rebecca Ring

Rockwood's Snow Queen
(a.k.a. Ellen Amos) made
a suprize visit to REBA's
Third Annual Christmas Tree
Lighting Event last Satur-
day. She rode on Invasor
III, her white Andalusian
stallion. "I heard about the
tree lighting ceremony, so
I thought I would make a
suprize appearance as the
Snow Queen." saya Amos.
"People were thrilled and de
lighted. After the ceremony,
we rode around the village
for a bit."
While at the ceremony,
Amos met Cathy Kelly, Cov-
erings and events coordinator
for Rockwood Eramosa Busi-
ness Association. Kelly was
so impressed by the beau-
tiful Snow Queen and her
magnificent horse that she
invited them to the commu-
nity Christmas Eve Caroling
at Valentino Park, at Dec 24,
7PM, hosted by the Kelly
Family. Amos graciously ac-cepted.
The idea of sharing the joy
and magic of Christmas grew
even more as the two women
decided to spread it even fur-
ther than Rockwood. The
evening will include raising funds for Starlight, Starbright
Children's Foundation Can-
ada, which "helps seriously
ill children and their families

cope with their pain, fear and
isolation through entertain-
ment, education and family
activities"
Amos owns Aspera Terrant
Farm, an Andalusian breed-
ing facility in Rockwood.
The horses are also known
as Pure Spanish Horses, or
Pura Raza Espanola. They
were developed by King
Philip II in Spain. Many may
have seen the breed perform
at Medieval Times in To-
ronto. They also compete in
the Olympic games in the
Dressage events, where they perform various prescribed
movements and are judged on
obedience, grace, and techni-cal maneuvers.
"It is like a horse ballet or figure skating," saya Amos.
Invasor III's father, Evento,
competed in the 1996 games
in Atlanta, where he placed seventh. Her new stallion,
Habanero XCVI was sired
by Oleaje, who won team sil-ver medal at the 2004 games
in Athens.
Amos began breeding An-
dalusians in 2000 and now has ten mares (all currently
pregnant) and two stallions.
She has become one of the
most successful breeders
in North America, with 30 mares this year alone bred
with Invasor, as far away
as Australia. Her stallions
have all been from Europe,

flown via Amsterdam. She
has her own quarantine fa-
cility in conjunction with
Canada Food Inspection
Agengy to aid in their im-
portation."Having them here
is more comfortable for the
horses," she says.
Amos is living out her life-
long passion of raising horses.
She raised the money to start
the farm by working as a fire-
fighter in Brampton. In 1989,
she was the first female fire-fighter in the department and
the fourth in Ontario. She has
never been hampered by ste-
reotypes or naysayers. At 12
years old, living in Montreal,
she wanted to take on a paper route so she could buy her first horse. She was told girls were not allowed paper routes. Her
brother was just about to give
up his, so she continued it in
his name and earned the $300
for her horse.
Years later, she ignored
those who said women can-
not be firefighters and went
on to have a very successful
15-year career, meeting and
exceeding all the standards.
Now she is living her dream:
'Never a day goes by where I
wish I was doing something
else. I immerse myself in it
completely. I thrive on it and do it for the sheer joy, which
is the key to my success."
By playing the Snow
Queen, Amos is honouring

the early traditions of her
native land, the Netherlands.
On the eve of December 6, a bishop named St. Nicholas
toured the countryside riding a white Andalusian, accom-panied by his servant Swarte
Pete, a Moorish boy. St. Nick
wore a bishop's clothing and
hat, while Swarte Pete wore
a turban.
Dutch children looked forward to their visit and would
leave wooden shoes by the window, filled with straw, holding an apple or carrot
for the horse. The next morn-ing, they would wake to find candy in the shoes as a reward
for their gifts.
Now, Amos wants to share
her good fortune. "In the
modern day, we tryly live in a global community," she says,
"It can be overwhelming and
one feels helpless when see-
ing what goes on in the world.
But positive changes begin where we have influence - in
our own community. This
started off as a simple idea
to share joy with the people
of Rockwood and now we are reaching beyond. A little
teamwork with noble inten-tions for a good cause creates
modern day miricles."
For more information
on the Starlight, Starbright
Children's Foundation, visit
www.starlightcanada.org, or
call 1-800-880-1004

Her Winter Majesty: The Snow Queen on her ma-
jestic stallion was a pleasant suprise at Rockwood's Tree
Lighting Ceremony. See her again at the Kelly's Christmas
Eve Carols at Valentino Park, 7PM - submitted photo

Starlight logo used with expressed consent

For further information please contact Tammy at holiday@slsbcanada.org

The Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation
is a non-profit organization dedicated to brightening
the lives of seriously ill children and their families by providing a broad array of both in-hospital and
out patient programs designed to enhance their ability
to cope with the stress of illness.

The Holiday Card Program provides you
with a simple and heartwarming way to
let friends, family, clients and employees
know that you care enough to send them
something special.

THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2007

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