Biography
El Caliente Aji B/R
2005 Hall of Fame
In the past, prominent mares and stallions of our breed have
been the recipients of this prestigious award, but El Caliente Aji B/R, is truly
worthy of being included with the other great horses of our Paso Fino Hall of
Fame.
It all started in 1977, when Tom and Mary Uelsmann purchased
El Caliente from Florence Shulton in Ocala, Florida. Mrs. Shulton and her husband had a farm with approximately 10
horses. The Shulton’s main
purpose in life was taking care of handicapped special children and adults.
Mrs. Shulton called Tom Uelsmann to explain to him about a 3 year old
colt she acquired on her farm. She
felt it was not safe for her to keep this colt due to the children being around.
To help Mrs. Shulton with this problem, Tom purchased the colt, El
Caliente. El Caliente then came to
his new home at El Tomaria Farm, Inc. One
may wonder why a prominent breeder with a large established herd would purchase
a young colt without a “royal” pedigree, when he had a number of colts at
home. The answer is simple….Caliente’s
color was a perfect match for his granddaughter Beth’s hair and Mr. Tom
thought they would make a perfect match in the show ring.
Mr. Tom’s prediction was right. El Caliente and Beth went to their first horse show in 1979.
They entered their first National in 1980 in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and
won their first National championship in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas.
El Caliente carried Beth to 5 National Championships in Equitation and 2
National Championships in Pleasure Youth. As
an added bonus, this was the horse to
ride at the Nationals in Equitation during that time.
He was absolutely push-button to ride, never broke gait and smooth as
glass. The lucky few who got the
opportunity to ride this horse were in the ribbons and those he carried to
National Championships were: 1981
Sheri Tenney; 1982: Chris Goscha; and 1984 & 1985 Nick Faber.
Other riders who received National ribbons on Caliente are Gema Sanz and
Josh Adams. All of these riders
just got on Caliente at the Nationals and rode, there was not a lot of time
spent at El Tomaria before the Nationals preparing and learning the horse.
He was just that good. Anyone
could get on this horse and look spectacular!
All total, he carried his youth riders to 11 National Championships and 7
Reserve National Championships. El
Caliente has helped to inspire the youth of his time, and has shown the quality
and performance that geldings can have.
Believe it or not, this absolutely push-button, easy to ride
horse was also a Performance Grand National Champion. He won Performance Geldings in 1982, came back in the
Championship and won the class, beating all the top mares and stallions of the
show. He was the only gelding in
PFHA history to do this. In
addition, he was the winner of the first ever Performance Geldings Stakes class
held at the Nationals in 1984.
Ironically, the criteria for nomination of Hall of Fame
states that a horse: a) must have produced eligible show offspring or b)
demonstrated itself to be outstanding in the show ring.
Caliente produced 3 offspring before he was gelded; one of these, La Luna
de Tomaria went on to win 2 National Championships in the Performance division.
El Caliente was a horse that was loved and appreciated by
many El Caliente gave many people their first ride on a Paso Fino; he helped
many learn to ride in his retirement years, by helping with El Tomaria’s
lesson program. He was a member of
the Uelsmann’s family. He was
every grandchild’s favorite horse.
Winters became hard for El Caliente; perhaps God felt it was
his time to go. He died on the
morning of January 31, 2001. It was
a very quiet day on the farm. When
they carried him to the back of the 300-acre farm for burial, every mare in the
pastures followed in a single file line, as if even they knew what had happened.
In his last few years of retirement he lived with the mares in the
pastures. Even the mares felt a loss of him being gone.
El Caliente will always have a special place in our hearts.
He is deeply loved and deeply missed.