Horse Illustrated Magazine

The United States Equestrian Federation will be awarding its 2006 Pegasus Medal of Honor to three individuals this year during its Annual Meeting, Friday, Jan. 12, in Louisville, Ky. The award recognizes individuals who have exhibited outstanding service to horses and sport, and who, through their dedication, have attracted people to the sport and contributed to it by advancing its popularity. The 2006 recipients are:

W. Gary Baker – Middleburg, Virginia
Well-known as a consummate horseman with interests in a variety of disciplines, Baker owns, breeds, trains, shows and sells Welsh Ponies. He also serves as the manager of multiple hunter/jumper competitions, including two of the countries oldest (Boumi Temple Mounted Patrol and Loudoun Benefit). For many years, Baker has shown his commitment to the betterment of the sport through his time devoted to major equestrian organizations such as the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA), Virginia Horse Show Association (VHSA) and Maryland Horse Show Association (MHSA), in addition to earning several judging licenses from the Federation, where he also holds several hunter committee seats.

Jean McLean Davis – Harrodsburg, Kentucky
From early beginnings–and early winnings–Davis learned to be associated with the word “champion,” and spent her life devoted to becoming one of the all-time great exhibitors, owners and breeders of the American Saddlebred. In all, as owner of her Oak Hill Farm, Davis has won some 65 World Grand Championships. She is a member of the Kentucky State Fair Horse Show Hall of Fame, the American Saddlebred Association of Virginia Hall of Fame, and was the first woman in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. 

Donna Moore – Versailles, Kentucky
Donna Moore is a highly honored member of the Saddlebred community, having won the Kentucky State Fair’s Audrey Gutridge Award and the United Professional Horsemen’s Association (UPHA) Professional Horseman of the Year Award. A founding member of the UPHA, she is also an inductee into the Kentucky State Fair Hall of Fame and the UPHA Hall of Fame. In 1983, her Shannon Run sale set a new world record for a Saddlebred when Preferred Property sold for $1,200,000.  Holding several licenses, Moore has judged many major USEF shows including the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden and the Saddlebred Triple Crown which consists of the Kentucky State Fair, Lexington Junior League and the American Royal horse shows.