My journey with Norman
It is May 15. APHA World Show Entry day.
On the APHA Website, there is a form to complete an exhibitor bio. I haven't finished mine yet- there's too much to tell when it comes to this horse. However, as I started writing, I felt the need to share the story of this horse with you all, too. Here is my story with my heart horse, and the namesake of this business.
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Investers Norfleet, or Norman, has been part of my life since 2004. He truly embodies every ounce of my heart and soul. He's not only made an impact on my life, but the lives of so many others. To truly understand Norman’s impact, it helps to know our story together. I apologize, because despite writing being part of my career, I tend to ramble when it comes to this horse.
In 2004, when the Youth World Show was still in the summer and the amateur/open world show was in the fall, I attended my first AjPHA World Show to compete in Horse Judging. I had just turned 10, and owned a Quarter Horse at the time. My mom fell in love with the people and the atmosphere at the show, and I fell in love with the pretty horses. My gelding at the time was getting ready to retire, so we set a goal: to find a horse for me to show in the Youth Walk Trot classes at the AjPHA World Show in 2005 for my final year in that division.
Norman & I on that rainy Houston day in 2004
Our wishlist seemed fairly simple: a very broke horse, no younger than 5, ideally a mare. We didn’t want another sorrel, we didn’t want a horse with a bald face, and we didn’t want one with a blue eye. Ideally, we wanted a horse more geared toward the Hunt Seat classes. We also wanted to avoid something that was Invester bred, since my gelding at the time had a sassy streak that my mom, a second generation horsewoman, blamed on his Invester lineage.
We tried many horses, but nothing fit the bill. My mom kept coming back to this one gelding she’d found on DreamHorse, but he checked approximately zero of our boxes. He was a green broke sorrel overo western pleasure gelding with only 60 days under saddle, he was over budget, and he was out of an Invester mare. He had a big bald face and one blue eye. My mother contacted his owner at the time, Nena Allen, who promptly mailed us a VHS tape of the gelding. My mom liked what she saw, and, against her better judgement, we made the drive from our home in Allen, TX to Houston to try “Norman.”
It had been raining for days, as it does in Houston in the fall, so Norman was hauled to a local covered arena. Without as much as a second on a lunge line, my 10 year old self hopped on this green baby horse and jogged him around. I couldn’t hear a single thing anyone was saying over the rain pounding on the metal roof, but as my mom tells it- she knew as soon as I turned the corner and she could see my face that she was about to do the dumbest thing a horsewoman could do- she bought a green broke 2 year old for her 10 year old daughter. That little green broke horse proved his worth over and over again. We used to have to carry a copy of his papers with us at shows because no one would believe just how old he actually was- he was that quiet and steady.
Norman & I winning our first high point together in 2005, at ages 11 and 3.
I wish I could say our world show dreams came true in 2005 like we originally planned, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, this year’s world show will be Norman’s first time at the Will Rogers. In 2005, our world was turned upside down when my dad left and my mom went from being a housewife, working part time as a preschool teacher, to a single mother to 3 young children. We lost just about everything, but my mom did everything in her power to keep that horse. She knew he would be the only thing to get me, the oldest of 3 and her rock during the divorce, through it all. Our barn family paid me $1 per hoof to pick feet so I could pay for Norman’s board. Our farrier refused to let me use my birthday money to pay for Norman’s shoes so I could pay for entries at the open show series he ran. My mom sold our patio furniture and washing machine to pay for Norman’s haul from Texas to New York.
Norman & I showing in the Novice Amateur Horsemanship in 2015
Norman was my rock through it all. Eventually, we did make it to the APHA and PtHA Circuits in New York and New England, where Norman amassed quite a name for himself- not because he was a great show horse (despite winning some weekend and year end high points, there’s a reason I’m still novice in everything) but because he had one of the biggest personalities at every show. We’d show all day, in everything from the showmanship to the hunter hack to the barrel racing, and then ride around bareback at night with our friends like every horse-crazed teenager dreams of. In 2011, I began a little graphic design side gig to help my mom pay for my entry fees. The name for that business was easy to choose- Norfleet Marketing, after the horse that taught me that there is a lot more to showing than where you place.
In 2017, Norman was “retired.” He was 15, and I was headed out into the real world after college graduation. I was taking that little side gig of mine full time, photographing horse shows and horse people across the country, designing ads and logos, and writing for national publications. His “last show” was supposed to be the 2017 Color Breed Congress. We threw him a retirement party and everything. I had all but given up on my world show dreams, hoping that maybe one day, years down the line, he’d be around for my future children to show in the leadline.
In July of 2018, I was pregnant with my daughter and Norman went off to be an intercollegiate lesson horse with our trainer at the time, Adam D’Agostino, in Albion, Michigan on a 5 year contract. At the end of that contract, Norman would have been 21- surely, too old to return to life as a show horse, unless it was for my daughter… right?
Kailee & “Her Norman”
Wrong. Norman “graduated” from college in the spring of 2023, just as my mom wanted to get back into the show pen. She was looking for a horse to lease, which was just a ridiculous idea in my mind… we already had the perfect horse for her. Norman was still sound and full of life after his time at Albion, so we sent him off to New York for my mom to show in the Amateur Walk Trot events. For fun, I essentially catch rode my own horse in the Amateur Horsemanship and Showmanship- earning our very first circuit championship in the horsemanship at the 2023 Mason Dixon Color Classic.
Shortly after Norman arrived in New York, though, my grandfather’s health began to fail, and my mom took over as his main caregiver. Norman was loaded on a trailer, headed for Illinois, where I surprised my daughter with “her” horse. Having Norman home with me in Illinois, he proved that he still had so much to give- not just as my daughter, Kailee’s, horse, but as my show horse. It seemed like our world show dreams might actually happen.
And that brings us to today- Norman is 22 years old, and I will be 30 by the time the world show rolls around. He has been in my life for two decades. And finally… we’re showing at the APHA World Show. He will be shown by three generations. My mother, the woman who fought tooth and nail to keep him, will compete in the Amateur Walk Trot and Masters Showmanship. I will show him in the Novice Amateur and Amateur Showmanship, Horsemanship, and Ranch Riding, as well as the Novice Amateur Equitation. Kailee will show him in the Leadline.