It was on December 22, 1978 that Ga'Zi passed away. Since that time a great many new
people have
begun to breed Arabian horses, so it's not surprising that the name Ga'Zi is not in their
vocabulary. It's a
shame, as Ga'Zi is a name that should be remembered when talking of the very best
Arabians.
The story of Ga'Zi began in California where he was foaled on Feb.8, 1949 on the Leland
Mekeel
Ranch. His dam was Ghazna, a mare of exquisite quality and dam of eleven class A
champions.
Ga'Zi's
sire was Abu Farwa, a copper chestnut stallion of magnificent presence and classic beauty.
Abu Farwa's
clean-chiselled head, fine throat latch and long arched neck were among his outstanding
points. His high,
airy trot was inherited from both sides of his pedigree, with two crosses to *Berk. Abu
Farwa was foaled
on the famous Kellogg Ranch in Pamona,California and was one of the most popular sires of
his time.
Ghezala, full sister to Ga'Zi, won 35 halter championships and was retained by the Mekeel
Ranch
where she in turn produced champions.
In the early 1950's, Ga'Zi was seen by Dr.Eugene LaCroix of MountLakeTerrace, Washington.
Dr.LaCroix was completely taken by the young stallion. Woody Madsen and Dr.LaCroix decided
to buyhim together and form a partnership, thus "Lasma" became and entity. The
La for LaCroix, sm for Pete Smith (Dr.LaCroix's stepfather), and the ma for Madsen.
At home in MountLakeTerrace, it was decided that Ga'Zi would be stabled at the Madsen's
home.
Woody trained Ga'Zi through the winter of 1953-1954. Their first show was the 1954 Oregon
All-Arabian
show where Ga'Zi was named Champion stallion. The same year they went to San Francisco
where Ga'Zi
was named Pacific Coast Reserve Champion Stallion.
1955 found Woody and Ga'Zi winning the western pleasure and trail horse classes in open as
well as
All-Arabian shows. One of their wins was at the Scottsdale show in western pleasure. At
the Washington
All-Arabian show and also at Scottsdale, they placed in the three-gaited classes. All
totaled Woody and
Ga'Zi won 18 Class A championships.
Ga'Zi had an exceptionally good disposition.The Madsen children loved to have him do his
tricks for
visitors. While running free in a ring, without a halter, Ga'Zi would stop, come, march
backwards, stay
until called, bow, kneel, retrieve a hat, run at full speed and slide to a stop. All on
voice command!
It wasen't long before Ga'Zi began winning the Get of Sire classes and his offspring began
taking
home the championships.
One of his first foals was the beautiful Feyn daughter, Ga'Nissa who went on to become the
1959
U.S.National Reserve Champion mare. She won a total of 22 championships. It wasen't long
before Ga'Zi
was in demand as a sire.
It was about this time that Dr.LaCroix and his family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and
soon after
that he purchased *Bask. *Bask went on to many championships and later became the leading
sire of
national champions. After Dr.LaCroix became involved with *Bask and the Polish Arabians,
he very
graciously left Ga'Zi with the Madsens permanently because of the bond that Woody had with
Ga'Zi and,
as Woody says, "The word just got around that Ga'Zi and Woody just went together.
"So, he was very
kind, and I'll always be grateful to him," Woody adds.
~Here is a partial list of the offspring of Ga'Zi~
Ga'Nissa U.S.NATIONAL RESERVE CHAMPION MARE
Swain U.S.TOP TEN STALLION
Sir Lancer CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION STALLION
Ga'Zima CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION MARE
Gailic CANADIAN & U.S. RESERVE CHAMPION STALLION
Ganeyn CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION STALLION
Far'Zi CANADIAN NATIONAL RESERVE CHAMPION STALLION
Fateena CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION MARE
MissCentury21 U.S.FUTURITY CHAMPION FILLY AND CANADIAN RES.CHAMPION
Llana U.S.NATIONAL CHAMPION FUTURITY FILLY AND
CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION MARE
Ga'Zi sired winners of 22 U.S.National Championships, Reserves, or Top Tens; 30 Canadian
National
Champions, Reserves or Top Tens; 22 Regional Champions or Top Fives; 11 Pacific Northwest
Champions,Reserves or TopFives; 14 Pacific Slope Champions, Reserves or Top Fives; 91
Class A
Halter Championships or Reserves; and 154 Class A Performance Championships. The last
statistics on
Ga'Zi get were done through 1977. At that time his offspring had won a total of 385
Championships, 5
Futurities and 13 Legion of Marits. Ga'Zi sired a total of 266 foals. Many more have won
championships
since the statistics were last done and now his grandget are winning in the show ring.
In 1970 Ga'Zi was chosen by the International Arabian Horse Association as a "Living
Legend" and
was invited to appear at the U.S.Nationals in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At 21 years old,
Ga'Zi made the
trip with Woody and tribute was made to him as one of the best sires in the United States
and Canada.
In the fall of 1973, the IAHA Convention was held in Seattle, and as part of the
entertainment for the
convention delegates, about 40 local horses of renown were presented. Ga'Zi was the last
horse to be
presented, and he and Woody completely stole the show, recieving a standing ovation just
as they
entered the ring. Ga'Zi performed at liberty, doing his by-now famous "play"
routine with Woody.
Two honors came to Ga'Zi in 1976. He was selected as Supreme Sire for the Arabian Research
Jubilee at Santa Barbara. Soon after announcement of this honor, Ga'Zi was invited to come
to an
all-Arabian show at Olympia to receive a custom-made blanket. The red, white and blue
satin blanket has
"Ga'Zi--Living Legend" on one side and "Ga'Zi--Supreme Sire" on the
other. Ga'Zi was presented by
Todd Madsen, age 16. The show was Ga'Zi's last public appearance. 
All through their years together, Ga'Zi and Woody enjoyed a play session each morning in
Ga'Zi's
paddock. By the mid-1970's Ga'Zi had developed arthritis, and occasionally would injure
himself as he
came down from one of his exuberant leaps into the air. Woody put plastic shoes on Ga'Zi
to keep the
cold from going into his feet and tried to avoid giving him an excuse to play. Woody
recalls Ga'Zi's last
play session:
"Mark was coming back into the house from the stables and as he walked away, Ga'Zi
hollered at
him. Mark didn't pay much attention, just kept on walking and Ga'Zi hollered again. He was
standing at his gate, looking at Mark, and whinnied at Mark when he looked back. Mark just
turned away from him, and old 'Pops' just let go and hollered and shook his head and
jumped up and down. So Mark walked back to the gate, and Ga'Zi went up in the air and spun
around. All he was trying to say was that he
wanted to play. So Mark went in with him and just let him play. That was the last time
anyone ever had
the big play with him.After that we just said no more, no matter what. We had to be
careful not to let him
think we wanted him to play."
A few days before Christmas 1978, Woody walked into Ga'Zi's stall one morning to find him
in great
distress.Within minutes he expired. The Madsen's had decided some time before that Ga'Zi
would be
buried in their front lawn, just a few feet from the house. The Madsen's oldest son Hal
and his friends
carried Ga'Zi to his grave on a wooden platform that Woody built; Woody directed that his
body should
not touch the ground.
That was the end of one of the breeds most durable horse-human relationships. Woody very
succinctly
describes that relationship: "He was my friend. Yeah, we liked eachother." Woody
says, "No other
horse was ever put in Ga'Zi's paddock while Ga'Zi was alive, and not until three years
after his leaving.
His stall in the barn is forever closed. Only his blanket hangs on its door. Yes, I
sometimes go in there
for a moment or two."
Ga'Zi not only left a tangible legacy of champion offspring who sire and produce more
champions. Those
who saw Ga'Zi in show competition and in his several special presentations are not likely
to forget the
intangibles: his joie de vivre, his extreme beauty and type, his splendid way of moving,
his playfulness,
and his kinship with Woody Madsen.
Composed by Teresa Madsen Our URL is: http://www.angelfire.com/nv/mhaheritage
With Excerpts Used From The Arabian Horse World 1984 Issue written by Mary Jane Parkinson
&
The Crabbet Influence Collectors Volume III 1996 article written by Sharon Sue Marvin
Picture Above: Ga'Zi made history in 1967, when the Canadian National Champion and
Reserve
Champion Stallions and Mares were all sired by him. From left: Miss Century, Canadian
National
Reserve Champion Mare, and Dr.Howard Kale; Far'Zi, Canadian National Reserve Champion
Stallion,
owned by Glen Ash; Ganeyn, Canadian National Champion Stallion,owned by Mrs.Woody Madsen;
and
Fateena,Canadian National Champion Mare,owned by Lester and Jennie Walton.
