Meet Your 2012 North Star Judges
Judge for all Divisions: Art Perry of Santa Ynez, CA
Arthur L. Perry, Jr., owner of Intrepid Farms in Santa Ynez, has been active with Morgan horses for over 50 years. He has shown at most of the major shows in the United States and has raised and trained many Morgans that have achieved numerous Grand National and World titles. He has been an active United States Equestrian Federation Judge for 48 years, judging USEF rated shows, open shows, and unrated shows for many breeds.
He was named American Morgan Horse Association “Man of the Year” in 1994 and elevated to the “Morgan Hall of Fame” in 2004.
Arthur has volunteered throughout his career with Morgans by serving on many show committees. He was Chairman of the 1983 Grand National show, Chairman of the National Museum of the Morgan Horse, and served on the American Morgan Horse Association Board of Directors for sixteen years as well as the American Morgan Horse Institute for fourteen years. He currently is a sitting member of the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum Board of Directors.
He is a life member of the Carriage Association, the American Driving Society, the American Morgan Horse Association, the Canadian Morgan Horse Association, the United Kingdom Morgan Horse Society, many National Morgan Clubs, Equestrian Trails, Inc., and the Gypsy Horse Registry of America.
He has Marshall led the American Morgan Horse Equestrian Group for 28 years in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA and has appeared in 4 Festival of Roses Parades in Portland, OR. He holds 11 World Parade Championships with his Morgan horses.
Arthur loves to share his historical knowledge of the Morgan and has his own Intrepid Collection Museum dedicated to the breed. The pages of Morgan history and the equine world are much richer through his involvement and dedication.
Ranch Horse Division Judge: Linda Hagan Kvanbeck of Hampton, MN
Linda Hagan Kvanbeck is a life-long equestrian specializing in breeding and training Morgan horses with her husband Jim at their farm near Hampton, Minnesota. She grew up riding grade horses near Wichita, Kansas and then started showing Morgan horses with her parents Bill and Effie Hagan in 1968. They named their farm Troika Farm, inspired by the Russian three-horse troika sleigh of Orlov Trotter Horses that complimented the three of them in the business, and the perfect equine trio of a mare, a stallion and a foal.
Their first registered foal was Troika’s Anatole who was a successful breeding stallion and pleasure driving champion in the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s. Since then, many Troika horses have won championships at regional shows and the World Championship Morgan Horse Show, as well as charming the hearts of their owners. A few of the other Morgans who carry the Troika prefix include Black Russian, Nightingale, Natasha, Annette, Marko Polo, Magic Spirit, Magi, Russian Rulette, Ain’t She Sweet, Bobbi Sue, and LL Kool J.
A passion of Linda’s has been judging horse shows since the early ’80s for USEF Morgan and Arabian shows, Western Saddle Club Association (WSCA) shows in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 4-H shows in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and shows for the American Miniature Horse Association. Linda especially enjoys coaching 4-H and FFA horse judging teams about form to function and applying breed standards to the classes at competitions.
Linda and Jim enjoy trail riding, carriage driving events and competing in driving, western and hunter pleasure classes. They value the relationship between human and horse as an exciting way to bring families together in a wholesome sport, provide learning experiences that help young people grow in responsibility, and fulfill the hungry heart as nothing but a horse can do. Linda has mentored many girls at Troika Farm through the years, establishing lifelong friendships.
