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her willingness to acknowledge mistakes in breeding
decisions, wisdom, fun, and always encouragement
to her followers.
As a lifeline for “Arabian people,” she left a
cheerfulness with lasting qualities. Within that
cheerfulness, she gave us “Tell your woes to your
saddle bow and ride away singing,” an adage she
painted on every stable she owned. Perhaps just as
important, she gave us the philosophy (from Auntie
Mame): “Life’s a banquet and most sonsabitches are
starving to death.” To defeat starvation, Bazy
provided the world with a banquet of Arabian horses,
good cheer, wisdom, ideas, and fun.
More of Bazy’s teachings and adventures are
detailed in the book ...And Ride Away Singing by
Mary Jane Parkinson.
Entertainment of TV and movie celebrities at the
ranch. AM Count Pine as a movie star. The 1983
World Symposium on Crabbet Breeding at Denver, a
well-attended event, including Crabbet personnel of
the past. Action shows. Film-making. Making it easy
and comfortable for newcomers to acquire Arabians.
Contributing to the definition of Arabian type.
Continuing and refining the apprentice program.
And many more.
Bazy left us in February 2012, just a few weeks
short of her ninety-second birthday. She left
material things of course — the ranch to the
University of Arizona at Tucson; the horses to her
son, Mark Miller, in Florida. But she left us far more in
ideas and practices, an abundance of good cheer,
her never-fail sense of humor, her concern for
handicapped children, her eager sense of learning,
TOP LEFT: Bazy found the
Hat Ranch a place of
beauty and usefulness.
“I fell in love with it the
minute I saw it,” Bazy
remembered. “It’s a fun
old ranch. The kitchen
and one other room
are the two original
settler homes from the
1880s. We also ranched
thousands of acres of
public land, but as of the
late 1980s, we retained
2,400 acres for summer
living and horse-related
events.”
TOP RIGHT: Over the years, Bazy collected ideas for the day she could design her
own ranch buildings. The new Tucson ranch gave her that opportunity. The Bazy-
designed shed row stalls featured cross-ventilation through openings at the floor
level and near the ceiling and hardware cloth upper Dutch doors.
BOTTOM: Harold Brite was the Al-Marah trainer for most of its years. Bazy hired
him in 1942. “Maybe the greatest horseman I have ever known,” Bazy reminisced.
“I’ve never seen anyone with such an instinct for horses. He could teach a horse
anything. Besides being just one of the most wonderful human beings that ever
lived. Everyone loved Harold. Some of Harold’s finest moments came with the
Al-Marah working horses. In cutting, Arraff cut cattle like he’d been born to
it. Within a year, Harold was able to ride him into a herd, designate by a slight
motion of the reins which critter he wanted out, squeeze with his legs to tell
Arraff (Raffles x Arsa by Saoud) to follow it out of the herd and, once clear,
reach up and take off the bridle, and Arraff would do all the rest by himself.”
Arraff also excelled in pole-bending, barrel-racing, and reining. In this photo,
Harold is shown with AM FANSIE FLOWER (AM Count Rafla x Al Marah Light
Fantastic), the winner of the 1978 Purebred Snaffle Bit and Hackamore Futurity
at Santa Barbara, California.
AHW > 67 < 08.19
sharon
(sharon)
#1