The G’s – Greg and GiGi Davis

Click here to read the complete article
34 – January/February 2019

By Alison Foster

Ask anyone at your local horse show and they will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that showing horses is an addiction. If the horse show bug bites, you will be stuck with a life-long craving for the feel of freshly raked arenas, the scent of Show Sheen, and the sound of an announcer’s booming voice over the loudspeaker. This glorious obsession is often terminal, spanning the decades between Youth and Select, and acts as one of the defining interests of an individual’s life.

Husband-wife duo Greg Davis and Dr. GiGi Wood Davis are a classic case of those afflicted with horseshowitis. Both bitten at a young age, what started as a childhood hobby developed quickly into a lifelong passion that has excited, inspired, and united them throughout their years together. Both GiGi and Greg were raised to love and appreciate horses. Growing up on an Arkansas ranch with about 100 horses, GiGi started showing when she was just six years old. “My dad raised and sold Quarter Horses, and, on weekends, we would show from sunup to sundown. I always loved the Halter classes, but I competed in the allaround as well,” GiGi says. “Whether it was a local show or a national show, I would start with Halter in the morning and then show in every single class they offered throughout the day.”

Greg’s journey began similarly, by showing his first horse in an AQHA event when he was just seven years old. “I grew up on a Tennessee horse ranch,” Greg says. “As far back as I can remember, I loved to go sit in the pasture on my little motorcycle, play with the babies, and get to know their personalities. I loved how beautiful and unique they were. Even though I grew up in a time when you would show the same horse in absolutely everything, from Halter to Reining, I always had a special love for Halter and Showmanship. I won two Reserve World Championships in Halter, as a youth. I was third place in Showmanship at the 1977 Quarter Horse Congress when there were 146 horses in the class. It was wonderfully exciting, and it instilled in me a deep love of the shape and beauty of the horse.”

Click here to read the complete article
34 – January/February 2019