How Devoted Are You?

By: Brittany Bevis

Devotion. What an appropriate topic to discuss on Valentine’s Day! The act of being devoted to something brings to mind total dedication and fervent passion. Just like you can be devoted to a cause or a person, you can also be devoted to an activity or a hobby.

For most of our readers, the question: “What are you devoted to?” is simply and easily answered with one word- Horses!

But, just how devoted are you? Melissa Maxwell and her daughter, Ellexxah, have taken that devotion to a whole new level with some very meaningful tattoos. But, why now? It all has to do with an incredible accomplishment that many thought seemed out of reach.

For most of her youth career, Ellexxah has been working towards a goal. She and her longtime partner, Zips Bossy Chip, aka “Annie B,” were chasing a record set by AQHA Hall Of Fame gelding, Van Decka. It was a record that hadn’t come close to being touched in 30 years.

At the 1987 Quarter Horse Congress, Van Decka and his final youth rider, Tara Green, earned the last points needed to become AQHA’s All Time Leading Youth Horse. That record stood firm until September of 2017, when Ellexxah and Annie B earned 4,280 points and became the new All Time Leading Youth Horse team.

Just recently, Melissa and Ellexxah decided to honor Annie B’s accomplishment with a set of matching, mother-daughter tattoos.

“I have a tattoo on my left wrist of my back number #49 and my amateur horse’s name, Prince Of Silence,” Melissa says. “He was my once-in-a-lifetime horse. He was the horse that Ellexxah started learning how to do Showmanship with when she was just two years old. I owned him for 20 years and he passed away, at the age of 32, not long after purchasing Ellexxah’s horse, Zips Bossy Chip. He has been an inspiration for many things in my life.”

“My inspiration for the tattoo was because I always wanted Annie with me,” Ellexxah says. “With college coming up fast, I won’t be able to spend every day with her like I have for the past seven years, so I wanted something to always see and think of her. I got it on Thanksgiving, because she’s definitely something I’m grateful for.”

Melissa has numerous tattoos, that have taken over 40 hours to complete, and they all follow the same theme. “I have a deep, Irish background, so all this Celtic and Gaelic imagery and the like are part of the art. Even Ellexxah’s name is Gaelic, with Ireland as her middle name, in case some thought that the spelling was made up!”

Melissa’s tattoo to honor her daughter, and Annie B, features red and blue ribbons that are encircled by tiny, four leaf clovers. Ellexxah’s tattoo is a small wristlet with Annie B’s name, their lucky back number, and a red rose.

“Ellexxah went with her grandmother, Becky McLaughlin, me, and our barn manager, Olivia Kaplan, to my tattoo parlor,” Melissa says. “We made it a ladies night out! Ellexxah has always liked my tattoo for my gelding, because it’s a bracelet. There’s nothing big or obtrusive. It’s just classy. Her reason behind every bit of hers took a lot of thought and brought a very deep meaning to it beyond just being the latest trendy thing to do. It’s with you forever. It needs to represent something you’re deeply passionate about.”

“Zips Bossy Chip and the #339 is easy enough, but her symbolism for the rest is what I find to be inspiring. It’s on her right wrist, because she says she’s always ridden Annie B and led her with that hand. Even when there will come a time that she will no longer show her, she can look down and know all that she is, and all they have been, is still with her, in the strength of that hand. Ellexxah isn’t exactly a floral person, but her explanation for the rose was very wise. She said that, of all the flowers, roses are her favorite, because their beauty is deceiving. At first glance, they look to be perfect, but a closer look shows you that before they bloom, they are a tangle of tough stems and thorns, twisting and fighting their way into the light. It reminds her of the journey that she and Annie have faced together. They are often only seen as the polished product, never for all the pricks of thorns they’ve endured along the way. You have to work your way out of the tangle to find beauty in the direction it took to get you there. I was so proud of them both that I added them to my collection with their names intertwined on ribbons, the way they will always be.”

Ellexxah describes Annie B as her one-in-a-million horse, so it only seemed fitting that she honor her with a permanent and daily reminder. “She’s taken my career to heights I never thought imaginable,” Ellexxah says. “She’s broken a 30-year record, won 15 plus national titles, 20 Congress bronzes, and so much more. But she’s always been the same determined and driven horse since the day we bought her.”

This act of devotion isn’t just about a special horse. It’s also about a mother/daughter pair that has discovered a common love, a passion they both share.

Heading into the 2019 show season, there is another record in sight that the team has their eyes on. “The AQHA All Division record is within reach for sure. If they can continue down the path they’re on, we should be having a party this spring sometime, once all of the points are validated. I can’t say if Ellexxah will have any additional tattoos done in the future, but keep a look out for some new additions to mine in honor of what will be the undisputed best team in AQHA history.”

Click here to read an article about Ellexxah and Zips Bossy Chip breaking the 30-year record.- http://www.equinechronicle.com/ellexxah-maxwell-zips-bossy-chip-break-the-record/

Click here to watch our EC video interview with Ellexxah at the Congress. – http://www.equinechronicle.com/ec-video-30-year-aqha-youth-all-time-leading-horse-record-broke-by-ellexxah-maxwell-and-zips-bossy-chip/