Heidi Cecil didn't know it at the time, but she was about to accomplish something that no horseman had ever done.* She did it gracefully and exacting. Aboard two different horses, both from the Artful Move bloodline, she won both the High Point Open Performance and Reserve High Point Open Performance titles at the All American Quarter Horse Congress this year. Cecil, of Wadsworth, Ohio, rode Distinctly Sweet, owned by Angel Slinkman of Maryland, to first place and The Artraction, owned by Chantel Davenport of New York, to second place.  
 
An honorable feat for any rider, but the unassuming 42-year-old Cecil credits the horses. Both horses, she said, are wonderful to ride, noting that they are quite the polar opposites—in spite of their closely related bloodlines. Distinctly Sweet is a beautiful, happy horse said Cecil, "easiest described as being like Dory, from the Walt Disney movie Finding Nemo."  The Artraction, is a very different type of horse, she said. "He is laid back and never gets mad," as if he is saying, "OK, I'll do it if you want me to do it."  
Both horses are descendants of World Champion Artful Move, but to those who know Cecil, it is her ability as a horseman that is truly artful.
  
Ease with horses is something Cecil is known for. Along with husband Rick, she owns and operates the Cecil Breeding Farm in rural Ohio. But Heidi's talent with horses started when she was 10 or 11. Horses have always been a huge part of her life and by age 12 she had already entered the show circuit. By 16 she was showing Quarter Horses riding for a few different trainers after school while other girls her age were joyous about riding in cars with boys.  
 
"I loved horses. When I wasn't in school, I was with the horses. I never had the intentions of it becoming a profession, things just opened up for me," she said.  
 
One of Cecil's first horses was a half-Saddle bred, half-Quarter Horse called My Little Love, on which Cecil enjoyed trail riding with friends. Her next horse, Treasure Sail, was a Quarter Horse that Cecil found while looking through newspapers and bulletin boards in local tack stores when she was 16. The mare was an ex-racehorse that Cecil found out in a field. With the mare, Cecil won the nation and the Congress.
  
"Even back then, she was an amazing animal. I won everything with her. You can find good ones, cheaper. I paid $2500 for her and she was at one time one of the hottest youth horses in the country," said Cecil.
 
While in school, Cecil was active in sports, playing both basketball and soccer. She said she had two sets of friends, her horse show friends, located all over the nation, and those with whom she attended school.  
 
When she was in her late teens, Cecil began galloping racehorses, first at a doctor's farm nearby, then moving on to Beulah Park, near Columbus, where she ended up ponying horses to the starting gate.
 
By 1985 Cecil was training professionally but was also balancing her career and a family.  It was much easier when her kids were younger, she remembers. The children just went to the shows with her and her husband. "We were always at the shows. I could have my 5-and-6-year-olds running around playing and I felt safe," said Cecil. Now, her daughter, Kara, is 13 and son, Justin, 16. Both teens have other things going on with school and can't go along as much. It gets more difficult the older they get, she said adding that it is hard leaving her children while she is away at shows for days at a time.
  
Cecil has successfully balanced career and family for almost two decades. "It's a great family activity that keeps us together," she said. Together, in the other sense of the word, is also a term often used to describe Cecil . . . prepared, balanced, organized and composed. Friends and family marvel at her dedication in and out of the ring. She has won multiple Congress and World Championships and reserves, and numerous top tens aboard many different mounts.  
 
At this year's Congress, she guided Distinctly Sweet, who is by Art I Sweet to the Junior Hunter Hack and Junior Pleasure Driving Champion titles and a third place in Junior Working Hunter. The Artraction, an Artful Move baby and full brother to Art I Sweet, won a reserve title in Junior Working Hunter and sixth place in Green Working Hunter with Cecil in the irons, eighth place in Junior Hunter Hack with Lisa Brown aboard, along with third place in Junior Pleasure Driving, driven by Rick Cecil. Both of these horses are products of the Artful Move legacy that began in 1986.
 
An Artful Move
 
Rick and Heidi had been eyeing the big bay colt since he was a weanling.  "He had the biggest, softest, most kind eyes," she said. They were able to buy him when he was two years old from Bob and Susan Miller of Mount Gilead, Ohio, and began showing him when he was a colt.  "He had the best personality," she recalled.  Ultimately, it was his personality that persuaded the Cecils to not geld the colt. His disposition had always been wonderful and he was a horse that aimed to please and was willing to do all that was asked of him explained Cecil. At his first World Show, he won a reserve title in Junior Hunter Under Saddle. He won the AQHA World Championship in Senior Hunter Working Hunter at the age of 11 when most horses have been retired to stud. That title is the one that stands out in Cecil's mind as a favorite. Not many stallions show past the age of 4, let alone 11.  Now, at the age of 17, Art stands at Cecil Breeding Farm and has become one of the leading sires of hunter horses in the nation and a big part of the hunt-seat stallion trend. His disposition, conformation and good, sound mind is something that was passed on to all of his babies.  "He stamps them," said Cecil. "We didn't train him, he would just do it. His offspring are the same way."
 
Art's babies are also able to continue showing for years because they train so easily. "The good horses, if you are smart enough to stay out of them (not over-train them), will make you look great," said Cecil. "We stay out of the way. They make us look good.  Art's babies are so easy to train and I keep ending up on them. I would have definitely thought that Art was a once-in-a-lifetime horse. But then, so are all the other Artful Move horses that I have ridden."  
 
Today, Cecil hopes to develop a top-of-the line breeding and stallion station. Her philosophy is to spend a lot of time riding the horses from the beginning. She teaches basic techniques—forward motion and turning. This helps to build a good, solid foundation she said. The young horses are ridden around five to six times a week, up to 30 minutes per day. "We let the horses tell us when they are ready," said Cecil.
  
"We really concentrate on raising good, quality horses. We want to do more of a breeding and breaking here. There is a definite need for more well-broke horses. The good ones are good ones from the day they are born but when a good horse gets a good start, it helps to lengthen their show careers," she said.  
 
As far as her own career, Cecil hopes to be able to find another horse like Artful Move. She said it was a wonderful journey taking a horse that was unknown and proving him to the world.  She loves showing and loves the people she encounters. "It's the journey getting there, (accomplishing what you set out to) and the people you come across. It's so much fun when you have a good horse, be it a world champion or not," she said.  
  
*Records through 1996 show that Heidi Cecil is the only person to have exhibited both the high point and reserve high point open horse. A fire in 1995 destroyed prior records so there is no actual verification but most in the industry say Cecil is the first in history to acheive this.