Breeding horses might be viewed as work for some, but for Scott and Linda Berwick it is more like therapy.  Horses provide the Ottawa, Ontario couple with peace and fulfillment in an otherwise hectic and demanding life.

For the last 27 years, the Berwicks have owned and operated Scott Berwick Stairs Inc., which services the new residential construction industry by offering custom hardwood stairs and railings. They also operate Berwick Family Farms with their sons, Kyle and Alex, and raise top Western Pleasure prospects.

“Scott and I are probably categorized as workaholics,” Linda admitted. “We are either at the office, job site, field or the barn.”

Scott and Linda met as teenagers competing on the Quarter Horse show circuits and they just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in May.

Linda’s father, Roger Legault, introduced her to the love of horses.

“He was a perfectionist and his horses were impeccable on many levels, which explains why I had a successful youth career,” she said. “In my teen years, I could not get enough of horses and horse shows.”

Linda’s two youth horses were full siblings, Bea Mambo and Bee Line Mambo. At the age of 17, she won the Junior Western Pleasure at the Quarterama with Bea Mambo, then just a 3-year-old mare. Once Linda finished her Youth AQHA Championship she moved on to her full sister, Bee Line Mambo. They achieved numerous achievements, including a Youth AQHA Performance Championship, Top 5 placing in the nation in Showmanship and Top 10 honors in Horsemanship and Western Pleasure. At the end of her youth career, Linda attended the University of Ottawa, where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, something that has served her well in her role as controller of her family’s business.

Even in the early years, building their business into the success it enjoys now, the Berwicks never stopped being involved in show horses. Linda has enjoyed tremendous success on such decorated horses as Spice Machine, Whos Cheating Who and Real Hot N Spicey, who along with Huntin Cold Cash, The Candy Machine and Sweet Talking Spice are now the backbone of the Berwick breeding program. Some of the mares have Congress and/or World Champion titles, have placed in the top five in the Masters and others are Congress Champion and World Champion producers.

“Studying the conformation of our mares (in relation to) the upcoming studs, is one part of the horse industry that Scott enjoys,” Linda said. “We discuss and decide together which mares will get bred to which studs.  Every foaling year, is like Christmas for us.  We foal out our mares at home and we can’t wait to see which cross worked well.  We just love raising our foals and watch them interact with one another.  Scott is very critical of his own horses; he is never satisfied with what he has.  He has a very soft spot for pretty broodmares and he has a relentless drive to breed better horses.”

In 2016, a very special mare was added to the Berwick program when they purchased RR Abbeys Future, a bay mare with a show record herself, in foal to Only In The Moonlite, from Darryl Rodrock. They are especially excited about Lunamoon, Abby’s second foal by Only In The Moonlite. Born just a few days after the 2018 Super Bowl, this filly stood out from the others, Linda said.

“My sons decided to give her the barn name Nikki, after quarterback Nick Foles, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles,” Linda recalled. “Foles was the backup quarterback who famously lead his team to their first Super Bowl win.  Scott and I thought her barn name was perfect for her.”

As the months went on, the filly just got better and better and Linda knew she needed to find a name just as special.

“Being a foal by Only in the Moonlite, I wanted (the name) to have the word ‘moon’ in it.  Then while I was working at the office, I thought about a friend of mine and her daughter, who was named Luna.   Luna made me think of the French word ‘lune’ which in English is ‘moon.’ I then researched a few ideas online and came up with Lunamoon.”

As a yearling, Lunamoon continued to mature physically.

“She was big, strong, pretty and never in a hurry to get anywhere,” Linda explained.

The Berwicks liked her so much that they decided to enter her in the Tom Powers Futurity Yearling Stakes Sale, an event that has been quite successful for them in the past. Yearlings sold in the Stakes Sale are eligible to compete the following year, along with fellow sale graduates, in a 2-year-old Western Pleasure class with big cash payouts on the line.

“Every year, we nominate or sell some of our yearlings through the Powers Sale,” Linda said. “It is a great futurity, which we have found success in the past.

Sleepy N I Know It, sired by Too Sleepy To Zip and out of Spice Machine won the Sale Stakes Class in 2013 and Simply My Goodbar, sired by Zippos Mr Good Bar out of Simple Expectations won in 2014. The Berwicks also bred the 2019 winner, The Whoo, sired by The Lopin Machine and out of Whos Cheating Who.

When it came time to start Lunamoon under saddle, the Berwicks called upon Oklahoma trainer Angie Cannizzaro, who had won the 2-Year-Old Coughlin Open Western Pleasure Futurity with Whos Chasing Who, also sired by Only In The Moonlite but out of Whos Cheating Who.

“We love working with Angie,” Linda said. “She has a great program. We share the same work ethic.  Angie is a perfectionist, has a great eye for details and takes care of our horses as if they were her own.”

Angie started riding Lunamoon right after last year’s Congress and said the mare has been very willing to learn.

“Lunamoon was quite big bodied for her age and still is,” she said. “She has a pleasing look and I had hoped her training would be as good as her movement was.”

Cannizzaro said Lunamoon’s strengths are her movement, attitude and physical strength. She and the Berwicks had hoped to debut Lunamoon at this year’s Tom Powers Futurity in the Sale Stakes Class. That show has now been moved to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida in December so she will get started before the Powers now that maiden requirements for that class have been lifted. She will also hopefully be shown at the Quarter Horse Congress in October.

“Lunamoon is kind and a pleasure to be around,” Angie said. “She loves attention and likes to be the first horse to get outside every day. She loves to be ridden and challenged because physically and mentally, she can rise up to the daily training.”

The Berwicks take pride in the fact that each year they have been able to promote a 2 or 3-year-old from their breeding program. Last year Chasing Batterflies, a bay filly by Batt Man and out of Whos Cheating Who, was shown by Cannizzaro in 3-Year-Old Open and Novice Western Pleasure classes.  In a short time, she gained her superior in Green Western Pleasure; was Reserve Champion in multiple 3-year-old open Western Pleasure futurities and earned a National Snaffle Bit Association Reserve World Championship in the 3-Year-Old Intermediate Non-Pro Western Pleasure with Linda.  This year, in addition to Lunamoon, the Berwicks have several Western Pleasure prospects that will all be shown later in the year.

Guess Whoo, a stunning bay gelding by Only in the Moonlite and out of Whos Cheating Who is the Berwicks’ entry for the 2020 Coughlin 2-Year-Old futurity at the Congress. The Best Spice Yet, a 2018 fancy filly by RL Best of Sudden and out of Spice Machine, will be shown in the 2021 maiden/novice classes.

“She has a great look to her and she is just as talented as her siblings,” Linda said.

Both of these promising individuals are also in training with Cannizzaro.

“We have fun with Scott and Linda,” Cannizzaro said. “They are educated, realistic and wonderful to work with. Scott and Linda understand the horse industry. We’ve been friends for many years.”

That great relationship between trainer and owner has come in handy this year as the future of horse shows has been uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic that has locked much of the United States and Canada down since March.

Linda Berwick, however, has taken lemons and turned them into lemonade.

“I am grateful to be able to spend time with our two yearling fillies –  Whoos That Girl, (a gray filly sired by The Lopin Machine and out of Whos Cheating Who) and Spicy Martini Girl (a sorrel filly sired by The Best Martini and out of Spice Machine),” she explained. “They are both pretty cool and talented.”

The Berwicks also have three outstanding weanlings –  a full sister to Lunamoon; a gray filly by The Lopin Machine and out of Huntin Cold Cash; and another filly by The Best Martini out of a Spice Machine daughter.

“They are all adorable and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of them,” Linda said. “Watching our foals grow to become successful in the show arena, whether we owned them or they have moved on to another successful show program, is what we strive to achieve.”