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Sadly, Lynn Wessell passed away two months before Allionce's first major win, when Steve Heathcott showed Allionce to Scottsdale Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. Allionce then topped off the year by winning U.S. National Reserve Champion Futurity Colt at Albuquerque.

In May 1994, Jim Lowe started schooling Allionce under saddle and in October, he rode him to U.S. National Reserve Champion English Pleasure Junior Horse. They repeated the win in Albuquerque the following year after winning the National Championship in Canada.

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In 1996, Allionce debuted in pleasure driving, winning the Reserve Championship at Scottsdale. But he had to drop out of the show circuit right after Scottsdale, when he developed a fungal infection in his right eye. He spent several months confined to a dark stall while being treated and undergoing two surgeries. According to everyone who cared for him or was around him at the time, he took it all in stride.

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"Allionce never got depressed or angry about having to be medicated and, although he lost the sight in that eye, it hasn't affected his performance or attitude," says Toni Wessell. "It amazes me that he was able to tolerate all that without being affected."

His 1997 comeback to the show ring was an emotional one for those close to the horse. "Just to be able to show him again -- let alone be competitive -- overwhelmed me," says Jim Lowe. "I've never felt a horse trot as big as he did in his preliminary class at Scottsdale. I think Allionce has brought life back to the pleasure driving class -- I mean, how often do people run to watch the driving class? They did at Scottsdale.

"Everyone's looking for the next great stallion to sire the fine English-type horses we had years ago. But they just haven't found a horse that comes close to the style and grace that *Bask or Huckleberry Bey gave us. That is, not until Allionce."