Behind Kent Farrington’s extraordinary 2025 season—marked by nine five-star grand prix victories, seven of them aboard his mare Greya, and nearly $3 million in prize money, all of which has earned him a nomination for USEF International Equestrian of the Year—stands a tightly knit team led by groom Denise Moriarty. Over the years, the Irishwoman has cared for some of the most successful horses of Farrington’s career, including Uceko, Gazelle, Voyeur, Creedance, Austria 2, and now Greya, Toulayna, and their stablemates.

Having previously held the world No. 1 ranking from May 2017 to May 2018, Farrington returned to the top of the Longines Rankings in May 2025. We sat down with Moriarty during last month’s CHI Geneva (Switzerland)—where her boss won the $1.4 million Rolex Grand Prix and finished second in the Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final by the blink of an eye—to talk about her path into the profession, the realities of grooming at the sport’s highest level, and her perspective on an evolving industry.

For the past 16 years, Denise Moriarty—who celebrated her 38th birthday last November—has devoted her life to horses. Born in Ireland, where equestrian culture is deeply rooted, her journey into the profession began without family ties to horses.

“I didn’t grow up around horses. It’s not something my family is involved in at all,” she explained between rounds in Geneva. “I started riding when I was maybe 9 or 10, then I got a job at the local riding school.”

Before leaving Ireland, Moriarty pursued higher education, studying to become a veterinary nurse and earning her master’s degree. “When I finished college, I wanted to travel, but I couldn’t afford it. So I decided I’d go and work in America and travel that way,” she said. “I just enjoy the horses and being outdoors. I prefer a physical job; I find that a lot easier than sitting in an office.

Her first experience in the United States came at Raylyn Stables, where five-star show jumper Marilyn Little was just embarking on a foray into the eventing world that eventually took her to the top levels of that sport as well. It was there that she met Farrington, who rode horses for the operation at the time. In 2012, he offered her a place within his team—a partnership that has endured for more than a decade.

“When I joined Kent, I didn’t think our collaboration would last this long, but it’s been good,” the self-taught groom said. “I learned on the job, from the people I worked with, from my mistakes, and by observing my peers at the shows.”

A Longevity That Commands Respect

In a physically and mentally demanding profession marked by constant travel and long competition days—particularly during the European winter—Moriarty’s longevity stands out.

“This job can be tiring, but we take our downtime and take some time for ourselves, which helps us find balance,” she said, while acknowledging the sacrifices involved. “Horses require our full attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At competitions, like here in Geneva, it’s just me with them, so it’s up to me to manage everything.”

Her passion for the job, a cornerstone of this fast-paced life, has remained constant.

“Loving what you do and loving working with horses,” keeps a groom going, she said, before emphasizing the importance of balance. “I think the important thing is to realize when you’re starting to get tired or a little bit annoyed with it and then take a break before you get really annoyed with it. But you have to have a release, like something outside of work that’s for you, or something else that you also enjoy doing, so that your satisfaction doesn’t come just from the job.

“For myself, I like to run; it’s a good release,” she added. “But I always try and make time to go on vacation or just take time for myself. But for the most part, I just enjoy hanging out with my friends and just have a bit of ‘me’ time.”

Traveling Alongside Horses As A Way Of Life

“I miss Ireland,” Moriarty admitted. “It is a beautiful country, and I have friends and family there. But definitely, America’s also become home as well for me.”

Although based primarily in the U.S., Moriarty regularly travels to Europe—often alongside the horses themselves.

“I always like being with horses, no matter what the situation,” she said of flying with them. “It’s a long day, but it’s good to travel with them. Our horses obviously are used to flying, so they’re very good at it. But it’s always nice to be with them, especially when you’re coming to a competition like [Geneva], making sure that everything is done correctly.”

Farrington’s horses also frequently travel by air within North America, although the rules are different.

“If we do Vancouver in British Columbia, we’ll fly from Florida to Vancouver, and then every time we go to California for Santa Anita, Thermal, the horses will fly FedEx,” she said. “We [grooms] can’t go on a FedEx flight. They’re very particular about people. So it’s a little bit of a different way of doing it, but it’s a long trip by land, so the flight is definitely an easier option for the horses.

“In Europe, I don’t drive myself,” she added. “Kent prefers to hire a driver so that we’re not tired when we get to the show. I’m lucky I don’t have to drive.”

It is a privilege that all too few grooms enjoy. In Europe, most grooms spend their weekends traveling to competitions across the continent, without counting their hours, measuring their fatigue, or considering the mental strain involved in transporting animals of such sentimental and financial value.

Having lived and worked extensively on both continents, Moriarty sees strengths and weaknesses in each system.

“I obviously grew up with the European system, that’s what I learned originally. And I feel like there’s maybe a bit more camaraderie in the European system, because it very much is a family a bit more, because the system’s a little bit different,” she said, while noting practical advantages in the United States. “A lot of the times when we travel to shows in America, we stay at that location for maybe three weeks, and so it’s a little bit of a different scenario. But the convenience of America is that [business] hours are long, so at least when you finish work, you can still do something after work; the shops are still open, etc. Whereas in a lot of countries in Europe, by the time you finish work, everything’s closed.

“I think, regardless,” she added, “it is like a family: Everybody travels together, everybody watches out for each other. And I think that goes across the board, America and Europe.”

Having A Say On Grooms’ Working Conditions

Although she experienced Geneva on American time, meaning that the competition schedule didn’t cause her much trouble, Moriarty readily admits that the creation, or rather the enforcement, of stricter rules regarding competition schedules would be welcome.

“It’s too much,” she said. “It’s too many late nights in a row. Maybe once a week at an indoor show is fine, but every night can be a bit too much. They seem to forget that the riders and the public leave, but the grooms have to stay. We have to finish off the horses, which takes a while. And in the morning, we have to get up to feed them. That said, I always tell myself that if you’re going to do this job, do it, but do it right and see it through to the end.”

She also highlighted practical changes that could significantly improve working conditions, while noting that most events have started evolving in the right direction over the years.

“I would like to see an improvement in working hours, as well as in the facilities, which aren’t always ideal,” she said. “It’s always nice to have secure and clean stables, with adequate space to shower the horses. It’s important to have enough wash bays available, so that there aren’t 20 horses waiting their turn after a night class.

“These are small things that organizers can put in easily, and they make a big difference for us,” she continued. “Food is also an important issue. When it is accessible, and we don’t have to cross the entire venue to find it, it makes our lives so much easier.”

It is crucial for grooms to have a voice in the industry, she added.

“Most of the stewards I’ve met and am in contact with, especially in America, are all very open,” she said. “It’s important that the FEI representatives are accessible and willing to help and answer our questions. Otherwise, it becomes too much of a fight.”

Back To The Top

Within Farrington’s operation, Moriarty’s responsibilities extend well beyond daily horse care and ensuring the happiness of her four-legged companions in competition.

“I manage a lot of things around Kent’s sport horses,” she said. “I organize transportation, visits from the vet or farrier, and I’m also involved on a daily basis at home, whether it’s taking them out to turnout, the horse walker, or for riding sessions, etc.”

Watching Farrington reclaim the world No. 1 ranking in May was particularly meaningful for her and the whole Team KPF.

“It’s nice to be back in this position and to hold on to it for a little while,” she said with a smile. “It just shows that the work pays off. So yes, it’s a proud moment to be back on the top again. I think we can even keep this position. We have a good string of young horses coming up. We just took a small group of horses to Europe this year, and when we came back, these horses had a break while the young ones, the 9-year-olds, all got their chance to step up. And they were all amazing this summer.”

‘They Are Superstars‘

With seven and two victories in five-star grand prix events, respectively, and numerous additional placings, it must be said that Greya (Colestus—Contessa 128, Contender) and Toulayna (Toulon—Vuelta, Parco) have set an example for their younger companions.

Unsurprisingly, Farrington’s two top mares hold no secrets for Moriarty.

“They’re ladies. They’re very opinionated and ever so slightly spoiled,” she said with a laugh. “They have a lot of attitude, but it’s good. We like horses with big personalities. We really encourage that. They have a lot of fight in them, and it shows in the ring.

“Toulayna can act very grumpy, but she’s not nasty at all,” she added. “Yet if you go into the stall with her, you would think that she is mean. Greya just puts her ears back, but I think it’s just her thing. They’re very sweet horses, they’re just very much mares. When they’re tired, or they’re cranky, you just kind of got to leave them alone for a second. They’re both superstars.”

One Star Replaces Another, But The Spirit Lives On

In addition to Greya and Toulayna, Orafina (For Fashion—Corofina, Canturo) also played her part last season on the sporting scene, winning four international 1.50-meter events—and the heart of her groom.

“We have a lot of mares, a lot of girls!” Moriarty said with a laugh. “They’re all great. Orafina is 13 years old and has been super for us. We pick and choose the events she shows at, but she’s been a superstar mare for us as well. We have a lot of young horses coming up. We’ve got some very nice 8-year-old horses; they’re starting to grow their personalities a little bit more. It’ll be exciting to see them grow.”

Last year, Moriarty also looked after Myla, who was recently sold to Stella Wasserman. Landon de Nyze, with whom Farrington won team gold and individual silver at the 2023 Pan American Games (Chile) had left before her, moving on to Daniel Bluman and Over The Top Stables LLC.

In nearly 15 years, as horses move on through retirement or sale, Moriarty has learned to embrace change. Reflecting on former partners such as Uceko, Gazelle and Voyeur, she emphasized Farrington’s commitment to his horses’ long-term well-being.

“We’re lucky with Kent. He’s always very fair to the horses,” she said. “When he starts to feel that they’re struggling to jump, or they just don’t have the same horse that they used to, he’s very good at calling it and retiring them so that they are healthy and happy when they go to the field. And those horses that have done a lot for us and been great for us, we always make sure that they’re very well taken care of in their retirement.

“Some are sold; it’s part of the business as well,” she added. “It is sad to see them go, but it’s always nice to see them do good. For example, Landon, whom we sold at the beginning of the year, has just won a big class in California. You want them to do well in their new home.”

Looking ahead, Moriarty sees herself remaining in the sport. In 10 years’ time, “I won’t be traveling to every show, but for sure I’ll still be connected with the horses.”

The post The Woman Behind The World No. 1: Inside Denise Moriarty’s Life appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

FEI Level III course designer Oscar Soberon (USA) presented a careful and technical track for the opening grand prix. The course proved demanding, with just six combinations producing clear first rounds to advance to the jump-off.

Canada’s Sean Jobin was first to return for the short course, guiding the 10-year-old Selle Français mare Grande Dame DK to a quick, clear round in 45.096 seconds to set the early pace.

Ireland’s Darragh Kerins followed with Lissino, but their effort came up just short in 45.723 seconds. December’s $75,000 Grand Prix winner, Lauren Balcomb of Australia, entered the ring with Verdini D’Houtveld Z and looked poised to take the lead, stopping the clock in a blazing 41.205 seconds before a heartbreaking rail at the final fence ended her bid.

Tracy Fenney and the coming 15-year-old Danish Warmblood mare MTM Apple (Favorit Ask—Kong’s Whopsie) were next to challenge the time. Fenney delivered an even quicker round to move into the lead with a clear 43.970 seconds.

Kady Abrahamson gave the track a strong effort aboard Coquelicot Vh Heuvelland Z, but their time of 47.990 seconds came up short. 

As the rain began to fall, Farrington entered the ring last with Descartes, debuting the partnership. “He’s a new ride for me,” Farrington explained. “Francisco Pasquel called me and said he has an unbelievable horse in Mexico for me, and said I had to come and ride it. So, I flew to Mexico to ride the horse and here we are.”

With limited mileage as a pair, Farrington kept his jump-off plan simple. “He has a giant stride and a great canter, so I just trusted it and did my round,” he said.

That trust paid off as Descartes galloped effortlessly around the short course, stopping the clock clear in 43.338 seconds to take over the top spot on the leaderboard. 

Looking ahead, Farrington is excited about the 9-year-old Mexican Sport Horse gelding’s future. “He has incredible scope and a lot of power. He has tons of experience competing in Mexico on sand and on grass. They have a lot of great courses and similar material that WEC uses here, so that helped in my confidence to bring him here and jump this week,” he said.

Farrington also highlighted the unique atmosphere WEC provides for developing young horses. “The jumps here are really impressive. They’re kind of championship-style fences, which is why I like to bring my young horses here to compete. There’s also a lot of atmosphere. It’s a great way to produce young horses under the lights,” he said. “My favorite part about coming here is that it’s great for the horses. There’s a lot of space, the ground is great, and it’s a super environment.”

Click here for full results.

The post Farrington Debuts New Ride In $75,000 Adequan National Grand Prix Win appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Growing up the youngest sibling and a girl in her 1960s suburb, Engle was determined to fit in with her brothers and the older neighborhood kids. She refused to be sidelined, even when that meant lifting her brothers’ weights to toughen up for football, or spending hours drilling her tennis swing.

“The middle [brother], who’s about seven years older than me, wouldn’t let me play sports with him and the other kids unless I got better at it,” Engle said. “So I remember I would practice every day, throwing a baseball through a tire until I got good enough, and I would practice playing tennis against the garage door until I got good enough.”

Engle says that her parents had long hoped for a girl, and after years of waiting, they were delighted to finally bring home a sister to their 7- and 8-year-old boys. Engle’s father, Irv Goldstein, was an accountant, and her mother, Mona Pastroff Goldstein, was a teacher; they were even-tempered people who were surprised that their doted-on baby girl grew into an independent, adventurous child.

“[My mother] was so excited to have a little girl, and then I ended up being a little tomboy,” Engle said, laughing. “And my mother is not like that at all. She’s very much a lady.”

As a child, Engle lamented a bit of bad luck: Her mother worked at the school where she was a student. That meant that every time she accepted a dare from her classmates, like jumping into the nearby canals (“there were gators around the area”), her mom would hear about her daughter’s hijinks.

“Unfortunately for me, I was a bit of a class clown, and they would dare me to do things in school,” she said. “I would get in trouble at school, and I said, ‘The other kids’ parents don’t find out, because they’re not teaching there!’ ”

While Engle was fearless and competitive from an early age, she also was instinctively tender toward animals. Her mother joked that when she grew up, she would be free to start her own zoo. But as a child, Engle collected a menagerie of pets discovered around the neighborhood, including a brood of ducklings that imprinted on her and would follow her every step.

“Since I was a little kid, I loved animals,” Engle said. “My poor mom and dad—I would bring home every stray cat, dog, rabbit. I hatched baby ducks; we even had toads, hamsters. I mean any kind of animal, I would bring home.”

She even refused to leave a nest of new baby mice whose mother had been killed by a cat, insisting to her parents that she bring them home to raise. They relented, but as the “mice” grew older, they looked less and less innocent.

“As they got bigger, I found out they were starting to turn into rats,” Engle said. “My dad said, ‘You can’t keep rats!’ So I took them out to a field and let them go. I was so upset. I didn’t want them to go to a pet shop to be fed to the snakes.”

The Barn That Built Her

For Engle, no obsession came close to what she felt about horses. Trucks would visit local neighborhoods with a bed full of saddled ponies for children to sit on and take pictures. Engle handed over all her babysitting money for these first pony rides and knew she had to convince her cautious parents that if they would only let her take real lessons, she would be careful.

“I think they were most worried about me getting hurt, first of all, and secondary, just the expense of it,” she said. “They finally gave in and said they could afford to do one lesson a week. But they didn’t really want me to jump. They wanted me to just ride on the flat.”

When Engle followed a friend to her lesson at Robert and Dorothy Kramer’s Gladewinds Farm, she came home begging her parents to ride there. Her parents conceded to a once-a-week lesson, but soon, even that wasn’t enough to sate Engle’s growing passion.

“As soon as I started riding—I tend to overdo everything—I wanted to do it all the time,” she said. She set her hallmark determination on figuring out how to increase her saddle time, begging the Kramers to allow her to do chores around the farm, like cleaning the dog kennels, to earn more lessons.

Soon, Engle graduated from kennel chores to training rides. She had developed a reputation at Gladewinds that was much like her reputation in the neighborhood and at school: She was fearless.

“I didn’t mind falling off,” she said. To Engle’s delight, her skill and daring had the Kramers putting her on their most difficult ponies; the tricky rides were always the ones she liked best.

“The first pony I was obsessed with was Garnet, and she was very stubborn, and she dumped almost everyone. That was my favorite pony,” Engle said. “Mrs. Kramer said, ‘Well, [Garnet] finally found her match. She found someone as stubborn as she is!’ ”

The day that she was finally able to make it through an entire lesson on Garnet without getting tossed, Dorothy celebrated by buying her a cold Coke from the machine. Engle remembers the treat as one of her first trophies.

The Kramers quickly became Engle’s “second parents,” and they made their barn a home away from home. They bought Engle her first saddle, and she wore their children’s hand-me-down riding clothes to save money. And the focus wasn’t just on horse shows; she and her barnmates would have gymkhana days, ride bareback in the pastures, and have sleepovers on the hay bales. Dorothy would wake the kids up from their slumber parties with a delivery of donuts and hot chocolate. The Kramers’ children, and the other friends Engle made there, remained her friends for life.

Most of Kramers’ lesson horses were voice-trained and well behaved, and the ones that weren’t yet kid-safe went to Engle to school. The Kramers bred ponies at Gladewinds that Engle learned to start, and Robert taughtthe young rider to approach those projects with kindness and intention.

“Everything we did just very slowly and gradually,” she said. “He would explain that patience and that never losing your temper is one of the most important things with horses, and to make sure that they understand what you’re asking of them.” Engle naturally grew into a role more like an assistant trainer than student.

She was regularly competing for Gladewinds and would even transport their sale horses on her own, pulling a trailer once she got her driver’s license at 16. She rode everything from the Kramers’ homebred ponies to off-track Thoroughbreds.

And her small size was a riding superpower: At shows, she could easily swap between the ponies and horses.

“In my last couple of years as a junior, I remember Mrs. Kramer would make me change; I had jodhpurs and garter straps for the ponies … I switched to tall boots when I rode the horses in the equitation, and I was doing the jumpers, too,” she said. “I remember, so I’d look younger, she wanted me in pigtails and garter straps and paddock boots for ponies.”

Engle’s parents trusted the Kramers and were very supportive, despite their initial hesitation about the dangers of the sport. But they couldn’t offer Engle a horse of her own. She loved working on the difficult project horses, although they often sold as soon as she’d get them going well. That wasn’t the case with one horse, Holly, that Robert bought on a discount due to her stopping problem. The mare didn’t go happily for anyone other than Engle. But Holly’s sourness had an upside: She became the only horse that was just for Engle.

“Within a year, I did her first in the equitation and the hunters to start to get her going with confidence back,” she said. “I ended up doing her in the junior jumpers and open jumpers. I just really built a bond with her, and he couldn’t have sold her because she was very difficult.

“Actually, I kind of liked whenever we would switch riders in the equitation,” Engle added with a chuckle. “She was usually really bad with whoever got on her.”

When the Kramers took on Engle as a rider, they couldn’t know that the little girl who loved the problem ponies would go on to become an Olympian. But the nurturing they gave her in those early years is something she carries with her to this day—both in her riding, and in name. Sadly, Dorothy developed terminal bone cancer when Engle was a teenager. She still calls it one of the hardest losses she’s ever had.

“The one thing she asked me is to please keep the name,” Engle said of her last talks with a bedridden Dorothy. “She asked me if I could keep the name going, and I’ve kept that name for the farm I have up in Wellington [Florida] now, Gladewinds Farm, out of respect for them.”

Living Her Daydream

Because Engle’s parents were academic, they encouraged their daughter to attend college after high school, rather than jump straight into the unpredictability of a riding career. They admired her passion but wanted it tempered with a diploma.

“I think being from a family that’s not horse-oriented, it kept me grounded,” Engle said. For her, that degree would turn out to be more than a failsafe; it helped her navigate the logistics and finances of riding professionally.

Through her college years, she continued to train and compete while chipping away at college credits. After graduating from Florida International University with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in business education, she could finally jump back into horses full time—and then some.

“I was probably riding between 70 and 75 rounds a day,” she said, adding that she even ruptured discs in her spine from the grind of constant riding.

She jokes that because she was “desperate enough” for tough horses, she caught the attention of dealers with unproven prospects. When one sent a few sale horses to 26-year-old Engle, including a young and green Daydream, Engle knew the horse had something special that she wanted to see through.

“As a 6-year-old, he was already starting to do grand prix [classes] and getting a lot of attention,” Engle said. “I knew he was going to get sold, and because everything else had gotten sold so quickly, and he was one of the most special ones I had had up to that point, my father helped me put a prospectus together. We went to a lawyer.”

Engle and her father set up a syndicate for the horse, so that finally, with the benefit of part ownership, she could develop a partnership without fear of losing the ride.

“I put everything in that I had at the time, which wasn’t very much. But I owned probably one part of his tail or something,” she said.

Almost immediately, their relationship was a winning one. Up to that point, Engle had already been very successful in the hunter ring, riding a few high-profile horses for big clients, including Sneak Preview, whom Engle remembered was shortly thereafter “one of the most expensive horses ever sold at the time.” But with Daydream, she was finally show jumping at the level she’d wanted to for years.

“I won my first grand prix on him,” Engle said of their 1986 debut. “I got to go to Madison Square Garden [New York] with him, and he won the first open international class we went in there, and he helped me be Leading Rider there. He was the first nice jumper I got to keep for any length of time.”

With the aptly named horse, she went on to win three grand prix classes in their first year together. The pair also became fixtures in puissance classes, where Engle and Daydream regularly cleared 7′ walls while onlookers held their breath. In a single season in 1991, the pair swept the indoor puissance circuit, winning events in New York, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

From their first wins together, the gutsy rider on the large gray stallion turned heads. Engle’s success with Daydream snowballed into more opportunities.

“Through him, by people seeing me starting to do the bigger divisions and do well, then I started getting sent a lot more horses to train up to that level,” she said. “That’s when [Jacob] Freidus sent me all those [horses] like Saluut [II] and Sebastian. He sent me five or six.”

Engle’s longtime friend and teammate Leslie Howard met her when they were both competing horses in their late teens or early 20s. She said that even during this busy time when Engle was bouncing from horse to horse, class to class, she was impressed with the way the rider still took time to develop a relationship with each animal.

“Besides being so competitive and such a great rider, she really is a great horsewoman,” Howard said. “She really cares about the horses; she is detailed about their care. She’s not just a professional who gets on and rides.”

Engle had been entrusted with this new, talented batch of Freidus’ young horses, and she invested time into each one. But “Saluut” would stand out for the almost telepathic bond the horse and rider shared.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had as much of a rapport with any horse,” Engle said of him. “I would just think something, and he would do it.

“He wasn’t the scopiest horse in the world, but he was so careful, and he was such a trier and had so much heart,” she continued. “He would turn himself inside out to miss the jumps.”

At the time, Engle rode with a groundman, John “Spank” Deemer, who was known to offer bold—and borderline reckless—suggestions to clip time from her rounds. Saluut didn’t blink at his pilot’s requests.

“When you’re young, you don’t know the difference,” Engle said. “[Deemer] would tell me to do these crazy turns and crazy leave-outs, and Saluut would try everything and anything. He never said ‘no.’ ”

With Saluut, Engle made her way onto her first U.S. team, competing at the 1989 Nations Cup in Toronto, where the pair were the anchor that solidified the team’s gold. It was a performance that announced Engle’s arrival on the international stage. All told, the pair ticked off more than 20 grand prix wins and amassed over $400,000 in prizes.

An Accidental Trademark

The petite Engle earned a reputation for riding large horses—like nearly 17-hand Saluut and 18-hand Dicas—who looked even more imposing because of her own petiteness. But Engle insists that big horses are her specialty by coincidence, not preference.

“To be honest, the smaller, more sporty types usually just ended up getting sold quicker, because they’re easier to ride,” she said. “There’s a lot of really top, smaller horses that I had, but they got sold quickly.”

Howard also noticed that Engle received the most attention for her larger mounts. But she remembers one of her smaller partners, Hidden Creek’s Laurel, as a favorite. The duo made the U.S. team for a European Nations Cup tour in 1997.

“That was a lovely horse—very light, a real Thoroughbred type,” Howard said of the mare. “I think the mare ‘Laurel’ was a little bit more delicate, and it was just a very pretty match to watch.”

On that tour, Engle and Laurel, a Dutch Warmblood (De La Chance—Deja Vue, Uron) owned by Hidden Creek Farm, helped the U.S. team secure victory in the FEI Nations Cup series, and Engle landed her first five-star win in the Grand Prix of Rome. The mare wasn’t big or flashy, and so she remains one of the more underrated stars of Engle’s career.

“Laurel was probably one of the nicest mares I ever had,” Engle said. “She went around almost like a hunter and just light.”

In contrast, Engle’s Olympic partner, Hidden Creek’s Perin, stepped firmly into the spotlight when the pair made the team for the 2000 Sydney Games. The rider remembers that “Perin,” a Westphalian (Pageno—Garbe, Gotthard), was actually fairly new to the top level when they earned their spot on the U.S. team against more experienced partnerships.

“He had not had that much show experience, but he had so much raw talent and power and scope,” Engle said. “He hadn’t done many jump-offs and things like that, but he was one of the scopiest and most talented horses I’ve ever ridden—just sheer power.”

She was also thrilled to make it to the top with a horse who was as kind as he was talented.

“Even before he started doing as well as he did, he was one of the sweetest horses I’d ever been around,” she said. “He was just like a big puppy dog. I’ve never had a horse—even to this day—that never pinned his ears for anything. He never pinned his ears for feeding time or putting the girth on. There was nothing you could do to make him be mad.”

In the spring season before that summer Olympics, Perin had never jumped courses at the level of those in the Olympic trial competitions, and yet, “he ended up winning the whole trials,” Engle said.

In Sydney, the duo finished 10th individually and helped Team USA to their sixth-placed finish. “In the Olympics, he just got better and better,” she said. “He was always trying to learn, ‘What do you want me to do?’ ”

The pair went on to help the U.S. team earn gold and finish third individually at the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic. Just a few years later, with Quervo Gold, she contested the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games held in Aachen, Germany, where the U.S. team took silver.

Engle has jumped in 17 FEI World Cup Finals, the most recent being in 2012 with Indigo.

And Engle has remained a fixture in the show jumping world into her 50s and 60s, still piloting her signature powerhouse partners around massive courses. In the early 2010s, she forged a particularly successful partnership with Royce, a good-natured Oldenburg (Café Au Lait—Petula, Grandilot) stallion “built like a fullback,” with whom Engle won multiple big-purse grand prix classes, including five-star grand prix classes. On Engle’s 60th birthday, they topped the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* in Wellington.

“He always had a ton of jump and was very brave,” Engle said of Royce, who has lived at her Gladewinds Farm since his retirement at 19.

Her partnership with Dicas, a Rhinelander (Diarado—Viktoria XVII, San Patrignano Cassini) gelding owned by Virginia T. Bartholomay, Selma Garber, Gladewinds Partners and Show Horses Inc., adds another chapter to her long history of producing successful—and oversized—jumpers.

The more-than-18-hand horse turns 16 this year and joined her string eight years ago. She knows he’s not a “championship-type horse,” but he’s been a reliable, competitive partner at home and overseas. Her wins with him are a testament to knowing her horses and producing them to the best of their abilities.

“He’s won quite a bit,” Engle said. “He’s won classes at Aachen, and he won at Paris. He’s won at a lot of five-star horse shows: Hamburg [Germany], Berlin, Knokke [Belgium]. He’s won all over Europe.”

A Life Bigger Than The Show Ring

As Engle’s horses found success and her riding career took off, so did another partnership: She met her husband, equine veterinarian Steve Engle, during her first year of college when she was catch riding horses at Tropical Park in Miami.

Steve had just graduated from veterinary school at Texas A&M and was working at the show but was distracted by the young woman riding a nonstop stream of horses.

“Later he said, ‘I would see this little girl go from one horse to the next, to the next. I never saw your feet hit the ground,’ ” Margie said.

The pair immediately hit it off on a tennis date with other horse show friends that rolled right into bowling that evening—a fitting double-header for the young woman who never stopped going. The couple dated for a few years while Margie was often on the road and called things off for a few years until her schedule settled. When they reunited and married, their shared passion for horses became a cornerstone of their partnership—both personally and professionally. But even if Steve was hands-on with Margie’s string of horses, he also helped her develop a rich life outside of competition.

“He would come to the house, and I’d be on the phone, talking business with the owners the whole time,” she said with a laugh. “I was really obsessed, and I wouldn’t take any days off. You have to learn to make changes, but he was very patient with me. And he loves the horses.”

Margie, now 67, says that the couple didn’t have children of their own because of their travel-intensive careers, but they both love kids and stayed close with her older brothers and their families, often visiting with her nieces and nephews.

“If you’ve ever seen her around little kids, she’s so cute with them; she teases them and plays games with them,” Howard said. “Kids absolutely adore her and want to be around her. It’s cute to watch her with young, upcoming kids and riders. She’s obviously very encouraging.”

While Margie is self-admittedly “obsessive” about the horses, she also knows how to have fun. The rider, who was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2020 and has earned more than $4 million in prize money, is not above playing for smaller stakes; she has a penchant for poker and plays with Steve and a group of friends in Wellington each week.

Howard jokes that she got to see Margie’s gambling prowess firsthand when the two riders were teammates on the U.S. squad at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. What Howard remembers best from that trip isn’t their silver-medal podium finish.

“We all went to a racetrack, and there was one race that we were going to bet on, and I think she bet on every single horse in the field,” Howard recalled, laughing. “She put money on all the horses, not just one or two or three. We really couldn’t figure out quite the strategy of that; she just made it funny and entertaining.”

That sense of humor and ease, Howard said, made Margie a joy to have as a friend and teammate. “It’s just a very relaxed environment when Margie’s on the team with you. Nothing’s ever dramatic,” she said. “Everything’s easy and everything’s fun.”

Margie’s loyalty to her teammates showed up in quieter, more personal moments too.

“If she’s your friend, she’s so thoughtful and caring,” Howard said. “At the National Horse Show at [Lexington] Kentucky, I had a fall and bumped my head, and they carted me off in the ambulance. So Margie followed the ambulance, and she stayed with me. She stayed with me until 1 in the morning, until she knew I was OK, and they ended up releasing me.

“Who does that?” Howard said. “Things like that, you don’t forget.”

Perhaps it’s not so surprising when you consider Margie’s beginnings. The undersized girl from Miami who rescued ducklings and risked life and limb to make her classmates laugh would grow into her towering career—one marked by fierce competitiveness but also a quiet generosity and contagious sense of fun.

The post Living Legend: Margie Engle appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“Standing up there, I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m standing next to these two people,’ ” Wireman said. “Basically, that’s a win in my book, because I’m standing next to two multi-Olympians on the podium out of a jump-off that was a very stacked field of 11 people. To have pulled my way through that jump off-to end up third—it was crazy. I was like, ‘This is not happening.’ ”

Wireman rose to the top three of the 35-pair class on Barclino B, a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Constanzehof’s Barcley—La Siena B, Lasino) owned by Wireman Investment Group. The 21-year-old’s podium finish next to show jumping legends was a milestone for her and “Barry,” who has stepped into top-level company alongside Wireman over the past year.

Naomi Sedgwick, a filmmaker who has spent the past two years following the rider’s journey for an upcoming documentary, “Jumpers,” also felt the emotional weight of that surreal podium moment. Each time she watches Wireman enter the ring, Sedgwick sees a full narrative arc of her story: the highs and lows of her self-made program.

“I had tears in my eyes,” Sedgwick said of watching that prize-giving ceremony. “And I don’t think anyone really thought that she would be at the podium last week behind McLain and Laura, but I know she wants it, and I know she believes in herself. I think that is so inspiring. Maybe you could think, ‘Oh, that’s an impossible dream that she has,’ but she believes in it so much, and she really makes it happen for herself.”

When Sedgwick first began considering making a film about a rising equestrian, she knew she wanted to tell a very specific kind of story. Like many young riders, Sedgwick herself had been competitive until her teen years, when the sport’s financial realities forced her to step away. She wondered what a path to the top might look like for an athlete without substantial resources.

“I wanted to tell a story that was an inspiration to myself and kind of a movie for what I wish I saw as a junior,” Sedgwick said. “I stopped riding at 15 because I was priced out of the sport, and now as an adult I was like, ‘What if I didn’t give up on my dreams? What if I found another way, despite getting priced out?’ ”

Sedgwick was introduced to Wireman, then 19, as a rider whose career embodied that decision. She’d found a way to stay in the sport many riders leave behind, and the answer wasn’t glamorous. It was work. 

The filmmaker remembers the crew’s first day filming, where they had planned a simple day-in-the-life at a show at Galway Downs (California). They met her at 7 a.m., though Wireman had already been working for hours. She showed all day—riding her own horses and catch riding for others—then she had four entries in the grand prix that night. After winning the U25 class and finishing the prize-giving after 11 p.m., the teen went straight back to work, unbraiding horses, breaking down her tent, packing tack, and loading up for the drive home—all without a groom.

“My crew was exhausted,” Sedgwick laughs. “They were like, ‘Are we done yet?’ ”

For Wireman, that grind isn’t something to be endured. The long days and late nights are part of the dream she’s been chasing since childhood. In “Jumpers,” that dream picks up unexpected momentum. Sedgwick’s film follows Wireman’s road to the 2024 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Finals (Saudi Arabia) with her gelding, Tornado, where the pair made the top 10 on opening night. 

Wireman said that it’s been special to have the evolution of her partnership with Tornado (Diarado—Chiquitita, Chacco-Blue) captured on film. 

“He was the one that I developed my own riding career with as he was growing, too,” Wireman said. “He was young. He had never done it; I had never done it, and we got to grow together, which is really fun. He’s definitely a very instrumental part in that big stepping stone in my career of moving up to that level and competing in these five-star classes.”

When Sedgwick first proposed the project, there was no certainty as to where the film would follow Wireman and Tornado. And pursuing the World Cup Finals was—like Wireman’s decision to open her life to a camera—a leap of faith. 

“When I started, there weren’t even any conversations that she would get to the World Cup,” Sedgwick said. “So when she got to the World Cup in 2024 and had that top-10 finish on that first day, I was crying for her. … I don’t think anyone thought that her and Tornado would have had that top-10 finish that day.” 

Wireman said the trajectory of her partnership with Tornado had shifted unexpectedly when she was injured ahead of Young Riders. She had already jumped a handful of two-star classes with Tornado, a Swedish Warmblood gelding she had recently taken on from her friend Nick Haness. With the change in her timeline, Wireman turned her focus toward Tornado and she began building a Plan B.

“They all thought I was crazy, but I said, ‘I’m gonna jump the World Cup qualifier instead,’ ” Wireman laughed. “And they’re like, ‘Well OK, you’ve never jumped a 1.55-meter class, so let’s just try 1.60-meters? That’s fine!’ ” 

As the pair gathered momentum, she quickly pulled together a team to buy Tornado ahead of the deciding World Cup qualifier. 

“That was a much bigger stage and going to be a bigger track,” Wireman said. “It was a bit more of a test for both of us, having never done it before. So we got a group of family friends together that helped loan us the money to buy him, basically.

“I never imagined, at 19, I would be doing a World Cup Final and getting a ribbon the first day,” she added.  

From Sedgwick’s viewfinder, seeing Wireman’s success on the world stage has been an unexpected thrill. But still, some of her favorite scenes from filming happened on the days they spent at home at Chestnut Hills Equestrian in Bonsall, California, where Wireman was once again just a teen enjoying her horses.  

“It was really cute to see this really high level horse following her around in Bonsall, literally just following her around,” Sedgwick said of seeing Tornado trail Wireman without a halter. “Like, he loves her so much. I’ve never seen that; it was legitimately like watching a dog.”

Wireman says that for all the demanding days, the benefit of being so hands-on with her horses comes through in how her horses show up for her, whether it’s a bareback ride on property or a jump-off on the other side of the world.

“I think after doing so much stuff in the barn with them and always just spending so much time with them, we have that very close relationship and feeling of, we’re a team, and we can do anything when we’re together,” Wireman said.

“I have a lot of faith and belief in my horses,” she continued. “On Tornado I was like, I feel like I can jump a mountain on this horse. He believes in me and I believe in him, and together we can do anything. So it’s a very good feeling to have mentally to have that trust.”

The 16-minute short documentary will have its first screening on the evening of Jan. 22 at Desert International Horse Park. Sedgwick’s vision has evolved alongside Wireman’s accelerating career. Wireman continues to compete Tornado at the CSI5* level—the pair contested CSI5* Grand Prix classes on the Major League Show Jumping circuit at Desert International Horse Park in December—while also bringing along emerging horses like Barry, and sustaining her established partnership with Citoki (Catoki—Miyaki, Chambertin) who remains competitive at 19-years-old.

Sedgwick plans to expand the project into a feature-length documentary, widening the lens to include Wireman’s other partnerships and following the rider over the next several years as she turns her focus toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

As before, there’s no script for where Wireman is heading.

“I think there is so much drama that happens in the real life sport,” Sedgwick said. “You can’t write anything as good as what happens.”

To learn more about the film, click here.

The post Skylar Wireman Steps Into the Spotlight In The Ring And On Film appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“Explosion has been the horse of a lifetime—I always knew he had something special—an incredible will to win and a presence that captured everyone’s attention,” Maher said. “We have shared some unforgettable moments together, and it feels right to celebrate his retirement in front of a home crowd at the London International Horse Show.”

Short but intense, Explosion W’s career will remain unforgettable. Under Maher’s saddle, the Dutch Warmblood (Chacco-Blue—Untouchable, Baloubet Du Rouet) won no fewer than nine five-star grand prix and claimed three medals at major championships, including the ultimate title of individual Olympic champion. Recovering since his last international outing in June 2023, the chestnut officially ended his sporting career on Sunday, bidding farewell to his fans during a ceremony that celebrated both his achievements and his enduring legacy.

The suspense lingered until the final announcement, but the decision was clear: Explosion W, now 16, would not return to the competition arena. Injured during the CSIO5* Grand Prix in La Baule, France, in June 2023, the Tokyo Olympic champion officially said goodbye during the London World Cup stage.

“He’s in great condition; he could have been here today jumping the World Cup, but he’s done everything for us,” Maher said after the emotional ceremony. “He has nothing more to give, and it’s better to go out on a high like this and give him the retirement and the life that he deserves.”

Born in the Netherlands at Willy Wijnen’s stud farm, Explosion W was by Chacco-Blue and out of Uarina, known in sport as Untouchable, a daughter of Baloubet du Rouet who competed at 1.45 meters and jumped up to 1.60 meters with the Netherlands’ Leon Thijssen. Even as a foal, the chestnut stood out.

“He had incredible energy; he was inexhaustible. It was impossible to let him jump at liberty because he was uncontrollable!” Wijnen told Breeding News in 2021.

Tristan Tucker and Will Rogers were the first to channel the gelding’s fiery spirit, getting him started under stable and setting him on the path toward a top-level career. Ridden at four by Dutch rider Thijs Meulemeesters, Explosion W then returned to the pasture before resuming his education with Netherlands’ Mariëlle de Veer at ages 5 and 6. He was later sold to Poden Farms in the United Kingdom, and thus crossed the Channel in 2016.

Maher first presented Explosion W at international level in July 2016 in Knokke, Belgium. The gelding continued his development under the saddles of U.S. rider Carly Anthony, Sweden’s Daniel Zetterman, and Britain’s Emily Mason. After producing two clear rounds with Mason in his first Nations Cup appearance at the CSIO4* Wellington in early 2018, Explosion W joined Maher’s stable permanently in April of that year.

Freshly turned 9, Explosion W finished second in his first five-star Grand Prix in Shanghai before winning the following one in Madrid. The machine was up and running. The pair quickly established themselves as icons of their generation, with memorable duels against the other greats of their era, Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward, propelling Maher and his chestnut partner to idol status.

Fast, powerful, and relentlessly efficient, the son of Chacco-Blue was a force. Following his Madrid victory, Explosion W went on to win in Rome, Italy, and Doha, Qatar, two further legs of the Longines Global Champions Tour. To this day, he remains the highest-rated 9-year-old horse ever according to Equiratings—and the only horse in modern show jumping history to win three major CSI5* events at that age. In his first season at the top level, he placed in every five-star grand prix he contested, including Paris and Chantilly, France; Geneva, Switzerland; and Prague.

At 10, Explosion W maintained his momentum in 2019. Second in Doha and Estoril, Portugal, he won the Prix de l’Europe in Aachen, Germany, and finished third in the Rolex Grand Prix at the same venue, widely regarded as the sport’s most iconic competition, behind Gazelle (Kent Farringon) and Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z (Daniel Deusser). Two weeks later, he dominated the Longines Global Champions Tour stop in London and went on to contest the European Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he claimed individual silver and team bronze.

Success continued to follow. Explosion W added a second victory in Rome, along with wins in New York City and Prague. At the end of the season, he was acquired by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright, longtime supporters of Maher. His 2020 campaign was nearly blank, limited to a few appearances in Wellington, Florida, as COVID-19 shut down shows around the world. Returning cautiously in early 2021, Explosion W soon regained top form, winning the LGCT in Valkenswaard, Netherlands, and the CSI5* Rolex Grand Prix (Great Britain).

In August 2021, Explosion W and Maher were crowned individual Olympic champions, forever etching their names into the history of the sport. That triumph was followed by a fourth-place finish in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen and, in December, victory in the Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final in Geneva.

“He’s obviously hugely talented, athletic, naturally fast, but it’s his character, his fight to win when he goes in the ring,” that stands out most to Maher, who called Explosion his “horse of a lifetime.” “He fought for me all of the time. There in Tokyo, there was a lot of pressure. He goes in as a favorite after winning a lot of grand prix [classes], and that’s not so easy to follow through, but the confidence that he gives you—and he really knew that week, he knew what he was there to do.”

After such a meteoric rise, Explosion W’s incredible run gradually drew to a close. In 2022, he competed in only three CSI events, finishing fourth and 10th in the Stockholm Grand Prix Table A and placing again in the Rolex Grand Prix in Aachen. Following another extended break, he returned in May 2023 with a runner-up finish in the Windsor five-star grand prix before heading to La Baule, where his career came to an abrupt and emotional halt.

Injured on landing from a jump, the chestnut left the arena in an ambulance as Maher looked on through tears. A video showing Explosion W jumping again in August 2024 briefly raised hopes of a comeback, but those hopes would not be realized.

Though his career was shorter than many might have wished, Explosion W’s impact is undeniable. With nearly $3.5 million in prize money, according to Jumpr data, and a 71% clear-round rate at 1.60 meters and above across 63 rounds, the grandson of Baloubet du Rouet will remain one of the most memorable horses of his generation.

Explosion will retire to Maher’s yard in England, where he still gets ridden several times a week and get to “do whatever he wants to do,” the rider said.

“He’s not just a horse,” Maher said. “He’s my friend.”

The post Explosion W Retired in Emotional Farewell at London International Horse Show appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.