“This is the one I’ve been aiming to win for years,” Kent Farrington said after topping the Rolex Grand Prix at the CHI Geneva aboard Gazelle. “I came close a couple of times, and I am so happy at having won here in Geneva today. My horse jumped incredibly and the crowd was amazing, really supportive.

“I am overjoyed, but to be honest I am still in a state of shock. I have been trying to win this grand prix for so long,” Farrington said. “Now that I have finally done it, I find it hard to believe that it really is all over, and that I left the show as the winner. It has brought the year to a fantastic close for me!”

Watch their winning jump-off here:

The 36-year-old can now take on the ultimate challenge in equestrian sport, the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping: The rider who wins three majors in succession goes down in history as a Grand Slam Champion and picks up a bonus of one million Euros. “That’s a tall order and I am going to try my best,” said Farrington with a view to the coming Grand Slam legs. The journey continues for him in March at The Dutch Masters at s’Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands on March 8-11, when he will strive to claim his second major victory in a row. If he triumphs there as well, he would be riding to take the Grand Slam title in July at the CHIO Aachen in Germany.

Philipp Weishaupt competed in Geneva as the current Grand Slam contender. Riding Asathir, the German show jumper unfortunately did not reach the jump-off of the Rolex Grand Prix.

It wasn’t until the 13^th on course, Pedro Veniss and his brilliant Quabri de l’Isle, before a first clean jumping round appeared on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, the defending champion was not able to stay within the time allowed, and that meant for the Brazilian no qualification for the jump-off. Laura Kraut had the same mistake, picking up 1 time fault in Round 1.

Despite the high level of the riders and the quality of their horses, it had to be awaited more than half of the starting field before the first clear round was performed, achieved by Harrie Smolders in the saddle of his brilliant Don VHP. Shortly thereafter followed Henrik von Eckermann (Mary Lou 194) and Gregory Wathelet on Corée, the winning pair of the Rolex Grand Prix in Aachen this year. For the many spectators who had come to the sold-out Palexpo to witness this great spectacle, a high-profile jump-off was apparent.

At the end of the first round, the winner of the Credit Suisse Grand Prix on Friday, Farrington, as well as the European team champion Cian O’Connor also qualified. A jump-off with five riders, and all of them famous ones.

Smolders, starting in first to the jump-off, did not take all the risks, and was immediately beaten by next to go, von Eckermann. The Belgian Wathelet finished the course two-tenths of a second behind the Swede. Next came the world No. 1, Farrington. The American is known as always very fast, no matter which horse he rides. With Gazelle he showed once again that he knew how to master the art of combining performance and speed. Farrington benefited from a mistake of O’Connor and “finally” won the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva, having won almost every other main competition at Geneva in recent years at least once.

Kent Farrington on Gazelle.

“I have jumped this class here many times and it is always very difficult,” said Farrington. “You compete against the top riders and the best horses in the world. The course is always very demanding and the time is tight. When I watched the first pair in the ring, I realized straightaway that it was going to be particularly hard this year. It really was a tough competition and that makes the victory even more valuable for me.”

Earlier in the week, on Dec. 7, Farrington topped the Credit Suisse Grand Prix riding Voyeur—his third win in that class at the Geneva show over the year.

Farrington plans to spend the rest of the year in Florida, where he’ll celebrate Christmas with his team. “We will certainly celebrate my major victory there too,” he said. “I have a wonderful team behind me—this victory wouldn’t have been possible without them. I will probably stay in Florida for the whole of the winter and then come back to Europe for the Dutch Masters. It will be a very tough job to win the grand prix there too, but I love challenges.”

[Editor’s note: Belgium’s Niels Bruynseels ultimately won the 2018 Dutch Masters Grand Prix with Gancia de Muze, ending Farrington’s Rolex Grand Slam hopes, but Farrington and Gazelle would go on to top a second Rolex Grand Prix the following year, when they won in Aachen in 2019.]

The post Throwback Thursday: Farrington Wins First Rolex Grand Prix Of Geneva appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

He’s won gold medals galore. He holds the world record score for the Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix freestyle. He’s probably the most famous dressage horse who’s ever lived, and he moves his fans to tears and standing ovations.

But “Blueberry,” better known as Valegro, hasn’t let the success go to his (adorable) head.

“Everyone says to me, ‘Is he a diva?’ I don’t think so in the slightest,” said his groom Alan Davies.

“He’s still the same old Blueberry to me. The celebrity status hasn’t affected him. He’ll pose for the cameras for about 10 minutes, and then he gets bored and is like, ‘OK I’m ready to go in now.’ ”

Here’s what else you need to know about the recently retired superstar:

• He’s a very friendly, cheerful fellow, and only one thing upsets him. “He’s really amenable—apart from when you actually have to clip him, which he hates,” said Davies. “He’s quite ticklish, and he can get quite grumpy. All of the other time, he’s really easygoing. He’s a happy horse.”

Valegro and his go-to groom Alan Davies. Photo by Lisa Slade

• OK, make that two things. “Lack of food makes him upset; just like me, he gets hangry,” said Davies.

• He prefers his afternoon snack the British way. Davies is constantly washing out his water buckets because Blueberry dunks his hay in the water, making a nice hay tea.

• Blueberry’s favorite treats are sugar lumps, but no mints for him. “They make him sneeze, especially the strong ones,” said Davies.

• His weekly schedule never changes. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Dujardin works him in the ring, with Davies taking him for a walk before and after. Wednesday and Saturday he does fitness work in the field, on the roads or on hills with Davies. He’s always off on Sundays.

Photo by Lisa Slade

• Hacking is his favorite. He’s scared of nothing, and he loves going out on the roads or in the fields. “He’s incredible to ride out. He tows you out,” said Davies. “We’re on the borders of England and Wales, and so there are a lot of farms in our area—cattle farms. He’ll chat with the cattle over the hedges. He’s the only horse I’ve ever known you have to kick him to go home. I have to persuade him now is home time, and he’s like ‘No, let’s carry on.’ He loves just being out and about doing stuff. He loves any new experience.”

Between the ears of Valegro. Photo courtesy of Alan Davies

• His turnout buddies are also world famous—both went to Olympic Games with Carl Hester. “He goes out in a small paddock, and it’s usually next to either Nip Tuck or Uthopia,” said Davies. “He wouldn’t mind going out alone, but he’s better if he has his usual mates. Since I look after Grand Prix horses, I like to see them out together, so I can keep an eye on all of them together.”

Blueberry enjoying some down time. Photo courtesy of Alan Davies

• If he was a human athlete, he might be the next Michael Phelps. Two or three days a week he goes on the water treadmill at Hester’s farm.“He loves the water treadmill,” said Davies. “He’s learned now how to load himself, and if he could press the button and turn it on himself, he would. We find it’s a great fitness help. It’s no stress on the lower limbs or feet; you can give him a really good workout in it.”

Blueberry and Alan Davies. Photo by Lisa Slade

• He’s not the only Hester horse running around Great Britain named after a food. “Carl every few years will buy a bunch of young horses in Europe, and they all get shipped over together,” said Davies. “He watches them grow, and he picks out the ones he wants to keep. The year Valegro came over, all the horses were named after fruits and vegetables for some reason. There was a Parsnip, a Tomato and a Radish. They’re all still around. A pupil of Carl’s has Radish and Tomato, and they come back and visit for lessons and things. But Blueberry was the only one that stayed at home. “Thank God he ended up as Blueberry. It’s a cute name,” he added.

Blueberry and Alan. Photos by Lisa Slade

The post Throwback Thursday: Behind The Stall Door With Valegro appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

While Steinkraus is one of the pre-eminent names in U.S. riding today, he didn’t seem to make much of an impression on the Chronicle’s reporter as a teen competing—and winning—both finals. Instead, the reporter focused on the quality of judging, concerns young riders did not practice mounting and dismounting correctly, and the joy of the addition of pony classes to the National’s program. He also expressed surprise that, unusually, the field for the Maclay final was larger than that for the Good Hands championship, which that year was called the National Equitation Class and, he said, “stole the spotlight” from the growing Maclay final.

The unidentified parent of one of the children who lost to “Billy” Steinkraus that year also penned a letter to the editor complimenting the skills and prowess of the group of East Coast riders who dominated both classes, noting that dual champion Steinkraus had won 21 out of the 26 “horsemanship” classes he’d entered in the year leading up to the National. Read both pieces below: 

Garden Provides Top Junior Contests With 41 In Children’s Hunter

Well, “The National” has come and gone, and it leaves a sort of vacuum. It’s like baseball when the World’s Series is over. Looking back it was a good show, although we very much missed our friends the Chileans.

As far as horsemanship classes go, it was a banner event, and the Saturday devoted to junior contests drew a gate which the press estimated to be two to three times that of any previous attendance for horsemanship classes. Patrons stayed on, and after six o’clock were still sitting in their seats, watching the Children’s Hunter Class of 41 entries—by all odds the best in quality that has been held for many years.

One judge who was watching checked 10 as excellent, seven as good, and said he was glad he didn’t have to pin the ribbons in this class!

The judges did a very sane and patient job of judging, allowing ample time for individual performances, and the fears of some, that freak requirements might be asked for, proved groundless. One news columnist said it was the first time in years that there was general satisfaction with the horsemanship decisions.

Thirty-three children were enrolled in the competition for the National Equitation Class, 41 in the Maclay Championship Class. This was somewhat of a surprise, as usually the Good Hands is larger. Perhaps the answer is simply that more children are learning how to jump and ride hunters, and this is beginning to show in Maclay entries.

However, although the number in the Maclay class was larger, it was the National Equitation Class, successor to the Good Hands, which stole the spotlight, and was followed with the keenest interest. The fortunate 20 who survived the morning session number some of the season’s most frequent winners:

William P. Dunn III, Dick Van Winkle, Miss Fifi Moeckel, Miss Edith Lisle, George T. McKelvey III, Miss Janet Lee Dant, William E. Bradley, Miss Janet Ann Meade, Miss Nancy Douglas, Herbert W. Marache, Jr., Miss Ann Morningstar, Miss Mary Poll, Miss Ann Leigh Graham, George Chase, Miss Lois Lisanti, William Steinkraus, Miss Mary Elizabeth Pilliod, Miss Dorothy Ritterbush, Miss Lurline Eberhardt and Miss Barbara Pilliod.

In the afternoon the judges asked for individual figure eights, changes of lead on a straight line, and finally, mounting and dismounting. Simple as it sounds, this last requirement nearly proved a Waterloo! Certainly the children did not expect it.

Anyone who watched this competition would be interested in reading an article in November’s National Horseman by Miss Annie Lawson, a judge and western Instructor, who goes into this often neglected subject of mounting very thoroughly.

One point she makes, and which was borne out by the final class on Saturday, was that greatest care should be taken not to jab the horse with the toe in mounting, which tends to make him start or veer around. In the cases where a horse has developed a persistent fault in this regard, he can be cured by mounting and dismounting against a wall, but nothing takes the place of a little carefulness.

Again we could not help feeling that some of the horses were tired, and that most could have stood a little more rest. In this connection, in a chat, with Lt. Col. [Hiram] Tuttle he told us he attributed the smoothness of his performances largely to the fact that he never permitted his horses to become overworked. He follows a plan of light walking the day after a performance, the next day schooling, and the next performance, and so on.

Getting back to the show again, surprisingly good performances were turned in by some of the younger children in the Maclay class, and competition was very real. The judges followed the customary plan of changing horses before the final decisions. Those who achieved the final class were:

Miss Mary Reinach, William P. Dunn, III, Miss Eve Prime, Miss Flora Van Sciver, Miss Jane Elizabeth Earle, Arthur Morley, Don B. Low, Miss Elaine Moore, Miss Nancy Dean, Miss Elaine Weins, Miss Ann Morningstar. Miss Ethel Skakel, Miss Susan French Potter, Miss Mary Poll, Miss Lois Lisanti, William Steinkraus, Miss Emily Young, Miss Nancy Frank, Milton Wuischpard and Miss Carol Gussenhoven.

Both in the Maclay and the equitation classes riders placed in the final ribbons from the South and West, which dispels the legend that children have to be known in the eastern circuit to win. Furthermore, their riding was well up in the upper brackets.

We wish we had time to describe the pony classes, which were an innovation thoroughly enjoyed. This reminds us of an old actor who used to say there were three things which never failed to “get” an audience: a child, a dog and a horse. They had two of the three at the Garden, in the pony group, and the audiences were all smiles watching them.

Final winners of the day were—Equitation Class, William Steinkraus, champion; Nancy Douglas, reserve; 3. Mary Poll; 4. Janet Lee Dant;, 5. Dorothy Ritterbush; 6. Dick Van Winkle. 

For the Maclay Class, William Steinkraus, champion; Mary Reinach, reserve; 3. Ann Morningstar; 4. Eve Prime; 6. Mary Poll; 6. Nancy Dean.

While congratulations are being received by the winners, we want to mention especially the fine performances of the 20 who in both classes were in the final judging, many of whom were so close behind the winners. So much is behind the picture. Back of each rider’s effort is the support of many others, friends, instructors, family and others who help. No one wins alone.

— Proctor Knott

National Equitation Riding Demands Perfect Form, But Mary Not Contrary

It is hoped that these reflections may reach a lot of parents who are interested in their children’s riding as well as their progress at horse shows.

With this interest at heart we went to New York last week where our “Mary” was participating in the Maclay Jumping Championship at Madison Square Garden, having won an ASPCA class on the summer circuit.

Over a period of time, “Mary” had done pretty well in such classes, and it wasn’t that we suffered from delusions of grandeur, but we had permitted ourselves on several occasions, before falling asleep, to picture her in the ribbons. Anyway it’s of such stuff that good dreams are made of.

Hers was the first class, which was fortunate, for by then the butterflies had almost eaten through our stomach. Forty competed and 20 were selected for final competition in the afternoon. Our “Mary” was not selected! Somebody said something about “tough luck, better luck next time.” Neither our smile nor our reply hid our dejection!

There were only two things to do: flee from the scene of battle or hang around and reconstruct something from the collapse. We chose the latter—partly by necessity for “Mary” was among friends and immediately forgot her defeat and showed no intention of going home.

There are those who may say that these reflections should be discounted on the grounds that they were written on the “rebound”. Maybe they should be. Anyway, they are intended to be constructive and will have to stand or fall on a basis of their merits.

As the morning went on, several things were obvious: the competition was keen, the judging was awfully fair and the horsemanship in the Maclay Equitation classes was brilliant.

These consistently good performances in the morning and in the elimination classes in the afternoon provoked the question, where do the children come from and how do they do it?

In the Maclay Jumping 26 out of 40 participants came from or within 50 miles of New York City and in the Equitation class 30 out of 34 came from or within 50 miles of New York City. This concentration prompts one to wish that the representation were a little more scattered but should in no way detract from the credit due these New York children.

For so many of them to have earned the right to compete in these two classes they must have gone pretty far afield to have found the necessary shows that are licensed by the AHSA or conducted under conditions of the ASPCA. In Philadelphia there were none in 1941!

In doing this, these children had to beat the local talent wherever they went. Furthermore, they must have been competing against each other a lot of the time so it must follow that they were consistent winners.

What is also significant is that a number of these children were eligible and competed in both the Maclay and Equitation Championships which combine all around horsemanship ability.

This would seem to establish the fact that children from and within 50 miles of New York City take their riding pretty seriously and have a good deal to show for it.

As to how they have developed this unusual ability one can only assume certain things but it is believed that inquiry would confirm our assumptions.

There was ample evidence of good instruction and plenty of practise. Of the latter, there is almost a complete absence with all too many children. Practise means a lot more than exercising a horse once a day. Practise to produce the kind of riding we are talking about should be, at least part of the time, in a ring under expert analysis and instruction. This should be varied with cross country rides and hunts. Instruction and practise in the ring are just as necessary in the development of a good rider as the ever-lasting stroke perfecting practice that golf and tennis champions indulge in. It is the only way of mastering the technique of any sport.

This instruction and practise results in the riders being able to gradually direct the movements of the horse, under most trying conditions, without disturbing the horse’s natural poise and spirit.

These trying conditions are to part as set forth in the specifications for the Equitation classes. All this assumes that the rider first knows how to ride properly to a walk, trot and canter.

The Dressage Exhibition by Lt. Col. Hiram Tuttle was well placed on the program, coming as it did before the Equitation Championship.

This gave the spectators an opportunity to see the art of advanced equitation at its very best.

There was ample evidence that these youngsters have had plenty of competition experience. Billy Steinkraus who won both the Maclay and Equitation championships has won this year 21 horsemanship blues out of 26 entered.

So—it seems fair to say that if other sections of the country would compete against these children with any hope of success they will have to do more learning, more practicing and more of the kind of competing we have described.

In the meantime, our hats are off to these New York youngsters and—conditions permitting, our “Mary” and her friends will be back.

Respectfully yours,

“Sadder but Wiser”

The post Throwback Thursday: Revisiting The 1941 Maclay Final Billy Steinkraus Won appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

This week, as the Pennsylvania National Horse Show continues in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, we’re looking back to 1998, when Kent Farrington served notice of the No. 1 world-ranked show jumper he’d one day become by winning the show’s marquee equitation class, then called the Eisers & Pessoa/AHSA Medal Finals. Today, Farrington is enjoying his fifth straight month in the top spot of the Longines FEI World Rankings list, but back in October 1998, he was a little-known teen who had traveled from his home in Chicago to Wellington, Florida, to ride anything he could get his saddle on during the Winter Equestrian Festival. “He’s an up-and-coming talent, and he deserves an opportunity,” Andre Dignelli said of him at that year’s Medal Final. This article was originally published in the Oct. 30, 1998, edition of the Chronicle.

When the spotlight found the winner of the Eisers & Pessoa/AHSA Medal Finals to guide him on his victory gallop, it didn’t shine on a rider who had cut his teeth in the pony divisions and worked his way through a string of horses to advance. It found Kent Farrington, who started showing in equitation last year, has progressed through sheer determination and hard work, and rode a borrowed horse to win the title.

“I couldn’t believe it—it’s like a dream,” Farrington, 17, of Chicago, said after his victory, which capped junior weekend at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, Oct. 8-11 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “I always thought I had a chance, but it wasn’t really in my mind until I did it.”

“This is every kid’s dream,” said trainer Andre Dignelli. “This isn’t a kid with a string of horses and who’s been in the program forever. This is somebody who’s been riding whatever is available, doing whatever it takes to make it happen, and it says a lot about him.”

Nancy Whitehead, of Spring Grove, spotted Farrington when he was doing the local children’s jumpers with his Appaloosa pony. He began working with her in February 1997, riding everything in the barn. At the Pennsylvania National last year, George Morris judged and placed Farrington third in the best child rider on a horse honors.

Farrington traveled to the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida) in 1998 to train with a variety of people, including Morris, and caught Dignelli’s eye.

“[We saw him ride by] all day, from 6 in the morning ’til 8 at night. He did nothing but ride by,” Dignelli recalled.

Dignelli and Kate Stoffel, his partner at Heritage Farm (New York), decided to offer Farrington their help. “Kate and I put our hands out and said, ‘He’s an up-and-coming talent and he deserves an opportunity,’ ” Dignelli said.

Farrington flew back and forth between Chicago and New York to train with Stoffel and Dignelli, who put the finishing polish on the strong riding Farrington had learned from Whitehead. He rode Toronto, a horse that a client at Heritage, who leases the horse from Alixe Schwartz, loaned him for the medal finals. He had only shown the gelding twice before.

Farrington was called back for the second round in 11th place after judges Ralph Caristo and Susie Humes narrowed the original field of 214 riders to 25. He rode a beautiful round over a difficult course, which included rollbacks, long approaches, and an oxer-to-oxer combination of a long four strides to a short two strides to a narrow white gate.

His stylish ride earned him a spot in the final testing, where he was called back in fifth, with Jill Prieto, Amanda Gunsch, Eva Gonda, Keri Kampsen and Sarah Willeman. Willeman had maintained the top spot through both of the first rounds of competition with polished rounds.

The judges composed a demanding final test. The top six riders were secluded outside of the out gate, unable to watch each other ride or to confer with anyone. They were to return, without stirrups, and hand gallop fence 8, canter fence 5, canter fence 9 backward, halt within a triangle of bushes, canter down the long side of the arena demonstrating three changes of lead, ending with counter-canter through the corner to fence 1, trot fence 2, canter fence 11, and leave the ring at a walk on a long rein.

Prieto, 17, returned first, performing a solid test, with accurate simple changes down the long side. 

Farrington then entered the ring. He didn’t get a very strong hand gallop to the first fence, but his halt was precise and square. He showed beautiful flying changes and counter cantered through the corner well.

Gunsch, 17, began with a great hand gallop to the first, but then proceeded to swing around and jump fence 5 backward, turning again to fence 9 backward, instead of taking the direct line between the three fences. After a good halt, she did four, instead of three, flying changes down the long side. And the crowd began buzzing, wondering if she had interpreted the directions correctly. 

Gonda, 16, followed the same track as Farrington and Prieto had, but a few mistakes marred her round. She was tight to the first fence, had an awkward trot jump, and her horse swapped off the counter lead at fence 1. 

Kampsen, 17, rode precise lines, but got confused in the changes. She ended up having to do four lead changes, with the last two simple changes. She didn’t have time to prepare for fence 1 and her horse refused.

The door was wide open for Willeman. She started off with a brilliant hand gallop to the first, then shocked the crowd by swinging right to turn left to fence 4 instead of fence 5. She finished with beautiful flying changes every third stride, but the damage was done.

“I didn’t realize [I had gone off course] until nobody whooped,” Willeman, 16, said. “I just didn’t think. It was a thinking error. It’s OK, though. I’m really happy I came this far.”

After such a confusing array of performances in the test, no one was confident of the outcome of the class. In the end, Farrington’s accurate test topped them all, with Prieto finishing second and Gonda taking third.

“He came back stronger and he showed what he was made of today,” Dignelli said.

The post Throwback Thursday: Kent Farrington Lived A Dream At 1998 Medal Finals appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

The Delaware Valley Combined Training Association sponsored three days of classes from training level, test 1, to the Grand Prix de Dressage at the Devon Horse Show grounds near Philadelphia. Entries spanned 265 horses from states as far away as California, Illinois, Michigan and Florida, as well as from virtually all of the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern states. Six hundred eighteen rides were scheduled in the 24 classes, and 13 additional classes in a breeding division attracted not only large entries but large crowds at ringside Friday morning. Thirteen stallions were shown on the line, and eight came back to demonstrate their suitability for dressage under saddle. Both classes were won by the Gaffords’ Trakehner Rantzau from Petersburg, Virginia. In fact, Trakehner stallions and their get took home the lion’s share of the ribbons. 

Fifteen riders in the AHSA Medal class for juniors competed for spectators’ attention Friday morning. Michael Hoffman, in his first year of dressage competition, took home the blue on his young horse Solicitor. The next day Anne Rawle, on A.A. Steiert’s Hanoverian stallion Abundance, accounted for the senior Medal, prevailing over a field of eighteen. 

Friday’s record of 56 in training, test 1, novice rider, was eclipsed on Sunday by 65 rides in class 7: first level, test 1, senior riders, and 54 in the second level, test 2. Thirty-two rode in third level, test 1, section winners Anne Gribbons of Brentwood, New York, and Greta Towle tying with identical scores. Ms. Towle had a higher score in general impressions, however, and was declared the overall winner. Fourteen were bested by Mrs. William Steinkraus in the first fourth level test, and Sidley Payne, on her new horse Simplicity, beat nine others in the second.

Saturday began by featuring the ADI Kur class, part of a nationwide competition for the American Dressage Institute Perpetual Challenge Trophy. The class requires riders to compose and perform a freestyle ride showing movements up to or including fourth level, and Sarah Zimmerman of Birmingham, Michigan, took home the blue with a score of 5.5. 

The FEI Three-Day Event Dressage Test came down to a contest between Michael Plumb, captain of the U.S. Three-Day Event Team, and Jeremy Beale, a former Badminton winner and successful British Three-Day rider. Mike won, on Harry Pistol, 64.58% to 61.81%. 

On Saturday evening seven entries performed pas de deux, in which two riders prepare and present a test choreographed as though one horse is performing in front of a mirror. The winning ride, that of former Olympic rider Col. A. R. Kitts and young Lindsay Baird of Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, was not only beautiful but caused gasps and double-takes when, during a halt at X, the riders suddenly changed horses without dismounting. Such was the surprise and delight of the audience that the winning pair later repeated their ride while the scores of the Grand Prix Ride-off were being tabulated. 

The emphasis on entertainment continued while the pas de deux scores were being compiles as Sidley Payne gave an exhibition of Grand Prix movements on her horse Felix while announcer Robert Heath recounted the story of the horse’s rare illness, recovery, and release from a year’s quarantine after treatment at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. 

The feature of the evening was the ride-off for the Grand Prix de Dressage. John Winnett of New York had captured first and second places in the afternoon on Leopardi and Mario, respectively, but after the final competition, in which four riders were allowed to go, the winner was Mario. 

Attractive classes continued to be featured on Sunday. A side-saddle competition (first level, test 3) was won by Donnan Plumb on Iron Bar, and 13 riders comped in the Prix St. Georges. Laurie Falvo, a junior from Woodland Hills, California, took it with a score of 696.

The post Throwback Thursday: Reliving The Inaugural Dressage At Devon appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

In recognition of the 50th edition of the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ tournament, taking place this week in Calgary, Alberta, and culminating with the record prize-money $5 Million CPKC ‘International’ Grand Prix (approximately $3.62 million USD), this Throwback Thursday we’re looking back at 2005, when Judgement, ridden by Beezie Madden, became the first North American-bred horse to win the event. This article was first published Oct. 27, 2005.

When Beezie Madden galloped into the ring as the second competitor in the two-horse jump-off of the $843,844 CN International, she knew what she needed to do. Nick Skelton and Arko III had jumped clear, but he left a window of opportunity.

With cool confidence, she shoved the window open and guided Judgement to perfect, forward distances that shaved more than 2 seconds off Skelton’s time with Arko.

After she crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock tower scoreboard, a huge grin ensued and she pumped the air with her fist before enthusiastically patting her black stallion while she cantered to the out-gate.

Their perfect performance over three demanding rounds left the pair as victors in the world’s richest grand prix, held as the culminating event of the Spruce Meadows Masters, Sept. 7-11 in Calgary, Alberta.

Madden, 41, of Cazenovia, New York, joins an elite group—she’s the first woman and first American to win this prestigious class since 1997, when Leslie Howard and S’Blieft were victorious. George Morris, who won in 1988 with Rio, and Norman Dello Joio, the winner in 1983 riding I Love You, are the only other U.S. riders to have won the class.

Judgement (Consul—Faletta, Akteur), owned and bred by Iron Spring Farm of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, is also the first U.S.-bred horse to take the title. Of the 47 starters, Judgement was also the only U.S.-bred horse in the field.

“He felt better than ever,” said Madden of her 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood. “Right from the first jumps in the schooling area he felt fantastic. He did one class during the week and jumped great. He was just waiting for an opportunity.”

The Canadians had a lot to cheer for. Mario Deslauriers incurred 1 time fault over the two rounds to place third riding Paradigm, and Eric Lamaze had a heartbreaking rail at the last fence in round 2 to place fifth with Hickstead.

Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum, who won the CN International in 2002, placed fourth riding L’Espoir Z, a 9-year-old, Zangersheide gelding (by Landwind II). One time fault was all that kept Beerbaum from the jump-off.

A Rewarding Decision

After Saturday’s torrential rains, which resulted in the BMO Nations Cup being canceled following the first of two rounds (see sidebar), the footing in the International Ring was still soggy on Sunday. After four days of relentless rain and drizzle, the weather cleared on Sunday, and the sun peeked through the clouds by 11 a.m. The riders, coaches and chefs d’equipe spent lots of time walking the course and examining the footing, deciding whether or not to start their horses.

U.S. riders Dello Joio and Jeff Campf scratched Glasgow and Lady-D, respectively. Madden also made a last-minute substitution. She had originally nominated Authentic, her Athens Olympics gold-medal mount whom she’d ridden in the previous day’s Nations Cup, but changed her mind when the conditions hadn’t greatly improved.

Course designer Leopoldo Palacios carefully considered the circumstances and set his fences where the footing was firmest. Therefore, most of the jumps were set at the edges of the ring where the drainage was best.

“I made three courses since last night,” joked Palacios on Sunday afternoon.

The footing held up admirably, and the organizers took every effort to keep conditions as optimal as possible. After the 25th of 47 horses started, there was a 20-minute break to work the footing and adjust some fences.

Cayce Harrison, daughter of CN CEO Hunter Harrison, was the only rider to hit the wet ground during the class. Her horse, Coeur, threw a shoe after the first fence but jumped gamely until the triple combination. Then he tried to pat the ground at the A element, a triple bar, but slipped and swam through the fence. Cayce fell and slid underneath the B element, but the gray carefully jumped over her and the fence and continued through and over the C element.

She walked out of the ring with her father by her side, and it was announced that she suffered no serious injury.

Palacios’ first-round course received rave reviews as 13 competitors jumped clear rounds. The fastest 12 qualified for the second round, including three U.S. riders: Lauren Hough aboard Clasiko, McLain Ward on Sapphire, and Madden.

For the second round, Palacios said he raised the jumps to “as big as any CN International class,” and a tight time allowed added to the difficulty.

Beerbaum and Deslauriers each negotiated the second round clean, but 1 time fault kept them out of the jump-off.

Ward and Sapphire looked as though they were going to join the jump-off until a rail at the second-to-last fence dropped to the ground. He placed seventh. Hough and Clasiko had two rails, including one at the challenging triple combination of liverpools, to finish 11th.

In the end, it was a face-off between an American rider and a British rider. The best over the eight-effort jump-off would take home the winner’s share of $274,315. Skelton and Arko III, an 11-year-old Oldenburg stallion (Argentinus—Unika, Beach Boy), went first and jumped clean in 48.02 seconds over the winding course, putting some pressure on Madden.

“But in that situation, whatever I did, Beezie would do better,” said Skelton simply. “I went as quick as I could go without leaving anything in danger.”

Madden and Judgement left out strides here and there, and his long galloping stride carried them to a time of 46.04 seconds, good enough for all the spoils, including a $41,631 bonus for winning two CN Precision Series grand prix classes during the 2005 season.

“It was just a fantastic day,” said Madden, smiling. “I’m lucky to have the horses and owners I have. There are so many people involved, and it’s incredible what we have. This was quite a climax.”

For Deslauriers, third place was a huge accomplishment. His horse, an 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood (by Nabab de Reve), was competing in 1.40-meter classes this spring and only began the larger grand prix classes over the summer. This was Deslauriers’ fifth grand prix with the chestnut gelding, a former mount of Canadian grand prix rider Mark Laskin.

“This was a huge step up here,” said Deslauriers, 40, of Bromont, Quebec. “The course was difficult, but he handled it beautifully.”

The post Throwback Thursday: It’s Judgement’s Day In The Spruce Meadows International appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Born in 1952 in Camargo, Ohio, Bold Minstrel was by Thoroughbred stallion Bold And Bad out of Wallise Simpson, who was the result of a test breeding of an unknown mare to a young Royal Minstrel. William “Billy” Haggard III purchased Bold Minstrel as a 5-year-old.

While Haggard never had any formal training, he competed at the highest levels of sport. From steeplechasing to show hunters to eventing, Haggard proved himself over and over again as one of the top riders of his time.

William Haggard and Bold Minstrel.

Topping out at 16.3 hands, the stunning gray was such an easy keeper that he was affectionately called “Fatty.” Bold Minstrel’s career actually began in the hunter ring, and his stunning looks and lovely jump garnered him dozens of ribbons in the conformation divisions across the country, including a reserve championship at the National Horse Show (New York). Eventually, though, Haggard switched his focus to eventing.

In 1959, Haggard and Bold Minstrel tackled the Pan American Games in Chicago, Illinois, and helped the U.S. team win the silver medal in addition to placing ninth individually. Four years later, they were sixth individually in São Paulo, Brazil, and clinched the team gold. Between those two Games, Haggard still campaigned Bold Minstrel in the hunter ring.

William Haggard and Bold Minstrel showing in the hunters at Devon. The pair competed successfully in the hunters in addition to eventing. Jimmy Ellis Photo

While it seemed like the pair would be a shoo-in for the Olympic Games in Tokyo the following year, the selectors did not include them on the team. However, when J. Michael Plumb’s mount, Markham, had to be euthanized on the flight over, Haggard loaned Bold Minstrel to the veteran rider.

“Michael Plumb, as can be imagined, was at a tremendous disadvantage having to compete in the Olympic Games after only riding the horse for two weeks before hand,” wrote teammate Michael Page in the Nov. 20, 1964, edition of The Chronicle of the Horse. “However, from the excellent dressage ride on the first day, to the ‘must’ clear round to protect the medal on the last day over a trappy jumping course, Plumb and Bold Minstrel never once shook the confidence placed in them.”

Michael Plumb and Bold Minstrel in the show jumping at the 1964 Olympic Games.

Since Bold Minstrel was only 12 after his first Olympic Games, where he helped the team earn silver, Haggard decided to continue to campaign him. However, as the horse had already reached the highest levels of two sports, he loaned him to Bill Steinkraus.

Steinkraus rode the gray gelding in numerous international show jumping events between 1964 and Bold Minstrel’s retirement in 1970. They won more than a dozen major competitions, including the Grand Prix of Cologne (Germany). In 1967, they also set two puissance records at the fall indoor shows, jumping 7’3” at the National Horse Show.

Bill Steinkraus and Bold Minstrel.

“It takes something special to make me wear a white tie and tails to a horse show, but the old Garden was special,” wrote Jimmy Wofford in the April 2008 issue of Practical Horseman. “I was willing to dress up like the Phantom of the Opera to watch quality show jumping. It was even more special when Bill Steinkraus came out of the corner next to me on his way to a 6-foot 7-inch puissance wall. With his uncanny eye for a distance, Bill saw a steady seven strides to a deep distance. This is just what you want when you are about to jump a big puissance wall. Unfortunately, Fatty saw a going six, grabbed the bit and opened up his stride. The book will tell you that you can’t jump that big a fence from that big a stride, but Fatty left it standing, much to Bill’s relief.”

Bill Steinkaus rode Bold Minstrel in the 1967 Pan American Games in show jumping, where the gelding won yet another team silver medal. They also set several puissance records in that same year. Budd Photo

Bold Minstrel competed in his third Pan American Games in show jumping in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that same year and, again, earned the team silver. That medal solidified Bold Minstrel’s epic career, making him the only horse to have medals in three Pan American Games and one Olympic Games in two disciplines.

Bold Minstrel continued to compete well into his late teens and eventually retired in 1970 at 18 years old. That year, he won three times at Lucerne (Switzerland) and won the Democrat Challenge Trophy at his old stomping grounds, the National Horse Show. After he retired from competition, Haggard took him home to his farm and foxhunted him.

Bill Steinkraus showing Bold Minstrel. 

“This gray horse gets my vote as the greatest horse of the 20th century,” wrote Dennis Glaccum in the Dec. 24, 1999, issue of the Chronicle, where Bold Minstrel was named one of the most influential horses of the century. “He stands heads and tails above any other horse I have observed in my lifetime.”

In 2011, COTH writer Coree Reuter embarked on a quest into the attic at the Chronicle’s office. While it’s occasionally a journey that requires a head lamp, GPS unit and dust mask, nearly 75 years of the equine industry is documented in the old issues and photographs that live above the offices, and Coree was determined to unearth the great stories of the past. Inspired by the saying: “History was written on the back of a horse,” she hoped to demystify the legends, find new ones and honor the horses who have changed the scope of everyday life. This article was originally published Feb. 2, 2011.

The post Throwback Thursday: Bold Minstrel Was The Horse Of The 20th Century appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

In 1964, 25-year-old Lana duPont Wright became the first woman to compete in eventing at the Olympic Games, winning team silver and immediately etching her name in the annals of equestrian sport as a trailblazer. But she never saw herself that way, say the people who knew her best.

Instead of making the trek to the Tokyo Games focused on breaking a glass ceiling, Wright’s Olympic appearance was simply the natural outcome of her lifelong passion for horses and horsemanship—a passion she pursued with a level of drive and enthusiasm that raised the game of everyone around her.

“She had no clue what she was doing for the future,” said fellow Olympian Donnan Sharp, 86, of Unionville, Pennsylvania, one of Wright’s best friends since childhood. “She did it because she loved it, and she could do it. The thought of ‘look what she did for women,’ she had no inkling of.”

In fact, eventing was just one facet of Wright’s storied career in horse sport. She was also a lifelong foxhunter, and she went on to represent the U.S. on international teams in both combined driving and endurance. A strong advocate for U.S. Pony Clubs, she hosted the Middletown Pony Club at her Unicorn Farm in Maryland, and she provided mounts for countless children over the years.

As an organizer, Wright was responsible for coordinating, designing and building for equestrian competitions ranging from local paper chases to horse trials to international combined driving and endurance competitions, often on her own farm. Wright was somewhat famously unassuming, humble and reticent to talk about herself, but when she died in April at age 85, she left behind a legacy of excellence and service to equestrian sport that continues to benefit future generations and inspire those who knew her.

“She was such a big deal,” said Diane Trefry, 75, who was Wright’s team manager for over 50 years. “She was such a gentle professional with her horses. If you watched her ride or drive, she was very precise, and kind to them, but she also took no nonsense. She never bought something that was made. Part of her pleasure and joy was to make a horse herself. She was hands-on.

“Every horse should have a job, in her book, and every kid who wanted a pony should have an opportunity to ride a pony,” she continued. “She took van loads of ponies to Vermont in the summer, and the Pony Club kids could go and do an event. Many kids were the recipients of that, and she made so much happen for Pony Club, through gifting her own horses and giving lessons. She was just very generous. What she had, and what knowledge she had, she shared.”

From Foxhunting To The World Stage

Wright and Sharp lived near each other as children and soon bonded over their mutual love for ponies and riding. The pair spent hours hacking out in the countryside together, unencumbered by rules, adults, or real-life responsibilities. Both young women loved to foxhunt, first with the local Vicmead Hunt Club in Delaware, then later with many of the prestigious Virginia hunts, including Orange County, Piedmont, Old Dominion and Blue Ridge.

Foxhunting remained a lifelong passion for Wright, and the skills both women gained in the hunt field set them up for their early encounters with the sport of eventing as young adults. It was Wright who first learned about the sport—then new to civilians—as a preteen while studying at Oldfields School, an all-girls boarding school in Maryland.

“The coach who was there at the time had just been exposed to eventing, so he got all the Oldfields riding people interested,” said Sharp. “Lana got involved, and for the next three years, just kind of played around with it at school.”

When the girls graduated in the late 1950s, both skipped college in favor of pursuing their equestrian goals. By then, eventing had caught their interest. Riding across country came naturally, thanks to their years in the hunt field, as did show jumping—but the dressage phase proved more problematic.

“Neither one of us had a clue,” says Sharp. “We’d read a few books, but we didn’t really know what the heck it was all about. That’s when we became involved with Richard Wätjen.”

Wätjen, a highly accomplished German dressage trainer who had previously trained and taught at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1950s to work with Karen McIntosh at her family’s Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, New York. At the time, there were few coaches specializing in dressage, making someone with Wätjen’s skill and experience invaluable.

“We found Wätjen was the guru to go to for this peculiar dressage event,” said Sharp with a chuckle. “We took a couple of foxhunters up there, in hopes he could teach us something.”

It wasn’t long before the foxhunters were back in their stalls, and Wright and Sharp were learning dressage basics on trained schoolmasters. But Wätjen quickly discerned that both women were truly interested in learning and had bigger goals than simply riding circles at home. When Sharp and Wright were invited to train with the U.S. Equestrian Team in Gladstone, New Jersey, in the early 1960s, Wätjen accepted the women’s invitation to join them. It was a move that proved fortuitous to the success of riders on the nascent U.S. eventing and dressage teams, many of whom worked with Wätjen until his death in 1966.

Meanwhile, in 1958, the friends hosted the first Vicmead Horse Trials in Delaware. It offered just two levels, novice (now preliminary) and advanced, and it attracted only eight entries. The competition was significant not only because it was the first of many that Wright would go on to host and organize in her career, but also because in its second year, the Canadian squad entered it as a final prep for the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago.

“We really beefed it up,” Sharp recalled with a laugh. “Wätjen even came down to judge dressage.”

Seeing some of the best amateurs in the sport compete at her own event was the first of several fortuitous occurrences that helped set Wright up for an Olympic bid just four years later. She and Sharp took great inspiration from spectating at both the Chicago Pan Ams and the 1960 Olympics in Rome; along the way, they also attended a meeting in Illinois that would result in the creation of the U.S. Combined Training Association (now the U.S. Eventing Association). And around the same time, a special partnership began to solidify between Wright and a somewhat quirky homebred Thoroughbred of her mother’s, Mr. Wister.

Though bred for the track, “Wister” wanted no part of that lifestyle. He dumped all his jockeys; he often refused to enter the starting gate. Though he did eventually run a handful of times, it was with modest success. Wright took over the ride when the rangy gelding was 3 or 4 years old.

“I’m not sure what she saw in him, except he was a gorgeous, big-boned Thoroughbred,” said Sharp. “She had quite a tussle with him. It took her a summer to be able to stay on and get him to be manageable. But he caught on quickly that this might be OK, and there was obviously a great rapport between the two of them. He went on to do anything for her, which in itself is a pretty good story, having seen him from day one.”

Wister and Wright trained for several years at Gladstone, then in 1963, went to England to train there as a final preparation before attempting the Badminton Horse Trials, where she placed 10th. Sharp, who married U.S. eventing team stalwart Mike Plumb in 1964, remembers that during their time with the team, no one thought them less capable for being women.

“No one was really thinking, ‘Oh, girls can’t do this,’ because there were girls out there competing,” said Sharp. “The boys had gotten used to us girls competing against them at the national level, and they were fine with it. It’s just the rules [for the Olympics] didn’t allow it.”

By the time the rules did change, before the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, Wätjen had convinced Sharp to focus exclusively on dressage, and she went on to help the U.S. win team silver at the 1967 Pan Ams (Winnipeg) and rode on the team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. But Wright, bolstered by her success with Wister, stuck with eventing.

“Lana hung in with the eventing because she had this awesome horse,” said Sharp. “She battled it out, not really aiming for the Olympics but aiming to do the best she could do at all the events. So she eventually out-rode and out-performed everybody, and when the rules changed, they took her on. We didn’t have a very strong group in those days, but the horse—and Lana—legitimately made the cut. She may have been the only female, but she wasn’t an oddity, because she could do the job.”

On endurance day at the 1964 Olympics, it poured and poured, and the horses churned the footing into a deep muck. By the time Wister and Wright headed out on cross-country, conditions were poor, and the pair fell not once but twice on course. Unbeknownst to anyone, Wister had broken his jaw in the first fall, but he seemed game to continue. Sharp happened to be standing nearby when the pair fell the first time, and she gave her friend a leg up back into the saddle.

“She was a mess, and can you imagine, a horse with a broken jaw, and went on anyway,” says Sharp. “Obviously, we can’t get away with that anymore. But she got around.”

In an oft repeated quote, Wright recalled her Olympic cross-country experience as follows (here from the “U.S. Team Book of Riding”):

“When we finished, we were a collection of bruises, broken bones, and mud. Anyway, we proved that a woman could get around an Olympic cross-country course, and nobody could have said that we looked feminine at the finish.”

Maybe not, but that finish nonetheless broke down a door that other women were waiting impatiently behind.

“She was our friend, and she had made it to the top, and we were thrilled to be part of it,” said Sharp of Wright making eventing history. “But England had all these girls who should have been on their team, and they were banging on the door. It was an evolution, I think, more than Lana having done it. [Women in Olympic eventing] had to happen, and good for the U.S., to let it happen.”

Those Olympics, where Wright and her teammates earned the silver medal, were essentially her swan song at the elite level of eventing. Not long after, she left the team, married and started a family. But she was far from done with horses.

Driving Into The Future

Trefry first met Wright when she was working for her mother, the acclaimed Thoroughbred breeder Allaire duPont, at Woodstock Farm in Maryland. It wasn’t long before Trefry was giving riding lessons to Wright’s young daughters, and soon, she moved over to work at Wright’s Unicorn Farm—contiguous to Woodstock—full time. She stayed for five decades.

“She became more than an employer to me,” said Trefry. “She was my friend, she was like my sister, and she called us a team. And we were a team; we did everything together. It’s been wonderful, and I had a great life because of her. All I ever wanted to do was be around horses, and she made that happen for me.”

As her children grew up and moved on to larger horses and other pursuits (her late daughter Beale Morris was short-listed for the 2000 Sydney Olympic eventing team), Wright amassed a small collection of ponies. With her philosophy that “every horse needs a job,” Wright soon began using them to learn how to drive. One auspicious day, she and Trefry spectated at a combined driving event in Pennsylvania.

“We watched Clay Camp with his four-in-hand drive over the top of a log in the marathon, and we were like, ‘We want to do that!’ ” remembered Trefry. “That’s how we got started.”

Using a trio of related Connemara-Thoroughbred geldings—Greystone Sir Rockwell, Greystone Sir Oliver and Greystone Billy Moon—Wright pursued her new sport with the same zeal she embraced anything horse-related. In training her driving horses, Wright applied the many dressage lessons she had learned decades earlier from Wätjen, schooling the horses both under saddle as well as in harness.

“Back in the day, people weren’t such big riders of their driving horses,” said Trefry. “That was a bonus for her, because they got a lot of dressage work under saddle. Her eventing certainly contributed to her driving.”

Trefry soon found herself coordinating trips to Europe for horses, carriages and more.

“My strong point was doing the paperwork and the organizing of all that—she was the ‘get out there and know the horse and do the job,’ side of it,” said Trefry with a laugh. “Paperwork was never her strong suit. She was interested in being outside, loving the outside, and loving animals.”

Soon, Wright and Trefry began organizing driving events. Wright designed the hazards personally, and she helped Trefry and others with their construction. She often used her signature yellow and gray jeeps like they were bulldozers. One time, she overheated her Jeep after hay got into the radiator when she was using it to push 450-pound bales onto a dump truck to make a hazard.

“It was so rewarding to her, to design these obstacles so that people would really need to think,” said Trefry. “She put so much thought into it, and people always said they really appreciated her designs. She was a bit of an artist and creator that way.”

In 1991, Wright and her Connemaras competed at the Pairs World Driving Championship in Zwettl, Austria, where the U.S. team earned its first gold medal in history. The victory, in some ways, meant more to Wright than her groundbreaking Olympic appearance, recalls Trefry.

“When she got her medal in the Olympics, she didn’t feel like she earned a medal, even though she did a great thing for women in the sport,” said Trefry. “She never credited herself with earning the Olympic medal [because hers was the drop score].

“When she did the driving—and in each section she earned a place—that medal meant the world to her, because she felt she’d earned it,” she continued. “She didn’t take anything for granted. She worked hard, every day, for everything. Winning that medal was rewarding for her—that was a dancing-on-the-table moment.”

Wright took particular pleasure from the process of conditioning a horse for his job, and she did most of this work herself. She was dismayed that sports she loved—including eventing and combined driving—changed their formats in recent years to reduce the emphasis on endurance.

“It was kind of sad for her, as time progressed and those things were taken away, because conditioning was so rewarding for her,” said Trefry. “So the 100-mile endurance was really the next step.”

Wright, who had previous experience in shorter endurance and competitive trail rides, made her 100-mile endurance debut in Vermont riding a purebred Connemara stallion—and she quickly learned that he wasn’t the right mount for the job. And that was how Wright, a devoted Thoroughbred lover who had once quipped that “she would never have an Arabian come down this driveway,” had to “eat her words,” according to Trefry.

“We joked with her a lot about that,” said Trefry. “After the ride in Vermont, she said, ‘I guess we need an Arabian.’ So we went out and got an Arabian. It didn’t take her long to figure out there are horses that are really bred for it.” 

Wright and LL Stardom were selected for the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba—even though she never specifically verbalized that as her goal—and yet again Wright found herself representing her country on a championship team, in a third sport.

“That’s just the way she was,” remembered Trefry. “Everything she did, she reached for the stars—and she usually reached them.”

A Tradition Of Excellence, Shared

Though Wright may never have set out to be a role model for other women in equestrian sport, her commitment to excellence and success in anything she set her mind to helped shape countless horsewomen—including those who never had the opportunity to meet Wright in person.

“She made things happen, and if she said it was going to happen, she was going to make it happen one way or the other,” said Trefry. “She was an amazing motivator. A person might say no to you or me, but she always managed to get that easy yes. She would never ask you to do something she wouldn’t do. She got down in the trenches, she dug the post holes, she marked the courses.”

Five-star eventer Sharon White was a teenager when she first met Wright through her daughter Beale. The family embraced White, offering her experiences that changed her life and the arc of her professional career.

“I was so unbelievably lucky to have met them—it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know, and I just happened to end up at an eventing barn when I started riding lessons,” says White, 51, of Summit Point, West Virginia. “I basically knew nothing, and then to be put into Lana’s hemisphere, into her world, was huge. I pride myself on my horsemanship, and so much of what I know I learned from her. Lana has got to be one of the best horsewomen I have met in my entire life.”

White spent time at both Unicorn Farm and Wright’s summer residence in Reading, Vermont. In each place, Wright guided the young people in her orbit, often without saying much at all.

“Lana had a very distinctive voice, and I remember it would get so bemused when I would do something [wrong],” recalled White. “She would say, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, Sharon.’ She never meant it to be this way, but you knew you were doing something stupid. She was so cut and dry.

“But she was never one to make you feel like you were in the presence of all she had done,” she continued. “She was always so approachable in anything that had to do with horses or horsemanship, and so thoughtful, so dedicated to it. You just felt like she cared so much about the horses, that you could ask her anything about them. It would really matter to her.”

Suzy Stafford made history of her own in 2005 when she became the first U.S. combined driver to win an individual world championship, but as a junior, she was an eventer and a member of the Middletown Pony Club. A serious riding accident in her late teens meant that a professional riding career was no longer in the cards, and it was Wright who helped Stafford start in driving.

“She was certainly an inspiration, and a force to be reckoned with in anything she did,” said Stafford, 48, who is based near Fair Hill, Maryland.

“It was always two hundred percent or nothing. In that sense, being around her at the farm, it was certainly influential in my experience in driving. Watching someone with that level of drive and talent and experience was very inspiring to me.

“She never thought anything she did was special, or significant, or anything like that,” she added, “it was just how she carried on her day: We train horses. We go and win medals. That’s just what we do.”

Stafford remembers that Wright held everyone to the same high standard, and she wasn’t afraid to call someone out if a detail was amiss. But in doing so, she showed each person they were capable of more than they thought.

“It’s rare to find someone with the high standard she held for herself and the people around her,” said Stafford. “In a sense, those were the most important lessons she taught.”

While Wright may continue to be best known for her historic Olympic appearance, perhaps she would prefer to be remembered for her many and varied contributions to equestrian sport, from the grassroots level up.

“She wanted everyone to get the rewards she got,” said Trefry. “She got medals. But she gave way more to the equestrian world than she ever took from it. And she took pleasure from doing that, as well.

“It was about teaching everybody to enjoy the horse, at the lowest level, the medium level, or the highest level—whatever is for you,” she continued. “It made no difference. Anything to enjoy the horse, and learn to care for the horse, and the importance of the horse. For Lana, it was really about appreciating, enjoying, and making the most of your horse or pony, no matter what he was.” 

This article originally appeared in the July 2025 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.

The post Throwback Thursday: Lana duPont ‘Did It Because She Loved It’ appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

The Aug. 31, 1962, issue included a report on the Inverness Two-Day Event in California. The event was described as a “prepatory meet designed to prepare horses and riders pointing toward the Wofford Cup trials at Pebble Beach.” The report included this amazing photo of the water jump, taken by Tony Vacek and captioned simply “Ernest Simard II on Paddy Boals at one of the obstacles in the cross-country”…

Ernest Simard II on Paddy Boals negotiate the water jump on cross-country at the Inverness Two-Day Event in California in 1962. Tony Vacek Photo

The article said the course didn’t “lend itself to a true galloping course, but packed into the 2 miles of cross-country, following 3 miles of up-and-down roads and trails, were two mighty interesting obstacles built to test the boldness and cleverness of horse and rider.”

The water jump was on of those, and it was Fence 3 on course. “The cross-country led along the left side of the valley to the beach where obstacle No. 3 consisted of going out into the bay alongside a pier and passing underneath it between the last sections of pilings, and thence back to the shore.

“Whether the horse waded belly deep or swam depended on his size as well as his mood!”

The course description also included “an overturned dinghy 3 to 4 feet in height and 7 feet wide,” and “a heavy post and rail fence at the top of a slide into a stream with another post and rail fence out of the water.”

Then, in the Aug. 27, 1966, issue of the Chronicle, there’s this photo published with simply a caption and no accompanying story…

Ron Burton on Sea Breeze negotiating the slide in the Handy Hunter Working class. They won the third place ribbon. Chronicle File Photo

The caption reads, “Ron Burton on Sea Breeze negotiating the slide in the Handy Hunter Working class. They won the third place ribbon.” The show was the Valley Hunter Show in Valley Park, Missouri.

Can you imagine this hillside in a handy hunter class of today?

This last photo didn’t appear on a course in competition (thankfully!) but it’s worth highlighting for its sheer insanity.

A Spanish Army Riding School student jumps a ditch that was part of the final three-day event exam for second-year students.

The article it ran with was in the Sept. 14, 1962, issue of the Chronicle about the Spanish Army Riding School. This ditch was part of the final three-day event exam of the second-year students.

Here’s the article about the school, which must have turned out fearless and skilled horsemen…

“The ‘School’ has always strived to be a superior institution where officers from all branches of the army could perfect their riding, and eventually give the ‘Spanish Style’ a place in international competition. This could only be accomplished through excellent instruction, concentrated effort, and plenty of willingness on all sides (the horses included).

“At first a one year course was considered sufficient; but experience proved this theory wrong. In a year’s time the student remained rigid, unrelaxed in their adjustments to the School’s perfectionist instruction. They evidently needed a second year in which to ‘loosen up’ and gain confidence in themselves; they had to be able to apply their training to several different types of horses. For this reason, the School created a second year course for the selected students of the first year. This also gave an opportunity to spread out a rather crowded training program, leaving the more difficult phases for the second year. Some of these phases were the preparation of race horses, polo, and three-day events, which all call for a more experienced and self-confident rider.

“When I say all the more difficult phases were left for the second year student, I omitted probably the most impressive feat of the Spanish Army Riding School: ‘las cortaduras.’ This is reserved for the first year students, and for a very good reason: it separated the men from the boys. ‘Las cortaduras,’ meaning literally ‘the cuts,’ or ‘drop-offs,’ are almost vertical slopes of about twelve meters in height, which the horses, with their somewhat apprehensive first year students, have to negotiate each May. I cannot say that I whole-heartedly agree with what usually terminates in a mass of broken bones on the riders’ part, but I must admit that if accomplished unhurt, it makes one feel as if nothing is insurmountable on horseback. One can be sure, however, that after May, a class of twenty has been temporarily reduced to one-third of its size. The event is witnessed by visiting members of foreign teams, as it coincides with the international jumping competition in Madrid, and by several others; all agree that Spanish riders are of the most daring sort.

“There is no phase of equitation that has not been attempted by the School. The students are even prepared in elementary veterinary medicine and stud management. For a while there was a stud farm right on the premises, which was later transferred to Lori Toki, the Thoroughbred breeding farm run by the School in the north of Spain. From this farm come some of the finest race horses in the country.

“Each first year student must train his own colt—from saddle-breaking on up through a small jumping competition. These colts, at the end of the year, are divided between the respective groups of the School according to their ability. Some go to cross-country jumping, others to dressage, polo, stadium jumping, three-day events (if good enough), and, alas, there is always the poor fellow which ends up pulling the garbage cart!

“Apart from these horses are the yearly inflow of Thoroughbreds from the race track, plus several Irish, French, German and English imports; which all go towards making a complete selection of horses in every field.

“The best students from the second year, after having passed their exams (consisting of a three-day event and several jumping rounds with different horses), are then made sub-instructors for one more year. This completes their formal training and the “cream of the crop” pass on to be number one instructors  and possibly international team members.

“The well known ‘Spanish seat’ or style is derived from the French and Italian schools combined. At first the French was considered the better, and then was modified in accordance with the Italian or Caprilli method. Two Spanish lieutenants had gone to Italy for courses and had found the forward seat to be superior to the straighter posture of the French. With these two schools, Spain has developed what they call ‘natural equitation’ leaving the horse completely in the hand but at the same time at liberty to perform his best, with the least interference from the rider. To achieve this, a colt is first trained in dressage and then jumped, follwing the Italian style, with slightly longer stirrups and a few degrees less forward inclination. The rider takes the horse into a jumpby collecting him first and, during the final strides remaining still and letting the horse do the rest.

“With the evolution of modern weapons, the School has its problems. The horse is no longer essential to the Cavalry.  Although classes are still carried out as before, this must be done amidst artillery fire in the country and tanks around the stables. Each year there are fewer students and the standards are being lowered because of the lack of competition. Although there are many protests from those truly interested in the preservation of their beloved School, its future is uncertain.”

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This time of year, my thoughts often drift back to the days when I was a kid at summer camp. It was one of the best experiences of my life—a camp devoted to horseback riding where young girls immersed themselves in everything equine for eight solid weeks.

The names and faces of my fellow campers have faded over time. But the horses—those I remember. The memories of the four-legged legends that shaped my summers are as enduring as those hot, humid July and August afternoons.

There was Sunbeam, who was older than Moses and the first horse many a little girl sat on. He had a hitch in his git-along that gave him rambling gaits. His canter was discombobulated and trying to sit it made your lower half feel it was attached to two horses going different directions.

When he trotted, all of his toes pointed to different headings. He would have made a good getaway horse in the old West, because trackers would have had no idea which was he was headed. His riders didn’t really know either, and for that reason it was best to let him steer himself.

Then there was Ivory, the old albino mare. The only way to fall off of Ivory was to hurl your own body to the ground. If she sensed her rider was unsteady she’d just slow down and stop.

Many a kid in the beginner ring plowed into the back of Ivory. It never rattled her, though; she’d just turn her head and look back at the offending horse as if saying,  “Seriously? Could you not see me stopped here rescuing this poor, teetering child? Pay attention.” You knew you’d mastered the trot when she went all the way around the ring with you. It was her personal seal of approval.

Captain Mac was a beautiful buckskin whose mission was to see how many campers he could yank out of the saddle by randomly plunking his head down to grab a bite of grass. He could perform this maneuver at all gaits, and he liked to mix it up. Riding him in the dirt arena did not dissuade him, as he had a staunch leap and the net will appear philosophy about things.

You knew he was going to do it, and yet he’d sucker you into trusting him every time. It was like watching Lucy pull the football away from Charlie Brown day after day.  

Devil’s Fiddle was a rangy, angular flea-bitten grey with an expression of perpetual disdain. He had a slightly Roman nose and one nostril that would flare distinctly when he was displeased. Which was pretty much all the time. There was smug entitlement about him. Clearly, he considered himself above carrying the hoi polloi.

Fiddle was renowned for having The. Worst. Trot. Ever.

His canter had all the grace of a washing machine with an unbalanced load. Woe betide the unlucky rider who drew Fiddle for the lesson right after breakfast or lunch.  They’d flop around like invertebrates, trying desperately to keep their heels and meals down, while Fiddle bobbed around with his signature smirk. It was the only time he looked like he was having fun.

Fritz was a round, squatty bay of indeterminate lineage. Imagine what a Mr. Potato Head horse would look like, and you’ll pretty much be picturing Fritz. The misfortune of being shaped like a wingless bumblebee made Fritz decidedly non-aerodynamic.

Ever foiled by the Laws of Physics and a can’t-do attitude, he was the slowest horse I’d ever seen. Camp lore purported he had actually been seen cantering in retrograde. But he certainly didn’t jump; he never once attained sufficient ground speed for lift-off.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Betsy.

Betsy wasn’t a horse. She was a boa constrictor that belonged to one of the camp’s riding instructors. She lived in the tack room. Betsy was narcoleptic and would randomly take a nap and fall off of or out of something. The tack room was frequently like a scene out of Snakes On A Plane.

She was accustomed to being picked up and would just hold her body in the same shape while you found her a new resting place. Once people realized that the only way she could hurt you was if you tripped over her, she became just another thing to hang up.

Joker resembled a Salvador Dali drawing. He challenged all the rules of conformation. I picture Mother Nature’s architects staring at a blueprint of him and wondering how the heck they were going to make this thing able to stand up on its own. I imagine gyroscopes and whirlygigs in his head fighting to maintain equilibrium, and a man behind a curtain frantically pulling strings and levers to keep him upright.

The Law of Natural Selection had clearly given him a pardon. But you could put the most timid, fearful child on his back and he would make it his sworn duty to carry them safely.  

If any of these horses stepped into today’s show ring, they’d doubtless be snickered at. But to us, all of them were beautiful. They were some of our first and finest teachers, and, as great teachers do, they instilled in us a passion that changed our lives.

This was a time before cell phones and the internet, when we regaled our adventures via letters, or in the stories we told when we went back home.

It is entirely possible that things sometimes happened more the way we wanted to remember them than the way they’d actually unfolded.

And it’s possible that, over the years, the facts have been mingled with the fanciful. There are no Facebook posts or YouTube videos to prove something was one way or the other. And that’s a good thing. A little memory, and a little myth—that’s what great legends are made of.

After years of trying to fit in with corporate America, Jody Lynne Werner decided to pursue her true passion as a career rather than a hobby. So now, she’s an artist, graphic designer, illustrator, cartoonist, web designer, writer and humorist. You can find her work on her Misfit Designs Cafepress site. Jody is one of the winners of the Chronicle’s first writing competition. Her work also appears in print editions of The Chronicle of the Horse. 

Read all of Jody’s humor columns for www.coth.com here.

The post Throwback Thursday: Legends Of The Summer appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.