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Pretty Woman is More Than Just a Pretty Face 7 Dec 2025, 7:42 pm

Willem Greve’s (NED) 10-year-old mare Pretty Woman Van’t Paradijs N.O.P. is not just a looker, she’s now also a two-time winner of FEI World Cup qualifying action along the Western European League. Even more impressive, the mare’s wins came back to back, as she claimed the feature events in both Stuttgart, Germany, and in A Coruña, Spain.

A star-studded field descended upon the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup of A Coruña, the same site as the 2025 FEI European Championships, and the course was set for the occasion.

Greve, who rose from world number 37 to world number 28 in December, was one of seven to navigate the first round clear and proceed to the jump-off. It was over the short course that his comfort level with risk, which paid off in Stuttgart, was on display yet again. The pair took the leading time from 44.70 seconds down to 42.76 seconds, and they held that lead through the final pair.

Oda Charlotte Lyngvaer (NOR) was second with Carabella vd Neyen Z, and Simon Delestre (FRA) was just behind for third with Golden Boy DK.

It’s no surprise to Greve that Pretty Woman is standing proudly in the winner’s circle yet again. “She’s fast by nature,” he said of the Belgian Warmblood mare. “I just have to follow her.” 

 Going in the first half of the jump-off, and with hometown hero Armando Trapote (ESP) and his wicked-fast Tornado still to come, Greve was not sure he’d gotten it done.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking to be waiting until the end, but I’m thrilled with my mare,” he remarked. “Today she was jumping out of her skin and she was totally with me. I couldn’t be happier.”

Pretty Woman is now one of only two 10-year-olds to win two 5* Grand Prixs in 2025 (Jumpr stats), matching Scott Brash’s Hello Folie.

More than a pretty face and more than just a winner, to Greve Pretty Woman is also family. After the loss of Gerard Korbald, part of the family who co-owns the mare, he’s continuing to win to honor Korbald’s legacy.

“This is truly a very special mare to me,” Greve said in Stuttgart following his win. “I know [Mr. Korbeld] was watching this jump-off from above. This mare is part of the family, and she will always stay with us.”

Pretty Woman has big shoes to fill, following both Highway TN and Grandorado TN N.O.P. as the up-and-coming star in Greve’s string, but it’s evident she’s up for the challenge.

And to the enthusiastic Spanish crowd Greve had only two parting words: “Muchas gracias!”

The consecutive wins have put Greve at the top of the Western European League standings, however there are still eight legs remaining in the season before FEI World Cup Finals in Fort Worth in April. Richard Vogel (GER) sits in second place, while Yuri Mansur (BRA) holds down third. 

The Western European League heads next to the London International Horse Show for its next stop.

For more information and to buy tickets for the FEI World Cup Finals in Fort Worth, click here.

The post Pretty Woman is More Than Just a Pretty Face appeared first on Horse Network.

These 9-Year-Old Horses Are Worth a Follow in 2026 5 Dec 2025, 12:35 pm

It was that plain-speaking, TV clinical psychologist Dr. Phil that popularized the phrase, “The best way to predict future behavior is past behavior.”  

And like most Dr. Phil-derived wisdoms (“cash me outside” notwithstanding, IYKYK) there’s a bit of truth nestled in among the folksy Texas tough-talk—at least when it comes to the world’s best juvenile show jumping horses. 

With less than a month left of jumping in the 2025 season, just five 9-year-olds have won a 1.60m 5* Grand Prix this year. And while it’s a statistical anomaly for any horse of that age to win a 5*, the odds improve significantly after a horse turns 10, and before they turn 15. (For comparison, nine, 10-year-old horses brought home a 5* in 2025—nearly double the number of 9-year-olds.) 

But there’s a clear predictor that a horse is likely to win a 5* (or many) in the prime of their careers: By proving that they’ve already done so as a 9-year-old, of course! And for the young guns that meet this impressive and statistically rare benchmark, the sky is the limit.

Last year, just three 9-year-olds won 1.60m 5* Grands Prix: Equine America Zodiak Du Buisson Z, then under Richard Howley (IRL); Impress-K Van’T Kattenheye Z and Thibeau Spits (BEL); and the otherworldly Foxy De La Roque, who took not one but three (!) 5*s with Victor Bettendorf (LUX). 

These horses follow in the footsteps of a host of 5*-winning 9-year-old phenoms who have gone on to big careers: Donatello 141, Killer Queen, and James Kann Cruz, just to name a few. And although Zodiak Du Buisson Z and Foxy De La Roque are currently learning the ropes under new riders in 2025, Impress-K Van’T Kattenheye Z just keeps on excelling—recently helping Spits and Team Belgium to the top of the podium at the 2025 European Championships this summer.

So what do we know about 2025’s crop of super-achievers? Read on to find out. 

1. Gadget Mouche

When Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts and the 9-year-old Selle Français Gadet Mouche (Andiamo Semilly X Consul DL Vie) took to the field in the CSI5* 1.60 MLSJ Grand Prix in Tryon, the gelding had only jumped a handful of classes at that height. Despite his inexperience, though, Philippaerts made the most of Gadet Mouche’s explosive, Greya-esque footspeed across the ground, beating out not just the aforementioned grey prodigy and Kent Farrington (USA), but also Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Kruz. 

The impressive ”family horse”_—produced by Ludo Philippaerts as a 7- and 8-year-old, then campaigned by his sons Thibault and now Nicola—currently maintains a 50% clear rate and 50% top 10 finish rate at 1.60m+, according to Jumpr Stats.

2. Gangster Montdesir

He may not be the original, but “Gangster” is an appropriate name for Richard Vogel’s 9-year-old Selle Français (Kannan X Cornet Obolensky)—a stallion who seems to have all the right moves. The horse owned by Cian O’Connor’s Karlswood has not only scope and speed at his disposal, but also the far-more experienced skill of backing himself off the fences at just the right moment. In October, Vogel and Gangster Montdesir earned their first 5* in the LGCT Grand Prix of Lyon, France, finishing 2nd one month later in the FEI Jumping World Cup of Los Angeles.

3. Kilmister 

Kilmister’s foray into the global spotlight began as a bit of an accident: the 9-year-old Swedish warmblood (Diarado X Hors la Loi II) was not Philipp Weishaupt’s (GER) first pick for the 5* LGCT Grand Prix of Vienna. But when Oreo D.R. seemed tired after his classes on Friday, Kilmister got the call up—and the rest is history. Despite jumping just four 1.60m courses prior to Vienna, the gelding laid down a picture-perfect jump-off round, besting a series of top partnerships (think: Monaco and Harrie Smolders). 

“For so little experience, the horse was just incredible, incredible quality,” Weishaupt said after the class. “If a 9-year-old can deliver a round like this, it’s just unbelievable.”

4. Qalista DN 

The 9-year-old mare by Emerald (X Landetto) didn’t just inherit her father’s rich chestnut coloring—she also takes after his winning ways. With fellow wunderkind Gilles Thomas’s (BEL) in the saddle, Qalista took home the hotly contested LGCT Grand Prix of New York in September. A few months later, she followed it up with a win in the 4* 1.55m Grand Prix of Maastricht. 

“She’s cheerful, fiery, and has a true fighting spirit,” Thomas said after that win. “Very careful, but in the jump-off, she gets even faster. That’s when she really jumps her best—when I can let her go a little. She’s fantastic, truly a dream horse to have in the stable.”

5. S & L Quatro Van De Meerputhoeve

Canada’s Mario Deslauriers has been carefully producing the 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood S & L Quatro Van De Meerputhoeve (Jon Pleasure Van De Mispelaere X Vancouver D’auvray) since his 6-year-old year. This summer, that dedication paid off in a big way at Spruce Meadows—one of the most challenging show jumping venues in the world. In June, the pair put all the pieces together in the CSI5* Duncan Ross 1.60m Grand Prix, presented by Rolex, besting a field of 25. At the time, it was only the second 1.60m track the “scopey, lopey horse [with a] big step” had attempted.

The post These 9-Year-Old Horses Are Worth a Follow in 2026 appeared first on Horse Network.

Five Ways Valegro Impacted Horse Sport for the Better 4 Dec 2025, 10:40 am

Few horses in recent memory have been as well-known or beloved as the British dressage champion, Valegro. This week, the world said goodbye to “Blueberry,” who was humanely euthanized as a result of chronic old age concerns alongside his longtime friend and fellow British dressage champion, Uthopia. The horses were aged 23 and 24, respectively. 

During an international career that spanned six years, the KWPN gelding ridden by Charlotte Dujardin became the most decorated dressage horse in British history. As double-gold medalists at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the pair went on to earn individual gold and team silver four years later in Rio de Janeiro, setting Grand Prix, special, and freestyle records wherever they went.

In fact, from 2014 to 2015, Valegro and Dujardin held Olympic, World, World Cup, and European Championship titles simultaneously—the first horse and rider ever to do so. And, as the charismatic equine face of the sport, Valegro opened dressage up to a whole new audience, while his partnership with Dujardin made the discipline accessible to the next generation of big-dreaming, horse-crazy boys and girls. 

“We had no idea how our worlds would change,” the British rider wrote in her farewell tribute to her old partner. “Just a girl and a horse, trying our best.” 

While Dujardin’s 2024 FEI suspension for whipping a horse in training cast a shadow on their legacy—just one of many recent, welfare-related incidents that’s put previously overlooked dressage practices under the microscope—Valegro, himself, was an example of the kind of athlete the sport could produce.

The laid-back yet statuesque gelding with, as Carl Hester famously coined, “the head of a duchess and the bottom of a cook,” always gave 100% in the ring, while appearing to enjoy his job.

Perhaps Valegro’s greatest gift, however, was the ways in which his talent, good looks, and gentlemanly disposition created a platform for good in the sport of dressage and beyond. Here’s how…

1.  Valegro trained in a snaffle. 

While Blueberry, like most of his contemporaries, competed in a double bridle, at home the gelding primarily worked in a snaffle. “I don’t know if most of you know this, but most of the time when I was training this beautiful horse [Valegro], I mainly did it in a snaffle. Only really putting the double bridle on every few weeks, or the week leading up to the show,” Dujardin revealed on Facebook.

“My feeling is I always want to be able to do everything in a snaffle to the highest level and not ‘rely’ on a double. For me, it’s so important.”

2. He enjoyed regular turnout. 

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According to Carl Hester’s program, even when he was competing, Valegro was turned out regularly throughout the summer and during dry days in the winter months. He typically went out in paddocks next to Hester’s fellow Olympic mounts, Uthopia and Nip Tuck. 

3. He helped bring helmet-use to the forefront. 

Until 2021, the FEI allowed for the use of top hats in international dressage competition. But since Valegro’s earliest days in the spotlight, you’d be hard-pressed to find a photo of Dujardin mounted without a helmet on—despite having claimed she had never fallen off of him. In fact, until Charles Owen cut ties with the British rider following her suspension in 2024, Dujardin was the brand’s most prominent face and advocate for helmet-use in dressage. She even donned one for her trot-up with Gio at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.  

4. Valegro helped normalize hacking out for high performance horses. 

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Although he was at home in elite dressage arenas all over the world, Valegro’s happy place was trail riding out in the field, a twice-weekly part of his routine that he enjoyed throughout his competition years. The gelding was such a steady Eddie on trails, he was often hacked out by then-70-something former British Olympian, Tricia Gardner. 

“She literally drags Blueberry to the highest mounting block she can find and makes him stand in a position which is good for her to climb on from, faffs around a bit and drags herself up,” Dujardin told Horse & Hound in 2015. “You would honestly look at him and think he was a bog-standard, happy hacker. He then goes up the road with her, eating his way through any hedge he can find.” 

5. His gentle sprit brightened lives. 

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Many highly-attuned equine athletes of Valegro’s caliber have a hard time adjusting to their new routines outside the show ring after the curtain closes. But Blueberry’s gentle nature was an example of what a well-trained, well-cared-for athlete can become even after his international career was over. Throughout his retirement, the gentle gelding continued to gamely give back to the public at events, demonstrations, and beyond.

“He’s still a star. Many might imagine a gold medalist to be a fiery, wild beast that needed taming, but Valegro is far from it,” Carl Hester said in 2020. “We have sick and terminally ill children come to the yard and they can ride him, he brings so much pleasure to them.”

The post Five Ways Valegro Impacted Horse Sport for the Better appeared first on Horse Network.

Harry Meade Is Looking for His Next Everest 3 Dec 2025, 10:46 pm

World no. 1 eventer Harry Meade doesn’t like a challenge. He lives for one. And that’s saying something considering what he’s already overcome.

In 2013, the Brit broke and dislocated both his elbows in a rotational fall at Wellington Horse Trials. Eight surgeries and one newborn child later, he made his comeback at Badminton Horse Trials CCI5* in the spring of 2014, finishing third while riding with both arms in braces.

In 2020, Meade again found himself leaving a horse show in an ambulance after a fall on cross country at Thoresby where he was dragged—at a gallop—and repeatedly kicked in the head by his horse, Merrywell Tradition. Meade suffered in a broken arm, head injury and broken jaw that day.

Once again he faced a long and arduous recovery, this time from a traumatic brain injury. And once again he returned to five-star competition the following spring, finishing fifth in the Kentucky Three-Day Event. 

Then in August of this year, Meade fell again. This time from a bike, puncturing a lung, breaking three ribs and damaging his shoulder. He was back in the ring for the autumn, finishing top nine with not one but all three of his mounts in the Burghley CCI5*, taking third, fourth and ninth places.

Because that’s what Meade does.

Each time he falls, he fights his way back to five-star sport—and in specular fashion.

“Within the sport the thing that’s always motivated me has been very top level, the five stars,” said Meade. “I would never have come back to have ridden at a low level [after that first accident]. I was going to fully exhaust all possibility or ambiguity as to whether it was possible to come [back] and if that was not physically [possible], if things had fallen apart, then you could do it with no regrets. But it’s what I love doing and I can’t imagine a life without riding.”

What he means is he can’t imagine a life without riding at the five-star level. Pressure is Meade’s purpose. And he’s continually looking for ways to raise the stakes.

“If there was a six star, I’d have my name first on the list,” he smiled.

“For me, it’s not about a career, and it’s not about a necessity. It is much more deep rooted than that. It’s largely who I am in myself.

“In a funny kind of way, I think the thing that motivates me are the toughest five stars, and to add an extra challenge, it’s doing that then with three horses. And then to add an extra challenge is to do that off the back of a recent injury. It ups the ante each time and focuses the mind and that makes you feel quite alive.”

But, he said, it’s not the crowds or the accolades or even the rush of competition that’s driving him to such extremes. It’s the test—on him and on his partnership with his horses.

“I think it’s about having a sort of deep root of belief in the horses and the way they’re produced and what they’re capable of and wanting to set the biggest challenge you can to test yourself,” he explained on his drive to return to the five-star level.

“The whole point of five-star competitions is it really separates the quality and so it’s not so much an adrenaline junkie thing, it’s more about really enjoying that challenge,” he continued.

“It’s much more about the teamwork and the partnership and the horsemanship. You can combine that to push the boundaries in a good way, still with it being very easily within the horse’s comfort zone, and a really enjoyable experience for the horses, you can try and take it to another level.

“Those strong foundations you do put in can give the horses an indestructible resilience and enjoyment. I’ve always talked about producing horses that are independent thinkers and totally self-reliant and I get a lot of enjoyment out of producing those horses.”

Twenty years into his high performance career, it’s that challenge that continues to motivate the 42-year old.

“The Everest challenge is a thing that I dream about,” he said, “and the more times you climb it, you want to climb something higher.”

The post Harry Meade Is Looking for His Next Everest appeared first on Horse Network.

Boyd Exell Is Four for Four This World Cup Season 1 Dec 2025, 5:45 pm

Eleven-time World Cup champion Boyd Exell (AUS) is always tough to beat behind the reins of his four-in-hand team. But his competition had to have hope that a broken foot might slow the world no. 1 driver down in Stockholm this past weekend.

And they would be wrong.

Exell and his talented team lead by 22-year-old Bundy defended their title in Sweden with a decisive wins in the drive-offs on Friday and Saturday in the Friends Arena, producing two double clears on Saturday to win decisively in a time of 156.88 seconds. With a broken left foot.

“At the weekend I wrestled with an arena door and lost, and damaged my foot  But the horses were so incredible and really looked after me as they could feel that I wasn’t as confident as normal,” he said. “But once they settled into their rhythm, they were just beautiful.”

That team included new to his team last year Katydid Duchess next to mainstay leader Bundy and the reliable wheelers Mad Max and Barney. “These horses are so clever, so fast and so agile and I can only say thank you to them. Because when you have the fastest racehorse or the fastest indoor team in the world, you just have to look after them,” he continued.

Exell is now four for four in World Cup qualifier starts and wins this season, taking Lyon, Masstricht, Stuttgart and now Stockholm. Hot streak aside, he’s not putting the World Cup Final cart before the horse.

“It’s happened before then I’ve lost the final, so I’m quite happy to lose a competition!”

Only he doesn’t.

Exell will compete next in the FEI Driving World Cup Geneva. The reigning World Cup champion has already secured the maximum 30 points required to qualify for the Final in Bordeaux, France this February.

The post Boyd Exell Is Four for Four This World Cup Season appeared first on Horse Network.

2025 Is the Year of Kent Farrington 30 Nov 2025, 8:41 pm

According to the Chinese calendar, 2025 is the year of the snake. But in show jumping, it’s unquestionably the year of Kent Farrington.

With one month still to go, the reigning world no. 1 has claimed a mind boggling 15 Grands Prix this year (Jumpr stats). FIFTEEN. He’s averaging more than a GP win a month and more than half of those wins (8) have come at the 5* level.

To put that unfathomable achievement in context, his closest competition is two-time Olympic gold medalist Scott Brash, runner up for most GP wins in 2025 (to date) and on the Longines World Ranking. Brash has won eight GPs this year—six at 1.60m and two at 1.50m—on four different horses.

Keeping Farrington’s win streak ablaze this year are Toulyana, Greya, Grass De Mars, Orafina, and Kanny-Fee.

Greya is the undisputed MVP in that lineup. With seven GPs wins this season—the most recent on Saturday in the CSI4* Arthramid Holiday & Horses Grand Prix at Wellington International—she has now eclipsed former Farrington mount Gazelle for most GP titles in a single season. (Gazelle won six with Farrington in 2017).

And, at just 11-years old, she’s closing in on the record for most career GP wins set by Gazelle and McLain Ward-piloted HH Azur. Both mares retired with 17 GP wins apiece at the 4 & 5* levels. Greya already has 10.

With four weeks still to go in 2025 and his win streak still raging, Farrington is only competing against himself ofr 2025 records at this point.

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Top 30 30-&-Unders in Show Jumping Right Now 28 Nov 2025, 6:35 am

If there was a resounding theme of the 2025 European Championships this summer, it was best summed up by commentator and former Irish Olympic show jumper, Jessica Kürten.

“This has been the Championship of the youth, and the chefs d’equipe who have dared to let the youth come on their teams,” Kürten said. In most cases, those chefs d’equipes that dared, succeeded.

A full 60% of the top 10 individual finishers were age 30 or younger. It’s a statistic that’s reflected in the Longines Rankings, where 30% of the top 10 riders are also in that demographic.

The last two years have seen a number of breakout stars making their championship debuts at venues such as FEI Jumping World Cup Finals and the Paris Olympic Games, with more wunderkinds likely to emerge in the forthcoming FEI World Championships in Aachen next summer.

With no dearth of youthful talent in showjumping these days, the future of the sport is looking brighter than ever. Here are our A to Z picks for the top 30, 30-and-under riders from around the globe this year.

1. Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqui

Age: 22
Competing For: UAE
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horse: Enjoy De La Mure

The 2024 season was the year of Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqui and Enjoy De La Mure, the 11-year-old Selle Français stallion with whom he made his Olympic debut in Paris in 2024, finishing 19^th overall. The pair also earned a 1.55m Grand Prix win in Montefalco, Italy and a Nations Cup win in Sharjah, UAE, the same season. They currently maintain a 50% clear rate at 1.55m, finishing in the top 10 56% of the time at that height (Jumpr). In 2025, they finished second on the podium in the prestigious Al Shira’aa King George V Gold Cup Grand Prix at Hickstead—fitting, since Al Marzooqui, himself, is a rider for of Al Shira’aa Stables.

2. Harry Charles

Age: 26
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Sherlock, Casquo Blue

Harry Charles was already a seasoned Olympian and had barely passed his 25th birthday when he and Romeo 88 earned a team gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024—with a broken arm, no less. Charles, who led the U25 standings for two years, previously won the FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in La Coruña in 2023 and the LGCT Grand Prix of London in 2024 with currently top mount, Sherlock. In 2022, Charles finished 4th at the FEI World Cup Finals in Leipzig. 

3. Emilie Conter

Age: 25
Competing For: Belgium
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horse: Portobella van de Fruitkorf 

The 2025 season has been a momentous one for Emilie Conter, who not only cracked the top 100, but moved into second place in the U25 rankings, and earned her first 1.60m 5* Grand Prix win this March in Wellington aboard her top mount, the 10-year-old Belgian mare, Portobella van de Fruitkorf. According to Jumpr, Conter may be poised to crack the €1 million career-earnings mark by end of year, and currently finishes in the top 10 in 27 1.60m+ rounds with “Bella” 52% of the time. 

4. Daniel Coyle

Age: 30
Competing For: Ireland
Grand Prix Wins: 33
Top Horses: Farrel, Legacy, Incredible

Since joining Lothlorien Farms in 2016, Daniel Coyle has collected more than 30 Grand Prix titles and €5.5 million in prize money across North America at venues including Wellington, FL; Thermal, CA; and Langley, BC—and finally, this summer, the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Cup Spruce Meadows. His streak has extended across the pond with 5* 1.60m Grand Prix wins in Rotterdam, London, Leipzig, and Amsterdam—not to mention his 2024 Olympic appearance in Paris. At press time, Coyle was ranked at no. 9 in the world.

5. Natalie Dean

Age: 26
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 5
Top Horses: Crescendo Mb Z, Acota M, Con Calma

As a junior, Natalie Dean competed in three FEI North American Youth Championships, winning team bronze in 2017, team silver in 2018, and team silver and individual bronze in 2019. As a regular competitor on the GCL circuit since 2023, Dean helped the Cannes Stars powered by Iron Dames to the 2024 Championship and to a 2nd place finish in 2025. She has also been a regular for U.S. senior Nations Cup teams, earning second place at the 2021 Spruce Meadows BMO Nations Cup CSIO5*, and a win in last winter’s CSIO4* Nations Cup in Wellington. 

6. Kim Emmen

Age: 30
Competing For: NED
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Imagine N.O.P.

Kim Emmen burst onto the international stage when she was called-in to pinch hit for the Dutch team at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Jumping multiple clear rounds with the grey gelding Imagine N.O.P., Emmen quickly became known around the world for her cool head under pressure and ability to jump clears when it counts. This year, Emmen and the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Imagine N.O.P. finished 8th individually at the European Championships, 3rd in the LGCT Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, and currently boast a 58% clear rate at 1.60+ (Jumpr Stats).

7. Antoine Ermann

Age: 24
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: Floyd Des Pres

As the son of equestrian parents based in Burgundy, France, Antoine Ermann graduated from ponies into the Young Rider European division, winning the French Junior Championship in 2019. As a rider for the Sadran family’s Ecurie Chev’el, Ermann and the 10-year-old Selle Français stallion, Floyd Des Pres, recently cracked the Longines Ranking top 100. Jumping their first 5* Grand Prix in January, the pair finished 16th individually at the 2025 European Championships and recently took third in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Lyon.

8. Mimi Gochman 

Age: 21
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 6
Top Horses: Cosmos Bh, Inclen Bh

Regularly situated in the top-20 on the FEI U25 rankings, Mimi Gochman followed her mom Becky Gochman into the sport, winning team and individual gold at the Youth Equestrian Games in 2022. One year later, Gochman took 3rd place in the 1.55m 5* MLSJ Toronto Grand Prix with Cosmos Bh, won a qualifier in Spruce Meadows on Celina Bh, jumped on her first senior Nations Cup Team in Wellington, and won the Longines FEI Rising Star award. In 2024, she and Cosmos Bh notched their first 1.55m 4* Grand Prix win in Upperville and, this November, Gochman and Inclen Bh took 3rd in the FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Toronto.

9.  Carlos Hank Guerreiro 

Age: 25
Competing For: MEX
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z

Carlos Hank Guerreiro is a regular fixture in the top 10 of the FEI U25 Rankings and helped Mexico to a team bronze at the 2018 Young Riders. He made his Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games with the 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding, H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z. In 2025, he went on to win his first 4* 1.60m Grand Prix in Wellington in March with “Porthos”, and in June, finished 2nd individually in the Second GCL competition in Paris with H5 Nostalgie. 

10. Sophie Hinners

Age: 27
Competing For: GER
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Iron Dames My Prins, Iron Dames Singclair, Iron Dames Combella

Having finished on the podium at the U25 Springpokal Final in Aachen in 2021, Sophie Hinners hasn’t slowed down. A key member of the Cannes Stars, she helped the squad to the GCL Championship title in its debut season in 2024, and won her first 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in the FEI World Cup qualifier in Verona the same year. Hinners currently finishes in the top 10 at 1.60m+ 52% of the time or more aboard all three of her top mounts (Jumpr Stats). This season, she finished 5th at FEI Jumping World Cup Finals, and earned team bronze and a 6th place finish individually at the Longines FEI Jumping European Championships.

11. Seamus Hughes Kennedy

Age: 23
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horse: ESI Rocky

Bred by his uncle, Andrew Hughes, Hughes Kennedy’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, ESI Rocky, has brought him from an individual gold medal at the 2023 Young Rider Europeans at the tender age of 21 to a 5th place individual finish at the Senior FEI European Championships this summer. The pair burst onto the scene this past spring when they jumped 0/0 for the winning Irish squad at CSIO5* 1.60m Barrière Nations Cup in La Baule, after finishing 4th in their first-ever 5* Grand Prix in Rome one week earlier. According to Jumpr Stats, Hughes Kennedy and “Rocky” jump clear at 63% in 11 rounds at 1.60+, finishing in the top 10 82% of the time.

12. Lillie Keenan

Age: 29
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 8
Top Horses: Argan De Beliard, Kick On, Fasther

Lillie Keenan made her name stateside as one of the winningest equitation riders of all time. She needed time to grow in the Grand Prix ring, and the right mentor in McLain Ward. Beginning in 2022, Keenan came out swinging and has since notched at least one 5* win a year beginning in Monterrey Mexico (2022), Spruce Meadows and MLSJ Ottawa (2023), and MLSJ Toronto (2024), earning over €3.6 million in prize money. In 11 starts this year with her top team mount, Argan De Beliard, Keenan jumps clear at 1.60m+ at a 55% clip. She is ranked no. 25 in the world.

13. Nina Mallevaey

Age: 25
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Dynastie De Beaufour, My Clementine, Nikka VD Bisschop 

Climbing the ranks under the tutelage of Julien Epaillard and Eric Lamaze, Mallevaey officially hit her stride in 2025 when she won the Rolex Grand Prix of Brussels. As the season progressed, the rider for Tara and Mark Rein proved she’s no mere flash in the pan, climbing more than 70 placings to no. 17 in the world, with 5* podium finishes in Spruce Meadows, Rotterdam, and Rome. Aboard her top horse, Dynastie, Mallevaey boasts a 59% top 10 finish rate in 32 rounds at 1.60m+ (Jumpr) at press time.

14. Alex Matz

Age: 29
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Ikigai

As the son of Olympic medalist and Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Michael Matz, Alex Matz has grown up with a foot in both the show jumping and racing worlds. In 2024, he and the 12-year-old KWPN stallion Ikigai came into the sport’s purview when they won the 5* FEI World Cup qualifier in Toronto after taking second in the 5* Hampton Classic Grand Prix that summer. Matz made his senior championship debut at Longines League of Nations Finals last October, and was selected to jump for Team USA in the prestigious Nations Cup of Ireland this August. Two months later, he and Ikigai took 2nd in the 5* Grand Prix of the City of Barcelona.

15. Jessica Mendoza

Age: 29
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horses: In the Air, Summerhouse

Currently ranked at no. 40 in the world, Jessica Mendoza struck out on her own in America when she was just 24 years old. Even then, she was a championship veteran, having earned back-to-back silver medals with the British team at FEI Nations Cup Finals in 2015 and 2016 with Spirit T. This year, Mendoza helped the British team to a 2nd place finish in the Agria Nations Cup of Great Britain with Summerhouse. With her top horse and partner of nearly two years—the 12-year-old KWPN mare In the Air—she won the 5* Longines Hampton Classic Grand Prix in August and currently posts a 50% clear rate in 20 rounds at 1.60+ (Jumpr).

16. Mégane Moissonnier

Age: 28
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horse: Crooner Tame, Qoup De Coeur De Muze

Born into a horse-breeding family in France, Moissonnier grew up near Lyon and competed at three Youth European Championships, going on to ride for her country on Senior Nations Cup teams at St. Gallen, Dublin, and La Baule. In May, Moissonnier—a rider for Laurent Guillet’s Haras de la Côte—and the 13-year-old Selle Français stallion Crooner Tame won a 4* 1.55m Grand Prix in Bourg en Bresse. The French rider has finished on six podiums this year at 1.50m and higher, earning more than €1.2 in career prize money, according to Jumpr Stats. 

17. Ioli Mytilineou

Age: 28
Competing For: GRE
Grand Prix Wins: 2
Top Horse: La Perla Vd Heffinck, L’Artiste de Toxandra

Mytilineou has been cutting her teeth on the GCL for the last three seasons. This year, however, has been the biggest of her career thanks to two, top-5 1.60m finishes at CHIO Aachen, and a win in the 5* LGCT Grand Prix of Madrid with the 14-year-old Belgian gelding L’Artiste de Toxandra. L’Artiste was also her pick for her 2024 Paris Olympics debut, following in the footsteps of her mother, Hannah Mytilineou, who competed in the Athens Games in 2004. Mytilineou has earned more than €1.2 million in prize money and has finished on 18 podiums at 1.50m and higher (Jumpr stats). 

18. Michael Pender

Age: 26
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 29
Top Horse: HHS Los Angeles, HHS Cyprus 

As the longtime rider for Ireland’s Hughes Horse Stud, Pender has taken home multiple gold medals at the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium and was named the 2016 Irish Field Junior Show Jumper of the Year. In 2019, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Hickstead Derby, and this season, was part of the silver medal-winning Irish team at Longines League of Nations Finals in Barcelona with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare HHS Los Angeles. In February, Pender and Los Angeles also won a 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. 

19. Jeanne Sadran

Age: 24
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: Dexter De Kerglenn

Currently ranked in the top-three in the U25 Rankings, Jeanne Sadran officially burst into the international spotlight in June of 2024, when she and the 12-year-old Selle Français stallion Dexter De Kerglenn won the 5* LGCT Grand Prix of Paris. This summer, the pair jumped 0/0 for the Senior French team at the Longines League of Nations Rotterdam, and they were selected for the French squad at the 2025 European Championships one month later. Sadran, too, has crossed the million-dollar mark in career earnings, with more than €1.3 million in prize money.

20. Spencer Smith

Age: 28
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horses: Keeneland, HHS Seattle

The son of Ashland Farm owners Ken and Emily Smith, Spencer Smith had a successful junior career, winning the 2014 Pessoa/U.S. Hunter Seat Medal Finals. He’s spent the last six seasons competing as part of the GCL’s New York Empire team, earning well over €1.9 in career total prize money. In 2024, Smith jumped 0/0 for Team USA in the Nations’ Cup of Ireland with the 12-year-old Zangersheide gelding Keeneland—a feat the pair repeated at CSIO5* Falsterbo this July. In 2025, Smith finished on the podium in 4* Grand Prix in WEF with HHS Seattle and took second in the FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Traverse City in September with Keeneland.

21. Thibeau Spits

Age: 24
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 12
Top Horse: Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z

This summer, after a series of standout senior Nations Cups appearances, Thibeau Spits made his first championship appearance count, helping the Belgian team to the top of the podium at the 2025 European Championships aboard the flashy 10-year-old stallion, Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z. Paired together since 2021, the longtime partners took home their first 2* 1.45m Grand Prix in Gent in 2024, followed by the LGCT Grand Prix of Riesenbeck just a few months later. This year, they jumped clear in 25 rounds at 1.60m+ at 52%, finishing in the top 10 a standout 61% of the time. 

22. Václav Stanek

Age: 30
Competing For: CZE
Grand Prix Wins: 3
Top Horse: Quintin

A groom-turned-rider for Ariel Grange’s Lothlorien farm, Stanek made his 5* Grand Prix debut and earned his first 5* win during the 1.60m Duncan Ross Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows in 2024 aboard Quintin—also becoming the first rider from the Czech Republic to win a 5* title anywhere in the world. One year later, Stanek and the 15-year-old Dutch gelding repeated the feat, this time in the RBC Grand Prix of Canada. “I believe that a complete rider and horseman must be able to do it all, from the young horses to the bigger sport,” Stanek has said. 

23. Sanne Thijssen

Age: 27
Competing For: NED
Grand Prix Wins: 33
Top Horse: Con Quidam Rb, Cupcake Z

Few partnerships in show jumping have the kind of long-term staying power as Sanne Thijssen and the 19(!)-year-old Holsteiner stallion, Con Quidam Rb. Back in 2022, the pair won a silver medal with the Dutch team at the 2022 World Championship in Herning, and they were part of the winning squad in 2021 at the FEI Nations Cup Final. They are equally competitive as individuals, winning a whopping eight, 1.60m Grands Prix, including the 5* LGCT Grands Prix of Madrid (2022) and Valkenswaard (2023), and earning €1.4 million in prize money. In October, Thijssen also took home her first CSI5*-W FEI World Cup qualifier in Oslo aboard Cupcake Z. 

24. Gilles Thomas

Age: 27
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 21
Top Horses: Ermitage Kalone, Qalista DN, Luna van het Dennehof

With nearly as many total Grand Prix wins as he has years on earth, Gilles Thomas is already an Olympian, a European team gold and individual bronze medalist, a two-time Belgian champion aboard the 11-year-old Selle Français stallion Ermitage Kalone. This season, Thomas took home three, 5* LGCT Grands Prix in New York, Paris, and Shanghai, securing both the GCL Championship for Valkenswaard United as well as the individual 2025 LGCT Championship. All that has led to more than €4.9 million in total prize money (Jumpr Stats) and a ranking position at no. 5 in the world.

25. Jos Verlooy

Age: 29
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horse: Fts Killossery Konfusion

In less than 30 years, Jos Verlooy has already jumped more championships than many top riders twice his age. The Belgian rider competed in his first FEI World Equestrian Games at the tender age of 19 with Domino, and his first FEI Jumping World Cup Final one year later, finishing 5th. This year, Verlooy and the 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Fts Killossery Konfusion took home two, 1.55m 4* Grands Prix wins in Thermal, California. According to Jumpr, Verlooy has finished on more than 30 podiums at 1.60m+, earning more than €4 million in prize money.

26. Richard Vogel

Age: 28
Competing For: GER
Grand Prix Wins: 40
Top Horses: United Touch S, Claudio, Levi Noesar, Gangster Montdesir

From the minute they burst onto the scene, the reigning European Champions Richard Vogel and United Touch S have been the talk of the town, winning a total of five, 1.60m+ 5* Grands Prix together, and making Vogel a regular fixture in the top-five of the Longines Rankings. This year, the German Olympian has won 1.60m Grands Prix in Wellington, Hong Kong, and Lyon, France; and jumped 0/0 with United Touch S to help win the Nations Cup of Switzerland for Germany. Recently, Vogel won the 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Lyon with Gangster Montdesir, and currently finishes in the top 10 in 52 rounds at 1.60m+ 60% of the time.

27. Alessandra Volpi

Age: 25
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 3
Top Horses: Gipsy Love, Glamour Girl, Qannando B & V

After a successful junior career that included a team silver medal at the FEI North American Youth Championships in 2019—while still a student at Stanford University—Alessandra Volpi graduated to Senior Nations Cup competition in 2023, and recently jumped for Team USA in this year’s Longines League of Nations Finals in Barcelona. Currently ranked second on the USEF U25 Rider Rankings, Volpi has qualified and competed in two, FEI Jumping World Cup Finals, finishing 3rd in this year’s Second Final Competition with Gipsy Love. This fall, Volpi and Qannando B & V won the 3* 1.55m Grand Prix in Lichtenvoorde.

28. Tom Wachman

Age: 20
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 2
Top Horse: Tabasco De Toxandria Z

A regular fixture in the top 10 of the FEI U25 rankings, Tom Wachman—a protégée of Cian O’Connor—jumped on his first 5* Senior Nation’s Cup team in Baule in 2023 when he was just 18 years old. One year later, Wachman helped the Irish to European team gold at the Young Riders level, and he hasn’t slowed down since. In March, he finished 3rd in the 1.60m 4* Grand Prix in Wellington with Do It Easy; five months later, Wachman jumped double-clear for podium-finishing Irish squad in the Nations Cup of Ireland. According to Jumpr Stats, the 2025 FEI Rising Star Award-winner and the 10-year-old Zangersheide stallion Tabasco de Toxandria Z finish in the top 10 62% of the time in 21 rounds at 1.60m+.

29. Jack Whitaker

Age: 24
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 8
Top Horse: Valmy De La Lande

Part of the famous Whitaker show jumping dynasty, Jack (son of Michael, nephew of John) earned team silver at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and individual silver and team bronze at the 2021 Young Rider Europeans. One year later, Whitaker finished 5th at FEI Jumping World Cup Finals in Leipzig with the 16-year-old Selle Français stallion, Valmy De La Lande. As the U25 rider for the GCL Madrid in Motion team, Whitaker was in the top 15 of the FEI U25 rankings at press time. In March, he won a 1.50m 3* Grand Prix in Arezzo, Italy with Valmy De La Lande; Whitaker and Jack Jl were also part of the winning British squad in the Longines League of Nations Gassin – St. Tropez in September.

30. Skylar Wireman

Age: 21
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Barclino B, Tornado

In addition to a successful junior career that included multiple West Coast equitation titles and double gold medals at this year’s FEI North American Youth Championships in the Young Riders division, Wireman burst on to the scene with her victory in the 4* FEI World Cup Qualifier in Fort Worth, TX in 2024; she made her FEI Jumping World Cup Finals debut that same year in Riyadh with Tornado. A regular on the Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) circuit, Wireman topped the USEF FEI U25 Rankings at press time. This November, she and the 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Barclino B, finished 2nd in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Toronto.

Those are your top 30, 30 & Under show jumpers. Who’d we miss?

The post Top 30 30-&-Unders in Show Jumping Right Now appeared first on Horse Network.

Andrew McConnon Is Second American Suspended by FEI for Horse Abuse This Year 27 Nov 2025, 2:21 pm

American eventer Andrew McConnon has been suspended for 20 months and fined CHF 2,500 by the FEI Tribunal for horse abuse. McConnon is the second international competitor to be suspended by the FEI this year for abusing horses, both are American.

McConnon was provisionally suspended on January 8th after disciplinary proceedings were opened by the FEI following allegations of abuse involving numerous horses. The allegations were first brought to light by an anonymous report submitted to the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) that included materials showing abusive behaviors. USEF referred the matter to the FEI after determining the federation did not have jurisdiction over the matter.

In its decision, the FEI Tribunal found McConnon “to have engaged in abuse of horse as well as in a conduct that has brought the FEI and equestrian sport into disrepute thereby violating Article 142.1 (Abuse of Horse) in conjunction with Article 164.11 (Offences) of the FEI General Regulations. McConnon was further found to have breached the FEI Code of Conduct on the Welfare of the Horse by those same actions.”

Athletes under suspension are banned from taking part in any competition, event, or related activity under the jurisdiction of the FEI or any National Federation and from training any athletes or horses registered to such.

McConnon can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of the full decision.

The eventer is the second American to be sanctioned by the FEI for horse abuse in 2025. Earlier this year, dressage rider Cesar Parra was suspended for 15-years and fined CHF 15,000 plus legal costs of CHF 10,000 for “recurring and serious abuse” of multiple horses over several years. His suspension, currently under appeal, is the longest ever for a dressage athlete.

McConnon’s suspension will end on September 8, 2026.

The post Andrew McConnon Is Second American Suspended by FEI for Horse Abuse This Year appeared first on Horse Network.

Amy Brattebo Personal Real Estate Corp. Properties of the Month: November 25 Nov 2025, 1:00 pm

Do you dream of acreage living in beautiful British Columbia?

Award-winning realtor and longtime Langley, BC resident Amy Brattebo specializes in helping others find their perfect country oasis farm, equestrian property, or just some extra space and a yard to roam to call home.

Here are a few of the spectacular properties currently on offer:

25125 72 Avenue, Langley, BC

We have four words for you: dreamy, whitewashed, equestrian estate. Surrounded by grape vineyards, a pond, perennial gardens, and 66.3 rolling and wooded acres, this 5-bedroom, 4.5-bath equestrian estate is just a short ride from the world-renowned Thunderbird Show Park. Blending rustic charm with high-end, custom finishes, this Georgie award-winning contemporary farmhouse seamlessly marries indoor and outdoor spaces—with broad windows to take in the mountain views, custom stonework leading to a cozy firepit, and a separate, 2-bedroom caretaker’s cottage. Top-of-the-line equestrian facilities include an outdoor ring and an elegant, 4-stall barn with an attached recreation room, wet bar, laundry, and more. 

910 Mabel Lake Rd, North Okanagan, Lumby, BC

Located on lush, green Okanagan Valley, this state-of-the-art equestrian facility is just 45 minutes from Kelowna International Airport and within easy driving distance of both Thunderbird (4.5 hours) and Spruce Meadows (6.5 hours) Show Parks. Tucked away on 200, fully irrigated acres, the property includes an elevated, 5-bedroom estate home with a sprawling, wrap-around porch, and a 37-stall show barn, breeding and quarantine facilities, a Grand Prix grass field, sand rings, a covered walker, and indoor arena. Plus: conference/assembly facilities for visitors complete with a kitchen, full bathrooms, offices, and guest rooms. Additional outbuildings include a comfortable farmhouse and a cozy gate keeper’s cabin.

910 Mabel Lake Road is ideal for use as a boarding and/or training facility, a high-end show barn, or a breeding operation and is currently being offered with a turnkey business, negotiable with the sale or with partnership options.

2473 240 Street, Langley, BC

In the shadow of snow-covered Mount Baker, this 13.5-acre, custom-built equestrian facility on 240th St. & 24th Ave keeps horses at the forefront. The c. 2018, wood-paneled main barn (104’ x 232’) includes an attached 80’ x 200’ indoor arena, and a dozen 12×12 stalls that open to outside-access turnout pens. The facility boasts 3 heated tack rooms, LED lighting, wash stalls, grooming bays, washrooms, a custom lounge, and more. Meanwhile, the extended property (4-bedrooms, 4.5-baths) includes an updated home with a pool and hot tub, a single-wide mobile home, and additional outbuildings (think: a 2-story shop, barns, and storage bunkers for sawdust and manure). Plus: natural gas, electricity and a high-producing well (50+ GPM).

4532 272 Street, Langley, BC

Well-positioned near Hwy 1 and Downtown Aldergrove, this 19.73-acre equestrian farm offers location, a newly renovated home, and land for farming. Currently used as a horse breeding farm, the property houses 40 stalls and an indoor arena, with a 70×200 indoor arena and combined 20,000-square-feet in its various outbuildings. These include a sprawling, recently updated, open-plan home with a fireplace, skylight, and attached deck. Ideal for multiple workers, the home includes three separate living spaces complete with two driveways. Plus: three-phase power at the road and City Water.

667 248 Street, Langley, BC

A 9.77-acre estate made for entertaining! Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, this stunning rancher features 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, office, dining room and a great room with 12’ ceilings and large windows showcasing panoramic views. The lower level includes a fully finished basement with a wet bar and media room while the 40’x20’ outdoor pool is enclosed by a striking glass dome for year-round use. Additional features include a generous sized triple garage, detached shop, and gated entry for optimal privacy, plus a six-stall barn and outdoor arena.

25309 72 Avenue, Langley, BC

Towering hedgerows skirt this stunning and private 7-acre equestrian estate. The sprawling 6 bedroom/6 bath main residence has been extensively updated while the fully renovated 2 bed/2 bath secondary home is ideal for extended family, staff, or rental income. Equestrian amenities include an 8-stall barn complete with a heated tack room, finished loft space and outdoor riding arena perfect for both professional and hobby riders. A large detached shop offers ample space for storage, projects or business needs. This turnkey property strikes the perfect balance between seclusion and convenience.

27382 84 Avenue, Langley, BC

Located just 10 minutes from Fort Langley and with easy freeway access and mountain views, this serene 13-acre property combines rural charm with city convenience. The 3,347 square foot home sits atop the back of the property for maximum privacy and offers 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a spacious rec room below, plus an outdoor pool surrounded by mature fruit trees. Perfect for equestrian enthusiasts, the property features 2 horse barns (8-stall, 4-stall), 5 paddocks, and ample storage and workshop space. (Think: 2,221 square foot workshop and 1,188 square foot storage.)

To learn more about these spectacular properties and schedule viewings, contact Amy Brattebo Personal Real Estate Corporation at (604) 613-1684 or by email at realestate@amybrattebo.ca.

The post Amy Brattebo Personal Real Estate Corp. Properties of the Month: November appeared first on Horse Network.

17 Totally-Legit, Not-at-All-Delusional Ways to Make Money Off Horses 25 Nov 2025, 10:35 am

Every horse person knows the math doesn’t add up. Horses cost more than we’ll ever make, yet we keep buying more of them. It’s like potato chips. One is never enough. 

My husband recently “suggested” I put together a plan for how more horses could make us money instead of hemorrhaging it. Naturally, I agreed. Because who doesn’t love a little harmless financial denial to distract him while I buy another pony?

So here it is. My foolproof, airtight business model for turning your horse(s) into dollars.

1. Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Service

Forget mowers. Rent your horse out to trim and fertilize yards. Bonus: your neighbors may question their life choices. But hey! Free pasture board.

2. Premium Compost 

Bag it, brand it, sell it. Gardeners call it “premium compost.” We call it “Bespoke Poop.”

3. Mobile Party Ponies

Birthdays, block parties, or random Tuesdays. The herd brings joy, and carrots. Not sure how your horse will feel after he spooks at the balloons and screaming children. He may hold a grudge….

4. Equine Cirque du Soleil

Teach your horse to bow, high-five, and ride a unicycle. He may already know some tricks like rearing, spinning, and bucking you on command. Perfect­—Vegas, here you come!

 5. BarnBnB

Rent out your stall for an authentic overnight horse experience, including the thrill of doing chores! Rustic chic. Fairy lights optional. Dust-and-manure aroma included. BYO sleeping bag.

6. Horse Yoga

Like goat yoga, but more dangerous. And since high-strung horse people need extra Zen, offer lots of alcohol.

7. Support Group

For horse lovers and/or their annoyed partners. Entry requirements: three bottles of wine, a sense of humor, a lack of sanity, and proof your bank account has been emptied by horse bills.

8. Equine Uber (Uber Neigh)

Transportation, old school. No refunds if someone gets bucked off.

9. ASMR Channel

High-quality recordings of hay munching, grain crunching, water slurping, and dramatic sighing. Horse ASMR — dropping at 3 a.m. on YouTube.

10. Influencer / Brand Ambassador

Posts one pretty video eating grass in the sunshine and suddenly wants $2,000 per sponsored post. Only wears tack made of rose gold and diamonds. DM to collab.

11. Equine Emotional Support Therapist

No credentials but will stand there blinking slowly while you cry. Not in most insurance networks but excellent for meeting deductibles.

12. Pony-OnlyFans

Relax, it’s just hoof pics. Barefoot or shod. Picked or unpicked. Somehow still $29.99 per month.

13. Equestrian Influencer Courses

Teaches other horses how to dump riders at the perfect moment for viral content. With bonus modules like, “How to Spook at a Rock,” and, “How to Do Absolutely Nothing but Still Look Adorable.”

14. Manure Message Delivery Service

My personal favorite. Instead of sending flowers, your horse delivers a fresh, steaming pile of honesty. Customize for drama level. Send to an enemy, frenemy, or ex.

15. “Don’t You Dare Touch Me” Etsy Shop

Merch inspired by mares: “Stay Away, I’m in Season,” “I Kick Out for No Reason,” “Approach at Your Own Risk,” “Ears-Flat-Back Kinda Day.”

16. Barn Ghost Tours

Midnight walks through the barn where you’re haunted by dirty tack  and cobwebs. The lights flicker every time someone mentions vet or show bills.

17. Horse-Pulled Bar Cart

Hitch your horse to a rolling bar. Perfect for shows, clinics, or any horse-related event. It’s basically the adult version of an ice cream truck. Who can resist? 

There you have it! Foolproof ways our horses can finally start paying their way. Maybe none of these ideas will make us rich (don’t tell my husband), but they’ll make us laugh—and if you’re a horse person, sometimes that’s the only thing keeping you from curling up into a fetal position and sobbing into your board bill. 

The post 17 Totally-Legit, Not-at-All-Delusional Ways to Make Money Off Horses appeared first on Horse Network.

Horse Bytes, the Podcast, Talks Prague Playoffs 24 Nov 2025, 11:11 pm

Now we got bad blood.

The Prague Playoffs got off to a dramatic start when Simon Delestre was disqualified, and his Istanbul Warriors team eliminated, in Round One of the GCL Super Cup for…an unfastened chinstrap. The very specific, but rarely enforced, FEI rule was put into effect following a formal complaint by a principal of The Cannes Stars, sparking a social media maelstrom of discontent and a full episode of heated debate on Horse Bytes, the Podcast, with Olympian Dani Waldman and superfan Sadhbh P.

Should Delestre have been eliminated? (Yes.) Does the FEI rule reward unsportman-like behavior? (Probably.) Is Sadhbh superfan crushing on Scott Brash? (Well…) Tune in to find out!

The post Horse Bytes, the Podcast, Talks Prague Playoffs appeared first on Horse Network.

The Rome Gladiators Vanquish Curse, Claim the GCL Super Cup 24 Nov 2025, 1:56 pm

No trip to Prague is complete without a glimpse of the city’s famed, medieval Orloj clocktower. But the 15^th century astrological clock, deemed by many to be a wonder of the ages, isn’t without controversy. 

Legend has it that the Orloj’s clockmaker, Mikuláš of Kadaň, was blinded by the city council in order to ensure he could never be hired to create a masterpiece like Prague’s Orloj for another nation. Kadaň took his revenge by cursing his own creation.

All that is to say, whether you find yourself indulging in supernatural musings or not, one could argue that the curse of the Orloj was in full effect this weekend at the GCL Super Cup Finals in Prague, where the course featured an Orloj-inspired oxer in honor of the host city (see featured image) during the final day of competition on Sunday. 

The (possible/plausible) hex began during the Semi-Finals on Friday, when Thibault Philippaerts’s martingale broke mid-course. It resulted in an immediate rail for him and Lyandro Mdb, and even more faults for an already-struggling St. Tropez Pirates team. But that was just the start.

By day’s end, the City of Prague would witness falls from two top riders—Ben Maher (GBR) and Katrin Eckermann (GER)—and, thus, the subsequent elimination of not one but two podium-finishing teams in the overall 2025 championship: the Shanghai Swans and the Cannes Stars. 

That left the season’s champions, Valkenswaard United, in sixth place and well positioned going into Sunday’s Super Cup Final, where they would once again start on a zero score. It wouldn’t last long. 

As the first team to enter the ring on Sunday, Marcus Ehning (GER) and Coolio 42 and Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) and Elysium quickly added 8 faults, a piece, to Valkenswaard United’s total. Even Gilles Thomas (BEL) and Ermitage Kalone—who normally have scope to spare—didn’t escape unscathed, clipping the back rail of the oxer in the final element of the triple to add another 4. 

A similar fate awaited New York Empire, with only the Rome Gladiators seeming unfazed by Course Designer Uliano Vezzani’s (ITA) unrelenting 1.60m track. Emanuele Guadiano  (ITA) and Esteban De Hus adding a rail to the team total, while both Peder Fredricson (SWE) aboard Alcapone Des Carmille, and Yuri Mansur (BRA) with the 18-year-old (!) Qh Alfons Santo Antonio, put up zeros. 

Branded “Yuri the Prophet Mansur” by class commentators for declaring that the Rome Gladiators would win this very event days before setting foot in the Final (and despite the team having never won a GCL Super Cup in the past), the Brazilian rider was never short on faith.

“I was believing since the beginning—since we decided to come, I had it really strong in my mind,” explained Mansur, who nonetheless knew his team had a tall order ahead of it. 

Just one rail separated the Rome Gladiators from the Basel Cosmopolitans, and two from both the Prague Lions and Riesenbeck International—the latter helmed by reigning Olympic Champion Christian Kukuk (GER) and Checker 47. The indomitable pair were looking fresh and on their game in Round 1, jumping an easy clear alongside teammate Maximilian Weishaupt and Zuccero HV. 

It looked to be smooth sailing for Kukuk in Round 2, as well, until the Prague Orloj curse/pure happenstance struck again. 

After pulling an uncharacteristic, casual rail at the first vertical, Checker 47—seemingly surprised by his own error—double-barrel kicked for few strides in the landing. Unfortunately, the distance from Jump 1 to Jump 2 was very much related, and with his horse mentally checked out, Kukuk was forced to abruptly pull-up.

(Was it just us, or did the Orloj Clock oxer, framed behind Kukuk in the live stream replay of his refusal, seem to loom ominously?)

The result: A costly 20 additional faults, which combined for a team total of 28 in Round 2, sending Riesenbeck International tumbling down the leaderboard. The ill fortune continued for both the Prague Lions and the Basel Cosmopolitans, both of whom suffered from a lack of clears, resulting in 20-faults a piece. 

It all came down to the Gladiators. 

After another valiant round with Esteban De Hus, Gaudiano added a second rail to his total, with Mansur and that venerable gentleman, Qh Alfons Santo Antonio, also dropping a pole. That left anchor rider Peder Fredricson trotting into the arena with a full three rails in hand between him and a win in the GCL Super Cup Final—not to mention the lion’s share of its €6.5 million purse for his team.  

But, Fredricson being Fredricson, he didn’t need them. 

Notching yet another clear, he and Alcapone became the only pair of the day to finish on a zero score, save Scott Brash (GBR) with Hello Jefferson. An Olympic team gold medalist and former GCL Super Cup winner in his own right, the cool-as-a-cucumber Swede was just the man to vanquish that curse/not curse of the Prague Orloj and to restore the rightful balance of the GCL. 

“You need to seek pressure to get better, and today, I found it!” said Fredricson after the class, seeming to speak for every rider who participated in 2025 GCL Super Cup competition throughout the course of the weekend. “We are very, very happy. This is an amazing show, and to win here, with this atmosphere, and these good riders, it was just amazing.” 

Also amazing? A good, sage-burning cleansing to start next season off right.

The post The Rome Gladiators Vanquish Curse, Claim the GCL Super Cup appeared first on Horse Network.

Is High Star Hero the Next Rothchild? 23 Nov 2025, 10:51 am

Fourth of July fireworks, changing of the seasons, Apple releasing a new iPhone—some things you can count on happening every year. McLain Ward winning a 1.60m Grand Prix is one of them.

Over the past decade not a single year has gone by in which Mr. Consistency didn’t claim at least one 1.60m GP title—and more often than not several. He has 36 Grand Prix wins at the height since 2015, half at the 5* level.

But he was cutting it close in 2025.

USA’s most decorated Olympic show jumper has won three CSIO5* Nations Cups, finished second in the Rolex Grand Prix at La Baule and won a 4* Grand Prix in North Salem this season (Jumpr stats). But a 5* GP win has been elusive. And with his top horse Imperial HBF sidelined by injury, Paris 2024 mount Ilex now under the saddle of Marlon Modolo Zanotelli, and his Tokyo Games partner Contagious retired in June, Ward was short on his usual horsepower and on weeks in the calendar to do it.

On Saturday evening in Los Angeles, High Star Hero answered the call.

The pair topped a seven-horse jump-off that included world no. 1, 6 and 8 in Kent Farrington, Richie Vogel and Laura Kraut, respectively, plus rising star Nina Mallevaey, on form Aaron Vale and newly crowned Canadian champion Kyle Timm to secure the biggest victory of their partnership. And High Star Hero’s first GP win at any height.

Their winning jump-off time of 33.99 seconds was the only sub 34 round of the evening, earning an ecstatic fist pump from Ward. Vogel finished second with nine-year-old Gangster Montdesir (34.39 seconds). Mallevaey, third with Dynastie de Beaufor (34.7s).

“Sometimes we rally, and this horse has stepped up. He’s been…knocking on the door, and I’m really thrilled for him to get a win for our whole team” he said.

Ward has been partnered with High Star Hero since last summer. The pair found immediate success, winning the 1.60m Grand Prix qualifier at the Hampton Classic, a title they defended in 2025.

“Hero is a very talented horse—very careful, very sensitive,” Ward explained. “I remember back to the days of Rothchild: I said, ‘This is our best horse [right now], and he has a lot of good qualities, and we’re going to have him dig in here, and he’s risen to the challenge.'”

That’s a telling comparison. Rothchild went on to win four 1.60m GP titles for Ward, including his first individual championship medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

Ward now sits second in the North American League standings on 36 points. Conor Swail (IRL) leads with 41 points with Kraut in third on 33. The World Cup next stops in A Coruña, Spain on December 7 with the NAL resuming in Thermal, USA on January 31, 2026.

The post Is High Star Hero the Next Rothchild? appeared first on Horse Network.

It’s the Climb for Abdel Saïd and Bonne Amie 22 Nov 2025, 9:37 pm

In a sport where riders race to the finish line and hundredths of a second can mean the difference in tens of thousands in prize money, Abdel Saïd’s LGCT Super Grand Prix win in Prague was a slow climb to the top of the podium. And a nerve wracking one at that.

Saïd was of 11 clears in the first round aboard his veteran partner Bonne Amie, the same mare that helped him capture back-to-back LGCT Grand Prix wins in Doha in 2024 and 2025 to qualify for the LGCT’s season end championship.

Sixth to return for the second round against the clock, risk was his only option. With on-fire Harrie Smolders and Monaco, Gerrit Nieberg and the snappy Ping Pong van de Lentamel, Scott Brash and speedy Hello Chadora Lady and a determined Simon Delestre on Cayman Jolly Jumper, Saïd knew the threat coming behind him.

And risk it he did. The Belgian rider and 12-year-old ESHB mare (A Big Boy x Landfriese I) lay down a blistering track, stopping the clock at 62.43 seconds and setting the new standard. But they dropped a rail too, leaving the door wide open to any clear round.

All that was left to do was wait.

Seven more pairs took to the O2 Arena. Smolders and Monaco dropped a rail in a steady 66.4, moving Saïd one spot up the leaderboard.

Thibault Philippaerts dropped four poles and Anastasia Nielsen retired, bumping him up two more.

Kukuk and Nieberg each faulted at the double and Kukuk once more after it. Suddenly, Saïd was in podium contention.

And he just kept climbing.

A run out put paid to Emanuele Camilli’s bid. Brash and Hello Chadora Lady tied on faults but were over three tenths of a second slower through the timers.

Then came the last: Delestre on Cayman Jolly Jumper.

The Frenchman riding for redemption after Thursday’s shock disqualification in the GCL Super Cup due to a chinstrap malfunction.

And he came close.

An early rail in the triple forced Delestre to put the pedal to the medal. He raced through the timers, stole a glance at the scoreboard and…grimaced in defeat. By the smallest of margins. A mere two hundredths of a second too slow.

Cut to an ecstatic Saïd in a back thumping embrace in the warmup ring.

“It’s unbelievable, I am still trying to take it in—I am very proud of my horse,” said an emotional Saïd.

“I am annoyed with myself because that is how we are… we criticize the small thing that went wrong. But she’s a big lady to go fast in an indoor arena. In my heart I knew it was a long shot to win with so many good horses and riders to follow. I certainly didn’t expect to win the LGCT Super Grand Prix in Prague.”

The Prague Playoffs culminate Sunday with the GCL Super Cup Final.

The post It’s the Climb for Abdel Saïd and Bonne Amie appeared first on Horse Network.

Prague Playoffs Day 2: Casual DV Z & Katoulon Are the Real MVPs 22 Nov 2025, 10:48 am

The 2024 season champions Cannes Stars are out of GCL Super Cup contention. Eliminated when anchor Karin Eckermann fell on course.

Shanghai Swans met the same fate when Ben Maher parted ways with Dallas Vegas Batilly.

Thibault Philippaerts’s martingale broke midcourse, immediately followed by a rail. And more than half the 12-team field racked up cricket scores as they fought for a piece of the €2 Million in prize money on the table in the GCL Super Cup Semi Final.

In short: it was hard.

“This round is always a very, very difficult round,” reflected 2021 champion Olivier Philippaerts “It’s always been though. Every year we’ve come to Prague, this was the most difficult day.”

You wouldn’t know it watching Casual DV Z and Katoulon, though.

Of the four pairs that managed to chart a clear path around Friday’s challenging 1.60m course, the two 10-year-old bays were the only horses to jump double clear over the Thursday and Friday’s team events.

Casual DV Z (Cornet Obolensky x Cicero Z van Paemel), bred, developed and piloted by Pieter Devos, put a pair of duck eggs on the board for the home team, Prague Lions.

New partners Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Katoulon (Toulon x Celano) also managed the feat for Basel Cosmopolitans. The gelding joined the Brazilian rider’s string in August and has only four rounds at the height prior to this week.

Both teams advance to the Super Cup Final. But it’s Reisenbeck International leading the charge. The brothers Weishaupt, Maximillian and Philipp, and Christian Kukuk secured the best score of the night, finishing on a team total of 8, and will return in pole position on Sunday.

Kukuk and Philipp were part of the 2023 GCL Super Cup winning team.

“2023 is behind us but I think for both Philipp and I, we want to have that feeling once again, I think that was one of the greatest days in our careers that we had here two years ago, so we are really looking forward to have the chance on Sunday to fight and have that feeling once again.”

Sunday will tell if they can keep the clears coming. The top six teams return for the GCL Super Cup Final.

• Riesenbeck International
• Basel Cosmopolitans
• New York Empire
• Prague Lions
• Rome Gladiators
• Valkenswaard United

The post Prague Playoffs Day 2: Casual DV Z & Katoulon Are the Real MVPs appeared first on Horse Network.

“Wicked: For Good” Now Collaborating at a Horse Show Event Near You 21 Nov 2025, 2:57 pm

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Today, the second installment of the Wicked movie franchise, Wicked: For Good, will finally arrive in theaters around the globe. In the months leading up to its release, the film has earned a reputation for its extensive budget and seemingly endless brand collaborations, including everything from “Defying Gravity”-singing toothbrushes, to deodorant, color-changing mac n’ cheese, cereal, dishwasher detergent, and more. 

This month, however, the movie’s promotional team is moving their efforts into the wide and—they hope—lucrative world of sports marketing. Top on their list? Horse show venues, where they’re finding a receptive audience among pressed-for-cash show runners from coast to coast who are scrambling to cash-in on Wicked: For Good’s bronze-, silver-, and gold-level marketing packages.

“We see a lot of synergy and opportunity in the American equestrian community and we look forward to bringing the color, music, and insatiable joy of Wicked: For Good to a horse show event near you,” said Chad Keyes, a spokesman for the movie’s chief public relations officer. 

“Elphaba rides a broom, you all ride horses. I think we can all see the cross-over potential there, and man, it is seismic!” 

In addition to illuminated Wicked: For Good-sponsored scoreboards—surrounded by hundreds of pink and green lights that flash, with strobel effect, during night classes—the film’s marketing team will outfit each participating venue with a plethora of ringside signs and banners, as well as branded saddle pads, coolers, and other prizes for class and tri-color winners. 

“With Wicked: For Good’s nearly bottomless advertorial budget, we’re really thinking beyond traditional horse show sponsorship packages to what could be—and a rising tide lifts all boats,” Keyes said. 

“Our goal is to ensure that no part of your horse show experience is left untouched by Wicked: For Good: We’re going to greet you at the check-in booth with a merch bag. We’re going to brand the stabling tents in green and pink stripes. Every back number and rosette you walk out of the ring with is going to have a ‘brought to you by Wicked: For Good’ on it—and our team is continuing to think outside of the box. 

“We’re planning a dueling, sweet-and-spicy VIP menu inspired by the movie’s main characters, Glinda and Elphaba. And of course, ‘hers and hers’ signature cocktail recipes at the horse show bar after your class,” Keyes said.

“Depending on how your round went, you can either have the bartender shake you up a light and frothy Glinda strawberry champagne cocktail (hurray!), or a slightly more melancholy and intense Elphaba Absinthe Sazerac (dust yourself off—there’s always tomorrow!).” 

Keyes notes that the film’s elite, platinum sponsorship package includes a $75,000 Wicked: For Good-themed accumulator class, with participants required to jump in costumes inspired by the movie’s characters. Meanwhile, the course will include Land of Oz-themed jumps, including a yellow-brick-road wall, poppy-covered planks and jump standards, and of course, a towering, Wizard ‘Joker’ fence worth an additional 20 points. 

“It’s basically this massive, green, Wizard face coming out of this giant 5’6” jump—it’s so dope!” said Keyes, who dismisses recently publicized concerns from a panel of course designers and FEI stewards who say the jump’s potentially terrifying appearance may have long-term, negative effects on horses who enter the class. 

“I’m sure they’ll all be fine,” Keyes said, “or they won’t! But as they say in my business, the show must go on.”  

More satire from Nina Fedrizzi:

• Ros Canter Changes Her Name
• Parental ‘Sting’ Operation Breaks Up Underground Hobby Horse Ring
• New Drowsiness Alert Monitor Helps Ammies Stay On Track in the Tack
• Public Library Bans Beloved Children’s Horse Classics for Being “Too Godless”
• Three Things E.R. Doctors Wish You’d Avoid: “Horses, Horses & Smallish Horses”
• Olympic Rider Dispels the Myth of Wearing a Hairnet: “It’s a Personal Choice”

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The post “Wicked: For Good” Now Collaborating at a Horse Show Event Near You appeared first on Horse Network.

Simon Delestre Releases Statement on His Prague Playoffs Elimination 21 Nov 2025, 12:27 pm

Day one of the Prague Playoffs is in the books and drama is already running high.

Twelve teams took to the Global Champions League Super Cup Quarter Final on Thursday, with the top eight advancing to Friday’s Semi Finals where they’ll be joined by the 2025 season’s top four teams in a bid to qualify for Sunday’s €10 million Final.

But for one team: the Playoffs have come to an abrupt halt.

Istanbul Warriors, represented by Henrik von Eckermann (Steely Dan), Abdel Saïd (Bonne Amie) and Simon Delestre (Cayman Jolly Jumper), finished on 8 (4, 4, 0) in the Quarter Final to assure themselves of a spot in the second round of team competition. Until it didn’t.

Delestre was disqualified after the class due to an equipment failure when the chin strap on his helmet came undone on course. Under FEI rules, all athletes must wear securely fastened protective headgear at all times when mounted on the show grounds. The Frenchman’s disqualification also disqualified his team as all scores count in the GCL format. New York Empire moved into the eighth spot in their place.

Here is Delestre’s full statement, via Google translate:

“This week, I’m in Prague for the LCCT playoffs with my team, the Istanbul Warriors.

My horse, Cayman, jumped a clear round yesterday, allowing the team to advance to tonight’s semifinals and then to Sunday’s grand final. At obstacle number 9, the chin strap on my helmet came undone, unintentionally and without me even realizing it. So I jumped the last four obstacles with my helmet unfastened, without the judges signaling me to stop by ringing the bell. At the end of my round, my clear round was recorded and my performance validated at the end of the event.

Following this, the jury ultimately decided to disqualify me. The consequences are extremely serious, as my team, the Istanbul Warriors, is penalized for my clear round, preventing them from advancing to the semi-finals. My teammates also suffer the consequences indirectly.

Following a lengthy discussion this morning with the jury president, in accordance with FEI procedures, and despite all the evidence we presented, demonstrating a significant number of rounds during which riders, like me and despite their best efforts, had their helmets open, the jury president decided to uphold my disqualification.

To date, I am one of the few riders to have experienced such a firm and definitive interpretation of this FEI rule. No other rider has been disqualified, even though sometimes the same scenario occurred at the very beginning of the round.

Helmet use and rider safety are issues that greatly concern me and in which I am deeply involved, especially with my students. I have always been one of those who lead by example by wearing my helmet in all circumstances, even before it was mandatory. I understand the importance and necessity of this essential piece of safety equipment. Equipment approved by the FEI, if it becomes defective during the course, regardless of the rider’s actions, should not be able to influence the outcome of the competition, especially when the judges did not deem it necessary to interrupt the course to ensure the rider’s safety.

I find this decision unfair and inappropriate. Why do other riders, in the same circumstances as me, have their scores upheld, while I am disqualified?

I would like to thank the Istanbul Warriors for their support in this formidable competition. I thank the entire team for this year by their side. I would have liked a fitting end to our wonderful season!”

The GCL Super Cup continues Friday with the Semi-Final and concludes Sunday with the Final.

The post Simon Delestre Releases Statement on His Prague Playoffs Elimination appeared first on Horse Network.

Simone Besutti: “It took 800 days for me to post the canter again” 20 Nov 2025, 10:16 am

I’ve ridden horses for most of my life. Often times, it’s been young horses, and because of that it’s become a habit to be aware of the details that are going on around me. Especially at horse shows, because you never know what can happen. 

There are unexpected sounds—a motorbike passing by, or a flag snapping in the wind. 

Even when you’ve been doing this professionally for many decades, like I have, and even when you are well-prepared with your horses, and take all the precautions, the unexpected can still occur.

On May 17, 2023, I was just a couple of months into a new job working for Nicki Shahinian-Simpson and Riffle Hitch Stables, where it was basically my role to prepare the FEI horses for the students. We were in Lexington, Kentucky, on a Wednesday at the horse show, and I’d already flatted two or three horses that morning. We’d also shown a few horses in the Young Horse classes and some others. 

At about 10:30 a.m., I headed to the FEI warm-up ring, near the Rolex Arena, to ride one of the mares who would be competing a few hours later with one of our students. I’d been riding her for the last two or three months that I’d been hired, so I knew her fairly well by that point. 

She was very sensitive, and I was used to taking extra time and precautions when working with her. For instance, she had a hard time with the travel involved to horse shows, and also with her girth, so we would always walk her and put the girth up very slowly, one hole at a time. 

Her biggest thing was that when you rode her, you couldn’t get on using a mounting block, so our team had system for giving me a leg-up. At 10:51 a.m.—a time that will stay with me forever—I was getting ready to mount her, and we were along the edge of FEI schooling ring, near the bushes and the fence line. 

The groom gave me a leg-up, the same way we did every day. But before I had even touched the saddle, or had a hold of the reins, the mare suddenly bucked, hard. She sent me flying into the air, and as I fell, I landed between the horse and the fence, and my right leg hit the middle fence board on the way down. 

I think I very quickly went into shock at that point, so the details are still hazy. I have to rely on other people who were around me for what happened next. 

I know I was there on the ground—I never passed out—so I was awake and aware. But I wasn’t feeling any pain, even though I really should have been. 

I would learn later I’d suffered a compound, open pilon fracture of my right tibia, which basically exploded my ankle. The people around me could see that my bone had actually gone through my skin, and perforated through the double-leather of my riding boot. 

Nicki was up there at the ring with me, and I was hugging her legs and screaming. They told me after they could hear me screaming across the warm-up to the other side of the horse show. It was strange, though, because I wasn’t screaming in pain. 

The doctors told me later that with a major injury like mine, the body often shuts your pain sensors down immediately, so you don’t feel the injury. Although they had called the ambulance right away, it was late, so I ended up being down on the ground in the FEI warm-up area for almost 40 minutes. 

Finally, I heard the sound of the ambulance sirens, and the EMTS arrived to take me to the University of Kentucky’s UK ER. They were immediately concerned about the possibility of infection in my leg, given how long I’d been down on the sand. 

I still wasn’t feeling pain when we got to the ER, and I was angry and confused in the hospital, when the medical staff began to cut off my clothing. I saw this huge pair of scissors, and I realized they were cutting off a brand-new pair of breeches, and my Parlanti boots. 

I was almost more upset about that than the actual injury at the time, because I still wasn’t grasping how serious it really was. But it was bad. Two years later, the people who know me and were there tell me not to look at the pictures that were taken of my leg in the ER. 

They say I don’t want to see it, even now, so I haven’t looked. 

The ER doctors must have checked to make sure I hadn’t injured anything else in my body, and after that, they moved me to the Intensive Care Unit. 

As a rider, I’ve fallen off many times in my career, and I’ve had to go to the hospital for a couple of them. Once, I had to have a surgery on my right humerus bone after a fall. But as the day wore on, I was realizing those other times were nothing like this.

The doctors who treated me were kind, competent, and accommodating. They were smiling, and trying to be positive, but I could feel there was something in the air. 

The next four days in Intensive Care were a blur. There was no question that I needed surgery, but I was totally confined to my bed and on heavy pain and antibiotic medications while the doctors were deciding how to proceed. I couldn’t get up to use the restroom. It was just a very hard and frightening time. 

When I was at last able to have surgery, they put an external fixator on my leg to stabilize my break. That’s a device that attaches to the bones inside your leg with pins and wires, but it is connected to a frame that is built around the leg on the outside. 

When I woke up, I remember it was very strange to see my leg in that. But what I really remember feeling at the time was anger. 

For someone like me, who rides and trains for a living, I need my legs to move—to ride horses and walk courses with students. It’s how I earn my living, so I was immediately very concerned. Mostly, I worried about who would take care of my mother in Northern Italy.

They told me later that when I was on the ground, right after my injury, one of the things I was yelling was, “Who is going to help my mother? Who is going to help my family now?”

I don’t remember doing it, but it makes sense. I’m alone over here, and my family—even though they are far away—is everything to me. I had been helping to support my mother and sister from over here, and I was immediately fearful about what this injury would mean for them, too.

Thankfully, they never knew how bad it really was. Even today, my family probably only knows 50 percent of what really happened to me. 

I called them once before my first surgery, because I knew I was going to be under anesthesia. I minimized the surgery I was having, and told them it was just a regular fracture, but that because they were putting me under, I was calling them “just in case.” 

That first external fixator surgery gave me a bit of mobility, thankfully, and with the help of a roller, I could now get down from the bed, and use the restroom, and wash my face. I hadn’t been able to do any of those things for more than four days. 

But we knew I would need another surgery, maybe more, and the doctors were considering their next steps. At that point they weren’t sharing too much with me, but eventually they told me they wanted to fuse my ankle, which would have involved putting a rod or plate and screws through the joints. 

That would have protected my ankle and given me stability, but would have limited my mobility. For me, that was a terrible option, because I felt it would have been impossible to do my job—to put my heels down, or land after a jump. 

I give the doctors credit, because they listened to me, and once they understood what my goal was after rehabilitation, they came up with a different plan. 

Essentially, two weeks after my accident, they brought me back into the operating room, and they rebuilt my ankle the best that they could. They secured everything with a titanium plate on both sides of my leg, but they didn’t fuse the joints. The surgery went as planned, and they were happy with it.

But there were still no promises from the doctors at that point.

Everything would depend on whether or not it became infected. And, given how long I’d been down in the warm-up ring, infection was still a major concern. They told me my body’s reaction to the surgery, my own attitude, and how well I took to physical therapy and the rehabilitation process were also factors in how well I would recover. 

All those things were true. But, looking back, I believe it was also something else.

I have always tried to be a healthy person, and I consider myself to be, generally speaking, pretty fit and strong. But with something like infection, and who gets it, and who doesn’t, it comes down to luck in those situations, pure and simple. That part is not in your control.

*****

After my second surgery, I basically couldn’t move for a month. I stayed on the couch, and the only place I went was to check-ups every other week with my doctors. 

The first phase of rehabilitation I did was called ‘passive rehabilitation,’ meaning the physical therapists would stand at the side of my bed and manipulate my foot and ankle. Everything, at that point, was shut down, and so was the feeling in my ankle. They started, essentially, with one toe at a time.

The whole experience was like I was watching another person’s leg. 

My toes weren’t moving when I told them to, and the scary thing was there was no guarantee that I would ever regain feeling in my foot. They told me, best case scenario, I would probably always walk with a limp. 

That didn’t really bother me, or even the fact that I couldn’t run again. What I needed to be able to do—for my work and for myself—was to be on a horse. 

I’ve always been a perfectionist, and tough on myself, especially when it comes to my riding. My biggest fear, even as I began on the path of recovery, was that I was never going to be the rider that I once was. Back then, even sitting on a horse again seemed so very far away.

That’s what really scared me. If I’m honest, that was one of the darkest times in my recovery. 

I would sit there at home, after the physical therapists left, and see my leg not moving when I was telling it to. It definitely put me into a kind of depression. In general, I’m a fighter. But in those moments, I felt like surrendering. 

How could I ride again if I couldn’t even move my toes? 

I’m so grateful to Nicki and her family, but especially in that period, because I wasn’t at my best and they became my family here in America. They were there for me in every way when I needed them—and that’s a special thing, because it wasn’t the case with everyone. 

Some people that I expected to be there for me weren’t, and that was also difficult. Many more people were, though, and I will be forever grateful to them. They gave me the good vibes and the positive support that I needed. Eventually, the clouds lifted, and I started fighting again.

Because the risk of infection was still significant, my doctors wouldn’t allow me to fly down to Wellington, where our winter farm is, until November. When I got down there, I started to increase the PT I was doing, with more weight-bearing exercises on my leg. 

In January, I thought I might be ready to sit on a horse again, so I chose one of the client’s mares that I trusted. Her name was Evie, and she’s a big mare, and kind of motherly in a sense—she takes care of you. I felt safe on her and always knew she would be the one I wanted to ride first.

Fair to say, I was not scared at all to mount her, even though that was what I’d been doing when I was hurt. But when I sat down in the saddle and saw how my right leg looked at my side—just sticking out, away from the horse, with no flexion, and no mobility, I had had enough. 

I told the people helping me, I was like, “Guys, thank you, but I’m not getting back on a horse for a while. Let me go back to the physiotherapist and we’ll see what we can do.” 

I told myself that I was going to table my riding for a time. I didn’t want to get back on a horse until I could make my leg function the way I wanted it to, and the way I still believed that it could. I went back PT for another two months, and I worked harder than ever.

My healthcare team was still treating me very carefully, and they would only increase my exercises when my doctor in Wellington approved it, and only based on how my monthly X-Rays and MRI looked. 

One weekend, after I’d had my regular scans, my doctor called me, and I immediately thought, Why is he calling me on a Saturday morning?  

I was right to be afraid, because he said my MRI was concerning. He was worried that my ankle bone had stopped healing. 

That was a nightmare, because the solution was likely a third surgery, which would put a cadaver bone graft (called an allograft) into my bone to help stimulate it to grow. Not only would it be a third surgery, but it came with an increased risk of infection.

They had me come back into the clinic the next week. My doctor, thankfully, had come up with another solution. 

He told me that if I was willing to postpone my riding for a little longer, they could hold off on surgery and we could try a bone stimulator machine, which would use low-level electromagnetic pulses or ultrasound waves to stimulate healing in my bone. 

I had to use it every day, but thank God, it worked, and my bone started to regrow.

Throughout my rehabilitation process, I had gone from using a rolling walker to get around, to being on crutches, to then using a cane. Finally, I didn’t need anything to get around with. At that point, I felt like I was ready to try riding again. 

I started riding at the walk, and eventually, I began trotting. For almost an entire year, I could only do the sitting trot, because my stirrups had to be set at very different lengths—there was actually a 10-hole difference in the stirrups on my left and injured right sides.

I was also very weak on my right side, because I had lost all my muscle tone. I had to re-learn how to balance in the saddle using other parts of my leg to compensate. 

I worked very hard at that, and I had people film me in the saddle so I could study my position. At first, watching those videos was very difficult: it was almost as if I was looking at another man in the saddle. I didn’t recognize myself, and that was so frustrating. 

For me, this is my job—and I am very lucky that it is my job—but riding is so much more than that to me. It’s my passion and my life. The horses are a kind of sickness for me, in the best sense. I can’t be without them. But during my rehabilitation, that was always a double-edged sword. 

When I could finally be back at the shows with my team, I would sit there in the middle of the ring, and watch other people riding, and help to coach, and I would be happy. But then, I would also be thinking, Is this as far as I will go? Can I walk a course again with my students? Can I ride their horses again? 

Before the accident, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in hospitals or rehab centers. But in those moments, when I was struggling, I made myself pay attention to the other people there. I realized that yes, I was dealing with something major, but there were so many others out there struggling with injuries and illnesses that were far worse than mine. 

When I would go to the hospital for my follow-up checkups, or to my PT appointments, and I would feel sorry about my situation, I would focus on that aspect, and what I was still able to do. That put me in a better headspace, and it made me want to work even harder.

Because of the hardware in my leg, and relearning to walk on my new ankle, my doctors had to constantly check my leg for straightness. I still have monthly video calls with my PT team in Wellington so they can monitor it, and I’ll film myself riding regularly, to make sure my leg is straight, and in the correct position on the horse.

When I ride, I still don’t have full flexion in my right ankle. I can’t—as the up-down trainers always tell you—put my “heels down, toes up.” I will always have to get off on a mounting block, instead of dropping to the ground, since my doctors want me to be very careful about landing on my right leg. 

That’s also the reason I have to be thoughtful about the horses that I ride, and how fresh they are. It’s not because I can’t ride through what they might do when I’m up there. The worry is that, if I ever had to jump off quickly, for any reason, I can’t land on my right leg. 

I also like to joke that my dream of being a runner is over. But all that being said, there are worse prices to pay. 

Today, if you didn’t know I’d had the injury, and you see me on a horse, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell. It took me a while, but I can once again walk the strides on course with our riders before a class. And, as of the last few months, I can finally post the canter again.

It took 800 days. I counted.

From the day I fell off to this September, it was 800 days until I was able to work my horses again in the posting canter. That had been a goal of mine for a long time, but I wasn’t strong enough. Now that I can do that, I would say I’m about 90 percent back to where I want to be. 

That’s pretty amazing when you realize where I started.  

When I run across stewards, riders, and trainers at horse shows—people who were at the Kentucky Horse Park that day—they can’t believe that someone could recover from an injury like mine. They tell me, “You’re a miracle!”

I don’t know if that’s true. But I know that if it was not for the people who stood by me, for Nicki and her family, who supported me—and kicked my butt when I needed that, too—I would not be where I am now. 

I am thankful that I could wake up in the morning every day and feel lucky, because I still had the horses. I have always had the hope that I could someday get back to them. That is a gift. 

What to read next: “Talk Less, Observe More: Simone Besutti Is a Horse’s Horseman”

The post Simone Besutti: “It took 800 days for me to post the canter again” appeared first on Horse Network.

Dale Harvey: “You, you’re worth it.” 20 Nov 2025, 7:42 am

Dale Harvey, a former Grand Prix rider who twice represented Canada at the FEI World Cup Finals, is now the CEO of West Palms Events, a show management company that has produced events from USEF A-rated to FEI 5* levels. In 2015, Harvey established the Michael Nyuis Foundation to help give under-resourced young riders the opportunity to compete at Hunter/Jumper competitions. This is Dale’s story, brought to you by Three Mares.

Michael was a daredevil.

A real sportsman. An avid skier. A snowboarder. A mountain man, really. He enjoyed lots of outdoor, adrenaline-filled activities.

This one weekend, we were up the mountain snowmobiling. It was me, two of my brothers, Michael, and a friend from Spain. Michael was going to snowboard down, which he did, and my brother was supposed to video it but he left the lens cap on the camera. So Michael went back up the mountain to do it again, and on his way down he literally set off an avalanche. As we were filming it.

It was terrifying.

With avalanches, you think that it’s all snow. Well, it’s not snow. It’s chunks of ice and debris and all kinds of stuff. Somehow Michael was able to stay on top with his snowboard and pretty much landed right at our feet where we were parked with the snowmobiles.

I remember it like it was yesterday. He stood up and he looked at us on camera and he said, “Don’t tell my mom.”

That was just Michael.

I have three brothers and three sisters. Michael was my nephew, and we were really close. In the last few years, we didn’t spend a lot of time together, but when we got together, it was like we had been together the day before.

He was just about to turn 42 when he died. He was hiking on a fairly well-known trail north of Vancouver and had a heart attack. He was so far into the trail that there was really no help, and I don’t know whether it would have mattered. That was the end for Michael—he died doing what he loved.

It’s hard losing someone so young and especially somebody that was so dedicated to helping other people. He was really a selfless individual.

I knew that about him, but it really hit home at his memorial.

The service was held in a hotel downtown. It was a huge ballroom. And I mean, it was standing room only. The crowd literally was outside the door and down the stairs into the lobby of the hotel. What I discovered in those days after he passed was story after story of him doing incredible things for people just out of the goodness of his heart and on every level—from people that were living on the streets to people that he helped with their career or whatever it was.

He really was all about that.

And he was very non-materialistic. We had talked a lot about that prior to his death, just his philosophy on greed and coveting things and wealth and accumulation. When you have money and you’re doing well, everyone is willing to help you, but when you have nothing, very few people will step up. Well, that wasn’t the case with him.

Michael’s memorial really opened my eyes. I don’t think his death changed me, but it accelerated my priorities in the way I live my life and what I was doing with my career.

At that time, I had done a lot of philanthropic work with Compton Junior Posse, an inner-city program in Compton, CA, that was working to get inner-city kids off the street after school. Will Simpson connected me with Mayisha Akbar, who ran the program, and we started doing grants for those kids to compete at my shows and to send them to the Del Mar World Cup in school busses and stuff like that just to give them the opportunity to get involved.

After Michael passed, we established it as a charitable foundation called the Michael Nyuis Foundation (MNF) to support under-resourced young riders, and eventually started to develop a little broader curriculum.

MNF began giving grants to young riders aged 14–25, who otherwise would not have been able to afford to compete, and it grew from there. Now, we do workshops and clinics with top riders like Tiffany Foster, McLain Ward, Beezie Madden, Mandy Porter, Karl Cook, you name it.

But the program goes beyond the show ring.

All the recipients have to volunteer and work behind the scenes at the shows. They put in three hours per show at West Palms Events because there’s “no free lunch in life.” A huge part of the program is the commitment and follow–through, and we’re really strict about that. They have to make sure that they’re meeting their volunteer requirements and show up on the calls. Each recipient is required to be fully engaged and make a commitment to use the grant to its fullest.

In December 2024, we hosted our inaugural Michael Nyuis Foundation Charity Horse Show in Los Angeles. All of the current MNF Grant Recipients participate in organizing and running the show. It’s a Christmas show, so it’s got a great theme and atmosphere—the vibe is like no other show we’ve ever done. All the recipients pick a department they want to work in, whether it’s finance or hiring or facility liaison, and they help with the actual production of the show.

The MNF program helps shape these young individuals, in terms of accountability, responsibility, and reliability. It hones skills that they can bring with them into the real world to college, careers, and beyond.

The difference that I see in a lot of the MNF Grant Recipients, from the beginning to the end, is the confidence that it gives them.

Just the mere fact that they were chosen is something that’s never happened to these young people before. Nobody’s ever said, “You, you’re worth it.” And, it is life-changing for many of them.

I was at one of our shows in Los Angeles this summer and I had four kids come up to me that are now young adults and all four of them said, “I’m working for so-and-so and I’m so-and-so’s assistant and if it wasn’t for this program, I would never have been able to get to this point.” So, we have a huge track record.

Skylar Wireman, Amanda Gomez, Trent McGee, and Ian McFarlane were all in the program. We have probably over two dozen past recipients who are now young, successful equestrian professionals. It’s amazing and I’m very proud.

But there is still so much more we want to be doing.

There are supposed to be 12 recipients every year, but it always ends up being 18 because we can never get it down to 12. Last year, we had over 150 applications and at least 50 of them deserve to be in the program.

And that’s the hardest part. Because I understand what it’s like not to have access—I didn’t have it as a young rider either.

I grew up in North Bay. It’s a remote part of Ontario. There’s no show barn there. There were five or six horses, a couple geese, and some chickens. We didn’t have a ring. We didn’t really have jumps. I made the course out of whatever I could find on the farm—telephone poles, barrels, 50–gallon drums, all this junk basically. I would take these horses that my dad would find and make them work. As I got a little older, I ended up with a horse that I was able to go and do some junior jumper stuff with down in Southern Ontario and Toronto. It was just unlikely that I would end up in this industry or this business.

But through the help of a lot of different people and an obsession with it, I was able to make something happen. I have a list of folks that have helped me at different stages along the way: my parents, Mike Grinyer, Kenny Nordstrom, and Scott King, Kyle King’s dad. I mean, I have to do it for somebody else, obviously.

So that’s what I’m trying to do with the Michael Nyuis Foundation.

I want to try to expand it in terms of what we’re able to do for the recipients. I want to get to where we can provide help for kids wanting to do the medal finals and Young Riders, to give them opportunities outside of West Palms Events and our partner shows. But it comes down to fundraising and growing our donor base. For many years, I funded the foundation on my own, with the help of a few donors along the way. We are looking to take the Foundation to the next level.

We’re in our tenth year for MNF and we just passed a million dollars in grants.

I have moments where I think, ‘What are we doing?’ We should be feeding homeless people and doing something more basic. Or I get frustrated with the industry. But I think that the benefits of the program are so much broader than riding and competing. I think the riding part is really a footnote.

What keeps me motivated is our mission to try to give those young people an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have. I believe Michael would be proud of that.

I always sort of give my head a shake and wonder, what would he think about his name being out there like it is? Just the fact that people can pronounce it! It’s a well-known name now. I think he would laugh about it. He would think it was pretty funny.

Interested in supporting the Michael Nyuis Foundation? Head to nyuisfoundation.org to learn more.

Michael Nyuis Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization: EIN # 87-3490307.

This story is brought to you by Three Mares, is a purpose-driven collective of equestrian brands—Dreamers & Schemers Socks, The TackHack, and ManeJane—that donates 100% of its profits to organizations working to make equestrian sport more accessible, safe and inclusive of all athletes. Like the Michael Nyuis Foundation. Learn more at thethreemares.com.

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William Greve’s Pretty Woman Van’t Paradijs N.O.P. Is Ready for Her Close-Up 17 Nov 2025, 10:34 am

In a winning jump-off round, there’s often a make-it-or-break-it moment that marks the sometimes razor-thin line between victory and defeat. For the Netherlands’ William Greve, that moment was undoubtedly jump-off Fence 5 during the fourth leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier season at the Stuttgart German Masters. 

After a relatively conservative start to Course Designer Christa Jung’s (GER) looping, second-round track, Greve and Pretty Woman Van’t Paradijs N.O.P.’s bold gallop around the end of the arena snowballed into an unexpected flier at the wide, green oxer—requiring his 10-year-old Belgian mare to, essentially, grow wings and fly. 

“He got away with it! Well, he had to take a chance somewhere,” Commentator Alice Watson reflected, aghast. But Pretty Woman’s confidence in her longtime rider didn’t waiver. 

Greve quickly regained his composure and managed to rein-in Pretty Woman’s growing excitement, using her impressive power and stride-length to complete the rest of the course without fault. The pair stopped the timers at 44.62 seconds, securing the win. 

“This feeling, this is what we do it for—the adrenaline is unbelievable, the relief,” said Greve, who currently sits at #37 on the Longines Rankings. “It’s been a long weekend, I only had two horses here, but winning as the last competitor in the jump-off, for the amazing crowd here in Stuttgart, it’s a dream come true.”

Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira Almedia was second with Karonia L on 45.08 seconds, while Peder Fredricson (SWE) and Alcapone des Carmille rounded out the podium on 45.29 seconds. 

“I knew my jump-off [time] was not unbeatable, but, okay, I’m against the best horses and riders in the world,” Giesteira Almedia said. “I tried to make up my time as much as I could until the end, and it worked out—until the last rider! But that was Willem Greve, one of the best riders in the world. I have no words to describe how proud I am of Karonia.”

Carefully produced by Greve since her 6-year-old year, Pretty Woman Van’t Paradijs N.O.P. made her championship debut last summer at the European Championships in La Coruña, Spain. Together, they have finished on a total of six podiums at 1.50m and higher, and with this—their first 5* Grand Prix win—the pair adds their name to a list of just four, 9- and 10-year-old horses to win a 5* 1.60m Grand Prix so far this year (Jumpr Stats). 

Brazil’s Yuri Mansur, who finished 6th with QH Alfons Santo Antonio in Stuttgart, has moved to the top of the Western European League Standings on 28 points. Alain Jufur of Switzerland sits in second with 26 points, while Daniel Deusser (GER) and Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen (NOR) tie for third on 25 points.

Next up: the series moves on to La Coruña for its fifth leg, taking place December 5-7. 

For Greve, this career-high win with Pretty Woman, who he co-owns with Gerda Korbeld, was particularly emotional. “Pretty Woman is a very special mare to me,” he said, noting that Gerda’s husband, Dutch sport horse breeder and sponsor Gerard Korbeld, passed away last year. “I’m sure [Gerald is] somewhere up there, and he sees it,” Greve said.

“This mare is part of the family, and she will never leave.” 

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