Remember The Thoroughbred Option - Sixteen

The success of Laudanum xx is no surprise as his back breeding is a powerhouse of jumping genes and performance mares: It includes…BLANDFORD XX  x 7 (inc Umidwar xx, Blenheim xx & Brantome xx); BAY RONALD XX  x 9 (inc Son-In-Law xx, Rondeau xx, Dark Ronald xx & Teddy xx); Pharos xx / Fairway xx  x 5; THE TETRARCH XX  x 4; LE SANCY XX x 3, plus HURRY ON XX and TOURBILLON XX for good measure!

JAPPELOUP

Pierre Durand also rode the supreme equine gymnast JAPPELOUP.  In 1987 they won the European Individual Gold, beating no less than John Whittaker on Milton, and followed up winning Individual Gold at the Olympics the following year.

Jappeloup was out of a Thoroughbred mare by a Trotter stallion, but as trotters go back to Thoroughbreds he is included in my list of elite Thoroughbred jumpers. Jappeloup was only 15.2 and is therefore also included on my list of 100 elite Jumpers and Event horses 16.00 and under.

WHY BREED SO BIG?

Just as there is a modern negativity to Thoroughbreds there is also a negativity to what are described as “small horses”.

The sport horse world seems obsessed by the need to have a 16.2hh or 16.3hh horse to the detriment of soundness and longevity, when a 16hh horse was looked at as normal in the past, particularly a quality horse.

Upscaling a horse from 16hh to 16.3hh makes a considerable difference in their volume and weight and I can only say “Why” breed so big"?

We are breeding too many horses that are too big for a long and useful life and too big to be suitable for the riding population as a whole.

In particular there is evidence that increasing size is a negative factor both in increasing frequency of tendon and ligament injuries and in the escalation of Osteocondrosis … it is certainly true that Osteocondrosis is almost unheard of in the pony world.

TIGER ROLL XX, GALILEO XX, SADDLERS WELLS XX & NORTHERN DANCER XX

One of the hottest favourites at the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival last year was TIGER ROLL XX, winner of the last two Grand Nationals at Aintree and he is just 15.3hh! Supersire HYPERION XX was just 15.1hh when he won the Derby and also finished at 15.3hh, while the world’s most expensive TB stallion is is GALILEO XX who is 16.00hh, who was by supersire SADDLER’S WELLS XX who was 15.3hh, who in turn was by the 15.1 legend NORTHERN DANCER XX. I am not saying that all horses should be this size but equally it is daft to think that smaller horses are immediately considered undesirable.

RACHAEL BLACKMORE, USA THOROUGHBRED JUMPERS, PADRAIG McCARTHY & CATHAL DANIELS

For me the most wonderful possibility at the Cheltenham Festival is that Ireland’s RACHAEL BLACKMORE could finish as leading jockey. She is already inspiring to other female riders, but being leading jockey would change the minds of many trainers about the option of using female jockeys. As Patrick Mullins, son of leading Cheltenham trainer Willie Mullins, says, “She’s fantastic at getting horses to settle and to jump. I would have changed how I ride from watching her. It raises some questions. I was thinking about strength and Rachael is a nine stone girl and yet she’s as good as anyone.”

THE CONNECTION

There is undoubtably a connection between riding styles and the type of horses used.

The world beating USA show jumping team in the 1960s, 70s & 80s rode largely Thoroughbred Grand Prix horses inc

• Kathy Kusner (ABERALI XX, UNTOUCHABLE XX),
   
• Bill Steinkraus (SNOWBOUND XX, KSAR D’ESPRIT XX),
   
• Frank Chapot (GOOD TWIST XX, SAN LUCAS XX),
   
• Tony D’Ambrosio (SYMPATICO XX, SWEET ‘N LOW XX),
   
• George Morris (NIGHT OWL XX, SINJON XX),
   
• Michael Matz (MIGHTY RULER XX, JET RUN XX),
   
• Conrad Homfeld (BALBUCO XX, BONTE II XX),
   
• Rodney Jenkins (NUMBER ONE SPY XX, IDLE DICE XX).
   
• Joe Fargis (TOUCH OF CLASS XX),
   
• Greg Best (GEM TWIST XX).

Their balanced and harmonious style of riding, instilled by their coach Bert de Nemethy and others of that period, suited these horses.

They were in a minority because most European riders, for example Hugo Simon and Alwin Schockemohle, used an upright (and in Hugo’s case often leaning back) style, that was unsuited to these quality horses.

However just as Rachael Blackmore is currently successful and not so reliant on strength, so the pendulum has swung and the majority of top show jumpers now have a quieter style with a more consistent balance, and thankfully horses in a more natural outline. So they can ride more quality horses and also need this type for the modern galloping jump off tracks.

Of course the hugely successful more modern USA riders, like Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Beezie Madden & McClain Ward have also kept the De Nemethy balance.

This riding style has also come into Eventing with the huge success of William Fox Pitt, Michael Jung & Tim Price, and more recently with the pair of awesome Irish riders PADRAIG MCCARTHY and CATHAL DANIELS. Individual Silver Medalists at the last World and European Games respectively.

It is a joy to see them coming down to a fence with such fluency, including the minimum of body movement over the fence. Their horses love it!

This is yet another reason why we should be thinking about breeding more quality horses.