PrintOur columnist recalls the cyclical journey that the selection process has taken over the past few decades.
Jumping, like all equestrian sports, is a fickle game. With an endless variety of variables at play, not even the very best horse-and-rider combination is infallible on any given day. This situation means that selecting a team for an event such as the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games comes to as much art as science.
With our own Kentucky Horse Park playing host for the first time in the 20 years since all international disciplines came together to comprise the WEG, the desire of our riders—and the owners of our horses—to be part of the elite group of four to ride in the championships is especially intense.
No one makes the team on a whim anymore. It takes years of planning and hard work to even consider one’s self in the running. Actually, reaching the goal will require just a bit of plain old good luck as well.
The process of reducing a large group of focused candidates down to the strongest possible team to represent the country isn’t an easy one. It’s especially true when the ultimate goal isn’t simply selecting the team but, most importantly, having those elite of the elite left with their best still in them when they walk into the arena during those early days of October.
Subjectivity In Action
My own experience with the selection procedure is long and varied.
I was still riding during the later years of the Bert de Néméthy era. A largely self-taught youngster, I read incessantly of the exploits of Bill Steinkraus, Frank Chapot and Kathy Kusner. Like so many others, I secretly harbored the most unlikely dream of representing my country internationally.
Coming from the West Coast, I heard the frequent refrain, “making the team is so political, without moving to the East Coast there is just no way...”
To my mind, it likely had less to do with politics but instead with the simple situation that the greatest depth and strongest sport in our country took place on the Eastern seaboard. In any sport, to reach and remain at the top you need to be testing your skills against the best as often as possible.
During the de Néméthy days, he alone selected riders and horses to represent our country. Despite his many efforts at seeking and developing riders and horses with international aspirations and potential, the number of candidates was far fewer than is produced by today’s much more extensive sport.
Despite the undeniable talent of the international stars of the day—even as late as the early 1980s—there were a limited number of possible team members. Selecting a well-balanced team could be done solely utilizing Bert’s vast knowledge, skill and experience. Disappointments hurt individuals terribly, but it could never be doubted that Bert alwaysput the success of the country first when it came to making hard decisions.
Within the coming decades, the situation changed tremendously as the sport at home, and the interest of riders in international participation, grew by leaps and bounds.
By 1986, Bert had retired from his U.S. Equestrian Team position, and a new selection method had to be considered for the first time in recent history.
When a USET Selection Committee was formed for the 1986 World Championships team, I was honored to receive a phone call from Bill Steinkraus asking me to be the chairman. I was also naïve enough to accept the position.
