PrintWinning at Prix St. Georges at Majestic View I and II was just the icing on the cake after a long, hard road.
“Every time I finish a test on him, I am 50 percent smiling and 50 percent wanting to cry. I just can’t believe he’s come back and that I’m riding him,” Darcy Gaines said of Ornament.
Gaines has beat the odds of limited funds and a serious injury to bring Ornament back to winning form. At the Majestic View I and II, June 12-14 in Batavia, Ohio, they topped one Prix St. Georges class (66.05%) and were second in another (60.26%).
“I think every day what a blessing it is to have that horse and to sit on his back and ride him one more day, because in my heart I’d lost him. I’m so thrilled,” said Gaines.
Two years ago, Gaines had achieved a lifelong goal—she was showing Prix St. Georges on a horse she’d waited 13 years to own. But one day she walked into the barn to find Ornament three-legged lame.
“The veterinarian told me that he was basically done, that it was a career-ending injury and to put him out to pasture. He had a torn meniscus,” she recalled.
“I was devastated. All I could think was, ‘This is it? I don’t have the funds for another horse. My riding career is over.’ Luckily, there was a small neighborhood barn where I could put him. I wanted to retire him where I could take care of him and watch over him.
“He went from a beautiful full-service barn to a place with tennis courts on one side and soccer fields on the other,” she added. “It was a bit of culture shock, but he adjusted well. I took care of him and he just hung out there. I didn’t ride for a long time, about eight months. I got a part-time job as a personal trainer, and I saved every penny I could to not give up on riding. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
Gaines found an unbroken 3-year-old for the right price and bought Amigo as a new project. She still took meticulous care of Ornament, but she started to wonder about him.
“There were a couple of times along the way when he would spook at something and passage around the field and I’d think to myself, ‘Gosh, he looks awfully sound,’ ” she said.
In the spring of 2008, Gaines’ husband retired from the military and they bought 5 acres in Versailles, Ky., and moved there from Maryland.
“A friend of mine took care of Ornament while we were moving, and she said, ‘You know Darcy, I’ve been watching Ornament trot around in the pasture and gosh, he looks good,’ ” Gaines said.
“When we got to Kentucky, I decided to start getting on him a little bit, half to see how he was and half to keep my confidence and seat because I’d bought a very green 3-year-old.
“I started riding him 10 minutes every day,” she continued. “I’d do two big trot circles to the left, then two trot circles to the right. Then, I added some canter. He felt funny because he was so out of shape. But he felt sound. I had him re-examined and the tear was still there, but the vet said, ‘If he’s sound, go for it.’ ”
By June of 2008, Gaines had Ornament back in a program.“Every day I would do just a little bit more and a little bit more. It was all about patience. I wasn’t focused on getting him back to Prix St. Georges. I wasn’t focused on doing the tricks. I just concentrated on getting him stronger and keeping him through. I had no expectations—I had no idea what the future held, and I did think that every day could be our last ride. It was a completely different mindset,” she said.
