Winter Romance On Fire At International Hunter Futurity Finals

Susan Sisco rides the exceptional youngster to top honors.

Riding with a broken jaw isn’t an ideal situation. Doing so on a young horse is even riskier. But Susan Sisco didn’t let a broken jaw and missing teeth stop her from piloting Winter Romance to the grand champion title in the International Hunter Futurity 4-Year-Old Sweepstakes, held Sept. 24-25 during the Kentucky National Horse Show in Lexington.

Winter Romance, a Thoroughbred-Connemara cross (Greystone Ian McVai—Winter Gossip, Princely Ruler) took home reserve grand champion honors last year in the IHF 3-year-old championship and came back this year to prove what a stellar young horse he truly is.

“There aren’t really a lot of young ones you’d want to ride when you’re not 100 percent,” Sisco said. “He’s really the only one that I’ve shown since I got hurt, and I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to do this. A few weeks after I had the surgery to repair the jaw I figured I’d better take him to a horse show to see if I’d be able to do it or not, and it worked out fine.”

Her broken jaw was the result of an incident with a different young horse in July and required surgery and having her jaw wired shut for a few weeks. This equated to less food and less energy for someone who normally rides many horses a day for a living.

Winter Romance, nicknamed “Johnny” after a friend of owner and breeder Joan Thiele’s who died the day before the colt was born, had only shown six times this year but is known for being steady.

Johnny won both over-fences classes despite a rub in the second round and came in second under saddle, making him the clear winner. Danny Robertshaw and John Roper judged the finals. “For these 4-year-olds and for one with very little experience in a coliseum situation and after a long day it isn’t too disappointing to have one rub,” Sisco said. “He was still solid and did really well. Today was his day.”

Sisco got Johnny as a yearling and broke and started him herself. He showed on the line with some success. “He’s a really pleasant horse. Even now after all he’s done, he still has his ears up and he’s still interested,” Sisco noted. “I can’t thank Mrs. Thiele enough. Several years ago I broke my hip, and when everyone else was taking their horses away Mrs. Thiele sent me a horse.”

While Sisco and Johnny were the obvious leaders in the 4-year-old championship, the 3-year-old grand championship results were up in the air until the very end.

It came down to the wire for Road Trip and rider Patty Stovel, who took home the grand champion honors. Cynthia and Steve Sansone’s bay Oldenburg gelding was fourth in the first over-fences class, second in the next over-fences class and second in the under-saddle portion.