Temecula, Calif.—Aug. 29

When Karen O’Neal was helping her client Annika Asling long-distance horse shop over video from Europe, she found herself nixing option after option. Asling wanted to import a German horse that would make a preliminary eventing partner, but nothing was standing out. 

“She showed me all these videos, and I was like, ‘Nope, no, no. Don’t like that one; don’t like this one,’ ” O’Neal said. 

O’Neal advised her student that they hold out for something special.

“ ‘If we’re going to actually get it from there, I want it to be really spectacular for you,’ ” O’Neal told her.  “And then she showed me him, and I just said, ‘Buy him!’ ”

The Westphalian gelding (Captain Jack—Zauberfee, Cefalo) on the video was just 3 years old and unbroken, but O’Neal could tell from his free jump and movement that Clooney 14 was the something spectacular that they’d been waiting for—the clear “yes” after so many nos. They shipped him home to O’Neal’s barn in North Bend, Washington. 

“He had a beautiful canter. He’s very uphill,” she said. “And he just has this presence about him. He’s just a lovely horse. And he’s the sweetest animal that I’ve ever been around.”

That sweetness allowed Asling to start the youngster herself, putting hours of groundwork into the gelding before handing him over to O’Neal to begin under saddle. 

“He was the easiest thing to start but very lazy, very behind the leg,” O’Neal said. “It was exhausting to keep him going. I was like, ‘He’ll be a good prelim horse.’ ” 

His barn name, originally “Finn,” soon lost out to “Cloonbear,” a nickname he earned with his teddy-bear personality. Although quiet on the ground and sometimes lazy under saddle, O’Neal also began to see that the young horse had a spooky side. 

“I rode him quite a bit,” O’Neal said. “He did quite well throughout—except for our first beginner novice, when we got eliminated because he wouldn’t go through the start flags because he was spooking so hard. But after that, he was good!” 

Cloonbear did well at the lower levels, especially excelling in dressage. But for all his willingness and talent, his sensitivity under saddle and intimidating size—he’s over 17 hands—didn’t quite add up to the prelim horse they’d hoped for. Asling had just had babies—now 2 and 5 years old—so she suggested that O’Neal keep going with the horse and see how far his talent would take them. 

This week, it takes them to their second USEA American Eventing Championships, where the pair sits third in the $60,000 Adequan USEA Advanced Final at Galway Downs after earning a 30.3 in dressage Thursday. Advanced cross-country begins at 9:08 a.m. Pacific Time (12:08 Eastern) today.

At last year’s AEC in Lexington, Kentucky, O’Neal and Cloonbear had a simple goal for their first time at the championship. “We jumped around, went slow, jumped everything, and that was really fun,” she said. “It was a good experience to see how it was at Kentucky.”

With this trip, she hopes to go clean, make close to optimum time and log more experience at the advanced level.

“I’ve had a few advanced horses—I’ve had probably five advanced horses—but I still feel green at the four-star advanced level,” O’Neal said. “They’ve just made it more and more technical. I’m always learning. I’m always trying to get better.”

For O’Neal, progress can also mean stepping outside her comfort zone. This year, she tested the 11-year-old gelding in a new venue, and he proved himself to be as versatile and adjustable as she’d hoped. The pair attended a couple of horse shows in their home state of Washington—the Cascade Open in June and the Evergreen Classic in July—and finished second in hunter derbies at both.

“He’s very rideable,” she said. “He’s very trained. He’ll do what I tell him. I’ll say, ‘Can you put your head a little lower and go around more like a hunter?’ And he will.”

The gelding’s eventing background also gives him an extra edge in the hunter ring. “He’s brave, so he can do the tight turns for derbies,” O’Neal said. 

While Cloonbear may not have been the preliminary horse Asling had hoped for, he has been talented beyond expectation. But the biggest surprise is that the gelding, for all his power under saddle, really excels as a family horse. 

“He’ll go around cross country, and I’ll come back, and I can put the little 5-year-old on him with me. That’s how good he is,” O’Neal said. “He did a little leadline class with this 5-year-old kid right before he did a little grand prix.

“He’ll go to their stroller, and he’ll put his head in there and rest it on them and hold it perfectly still,” she continued. “They’ll just pet him, and he’ll close his eyes.”

If you’re competing a cool horse or pony or have overcome the odds to make it to the AEC, email Hannah Sherk at hsherk@coth.com for a chance to be featured. Be sure you’re following the Chronicle’s coverage of the 2025 USEA American Eventing Championships on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse.