Tight Lines carried Olympic eventer Will Coleman to multiple championships during the height of the gray gelding’s competitive days. Their accomplishments together included representing the United States at the 2018 World Equestrian Games (North Carolina), winning the national three- and four-star championships at Fair Hill International in 2015 and 2017, when he was 8 and 10, respectively, and completing six five-stars, including a fifth-placed finish at the 2021 Mars Maryland CCI5*.

“I appreciated all the events that I got to do with him because he taught me so much, and he’s been such an important horse for me,” Coleman said.

The French Thoroughbred (Turgeon—Merindole, Tel Quel), known to his friends as “Phish,” built a strong relationship with Coleman’s longtime groom Erin Jarboe over his years of galloping across some of the most iconic courses in the eventing world, so when he was ready to step back from the top of the sport, Coleman looked to her. 

“When it was time to retire him, we explored a couple of options for Phish, and he was sort of telling us that he didn’t want to go anywhere, and with his longtime groom Erin Jarboe conditioning him, it made sense to have this horse become her own,” Coleman said.

What might make less sense, at least to an outsider, was where retirement has taken the pair—namely, to the dressage arena. After running his last horse trials with Coleman in July 2023, Phish returned to competition in November, with Jarboe in the saddle, to compete at Dressage Under The Oaks IV (Florida). They then went to a dressage show at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala in December.  

“We rode a first level and a second level test, where we earned two scores toward a bronze medal in dressage,” Jarboe said.

Her short-term goal is to earn a USDF bronze medal, and her long-term goal is to start riding him in horse trials. “Every day with Phish is a blessing, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to ride and learn as much as I can from him.”

Coleman, who swapped places to groom for her at the November show, said it’s been fun to see his former cross-country machine enjoy the sandbox.

“It’s been a natural evolution, watching Erin and Phish compete in the dressage world, of all things, which is not necessarily what you would think a former cross-country champion would want to do,” he said.

Which is not to say the gray will only do dressage from now on. Jarboe hopes to event him in the future, too.

“Even though Phish has transitioned into his ‘old man era’ and is generally quiet and easy-going, he still has the unmistakable, intense passion for the sport that is characteristic of a great Thoroughbred,” she said. 

His partnership with Jarboe is just one aspect of his overall life-after-five-star management. Coleman prides himself on providing all his horses with a routine and program. 

“For Phish, it gives him the familiarity of what his life was before,” he said. “His current nutritional program is identical to his high-performance days, minus the larger amounts of feed. We uphold those standards with all our horses, and Erin does the same with Phish.” 

Before going back to work with Jarboe, Phish spent a long time barefoot, as most of Coleman’s horses do—even the competing ones go eight to 10 weeks of the year without shoes.

What Jarboe calls his “old man era” also has brought some positive mellowing for the gelding: A horse who formerly only liked being turned out alone, Phish now has a paddock buddy in Dondante, another former five-star horse of Coleman’s. 

“They’re like two old warriors out there in the field, and since they traveled the world together, they’re very friendly,” he said. 

Looking back on his career with Phish, Coleman said the gelding’s stamina set him apart, and regretted the years his eventing career lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. The horse did the Burghley CCI5* once, and Coleman said he wished they’d had a chance to make a return trip to England to try it again or to compete at the Badminton CCI5*.  

“He’s one of the few horses I’ve had that can jump five-star tracks and finish feeling like he could do it again,” he said. “He has a set of lungs on him that could probably fly a hot air balloon. No course was too long, too hilly, too big, too anything. He was a machine.”

While Phish will never tackle a five-star again, Coleman said keeping him going more lightly with Jarboe makes the horse happy.

“I think that horses value relationships and love the competing side of eventing. Phish genuinely loved what he did, and watching him with Erin is like seeing two old friends who have such a wonderful connection,” Coleman said. “He’s quite happy to be doing what he’s doing, and he still has this competitive outlet when he can strut his stuff.”