Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 31

When Jackie Cameron first sat on Brancaster Oystercatcher, she was pretty sure the Vanner Sport Horse wasn’t coming home with her. It was December 2020 in Montana when she first sat on the gelding, and though he was 8, his life experience was limited. His then owners didn’t have an arena, so she rode him in one of their fields with other horses still turned out.

She was trying him for one of her clients, and while the client didn’t have showing aspirations, they wanted something that could do basic work at the walk, trot and canter.

“We did not have a canter,” Cameron said. “We had a very fast trot and a very unbalanced trot at that. He loved the walking section.

“I kind of walked away thinking like there’s not a chance that she was gonna buy him, and she called me like two days later, and she’s like ‘I bought him! He’s coming to the barn after the first of January,’ ” she added.

When “Dexter” arrived, Cameron, Bozeman, Montana, spent a lot of time walking him over poles and working on his canter trying to build strength so that he could carry himself. She estimated it took the better part of a year for his canter to really come along.

“It’s hard to keep him active behind,” she said. “That’s probably still our biggest struggle is just keeping it really active.”

But about seven months into having him, Dexter went lame in the middle of a ride. They believed it was an abscess, but further investigation led to a diagnosis of whiplash in his neck, probably caused by slipping on ice in his field. His rehab involved a lot of “pick-up sticks”—walking over poles randomly scattered in the ring and hand walks up and down hills.

Last summer, Cameron had the opportunity to purchase Dexter, and in addition to being her mount, he’s served as her husband’s horse.

“He carts anybody around. He’s so good, you can put a beginner on him that doesn’t really know anything, and he knows in that moment like, ‘OK, this is different.‘ He’ll fully take care of you.”

She rechristened him, Chex Mix, after the nickname she’d given him when he first arrived.

“I loved it because I felt like it fully described what he is,” she said. “He’s [Vanner] Cob on his sire side. He came from a Belgian Warmblood PMU mare on the dam side. So he’s literally just like a bag of Chex Mix, and it just kind of stuck.”

Once she owned him, Cameron decided it was time to see if he wanted to event. They attended the starter at the Spokane Horse Trials (Washington) last fall where he finished eighth. This past winter Cameron took her training level horse to Aiken, South Carolina, so she put Chex Mix on the trailer too. They won their first event of the year at Jumping Branch Farm Spring (South Carolina), and Cameron started thinking she could take Chex Mix to the USEA American Eventing Championships. They got their final qualifying score at WindRidge Farm Summer Horse Trials (North Carolina) in August.

“It’s kind of been this whole thing where folks just didn’t fully think he could do it and were kind of like, ‘What is he going to end up doing?’ So for him to be here is kind of magical,” she said. “Everyone that meets him, he just wants to be in your life. He loves a snuggle. My husband can wrap his arms around him, and he just tucks into your chest.

“It’s kind of been a crazy adventure, that I don’t know if he ever really intentionally signed up for, but he’s a total saint about it,” she continued. “And he has fun.”

At the AEC, they scored a 26.7 in dressage and went double-clear cross-country to sit tied for fifth.

Cameron hopes to maybe one day compete novice with him.

“He kind of went from what he was supposed to be—an amateur’s fun horse to do everything—to my little wonder event pony,” Cameron said.