With a new position at Hilltop Farm, a national championship and an individual Pan American Games gold medal, Hickey had a year to remember.
Chris Hickey might look back on 2007 as a fairytale year.
First, Jane MacElree, a bit of a fairy godmother herself, offered him the position as head trainer at Hilltop Farm (Md.), one of the most prestigious dressage breeding facilities in the country. Then he won the USEF National Intermediaire I Championship, which placed him on the Pan American Games dressage team. He trumped that win by capturing individual and team gold medals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with Brenna Kucinski’s Regent.
And if that wasn’t enough, he took home the USEF 5-year-old National Championship with Hilltop’s Cabana Boy and competed him at the World Championship for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, Germany.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Hickey was feeling pretty good about himself now, but he has little ego. “It’s so much luck,” he said simply. “My person hasn’t changed a lot. Next time it might not go that well for me. ”
Hickey’s had a lot of disappointment over his career. Dwight, the first horse Hickey trained to Grand Prix, was invited to compete at the Olympic Festival in 1994.
“I had appendicitis the day before the horses were supposed to ship,” said Hickey. “That was one of my big letdowns. I was lying on the table having my guts ripped out.”
Then Dwight made it to the final selection trials for the Pan Am Games in 1995, but he couldn’t go because he tested positive for equine viral arteritis. “Because he was exposed to EVA, and it was in his bloodstream, he wasn’t able to export to [Argentina], so I couldn’t even go to the selection trials,” said Hickey.
Those disappointments and others taught Hickey to appreciate accomplishments beyond winning.
“The biggest part of this year for me, the thrill of having Regent do so well, is that Brenna and I picked that horse out as a 4-year-old,” said Hickey. “That’s not the first time I’ve trained a horse from scratch, and it’s been successful, but it’s the first time I’ve made a team.”
Hickey enjoys bringing horses up from the beginning, which makes him a good fit for Hilltop Farm.
“The horses I’ve been most successful on are the horses I started as 4- and 5-year-olds,” he said. “I can open an indoor arena door or a gate off of one of my horses. I can do silly little goofy things that a lot of DQs wouldn’t dream of doing, but my horses go to horse shows, and they don’t get freaked out. Sometimes the only way you can create that kind of relationship with a horse is if you’ve done it from the beginning.”
Although Hickey was thrilled to receive the invitation to work at Hilltop Farm, Colora, Md., it was tough to leave his business and home behind in Westhampton, Mass.
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| Personal Profile
Birthdate: Aug. 14, 1968
Partner: Richard Barnes If Chris Couldn’t Do Dressage: “I would be in the horse business in some way. I wish that I could have a couple of horses in a few different disciplines. I’ve always liked eventing. I like jumping, but I’m not very good. I haven’t had the opportunity to ride good jumpers. I can also really appreciate a good show horse, whether it’s a Saddlebred or a Morgan or something like that.” Hobbies: “I love being on the water. I water-skied a lot as a kid, but I don’t anymore. I have a friend who’s an event rider who took me water skiing, but afterwards I couldn’t walk for two days. She kept saying, ‘You probably should stop,’ and I kept saying, ‘No, no, more, more.’ I really regretted it.” Fact You Didn’t Know About Chris: “I built a wonderful contemporary open floor plan house [in Massachusetts]. It was a post-and-beam house with a lot of glass. It was unique and beautiful. That was hard for me to leave.” Behind Every Great Rider Is A Great Support Team: “It wouldn’t be possible without my wonderful owners, Brenna Kucinski and Hilltop Farm, Jane MacElree, and all the support staff, the vets, the farriers, my groom and my partner,” said Hickey. “It’s such a big line. Also my sponsors, Shawna Dietrich and Dietrich & Co. Insurance. She’s been really good to me.” |
MacElree reported that despite Hickey’s concerns, she couldn’t be happier with his addition to the farm.
“He’s fit in extraordinarily, extremely well,” she said. “He did fantastically with Brenna’s horse, and then he did fantastically with my horse. What else can you ask for? He’s an extraordinarily talented rider. He’s wonderful with people and wonderful with horses. I’m awed by his abilities.”
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MacElree isn’t the only one who sees beyond Hickey’s humble demeanor. Pan Am teammate Susan Dutta has known Hickey since she started riding dressage.
“He’s a very good rider and trainer, not just a competitor,” said Dutta. “He was our rock star. He knew his horse, and he knew what it was going to take to get that horse to do its best.”
But Hickey doesn’t linger on past achievements.
“He’s so normal, it’s abnormal,” said Ulla Salzgeber, the two-time German Olympic gold medalist who has trained Hickey since 2003. “He’s very happy, but he doesn’t think that he’s the champion of the world now. He knows there’s still a lot to do, and he’s working hard to make it better. He’s never resting on his laurels.”
Regent is beginning his Grand Prix career. “I do think it’s possible that he’ll be better as a Grand Prix horse than he was as a small-tour horse, but the proof will be in the pudding,” said Hickey.
He’s also focused on showing off Cabana Boy’s talents. And, of course, Hickey has goals for himself.
“I’m not there yet, but I’m getting closer to being able to sit quietly and still be effective and have the horse do as much as I want it to do,” he said. “Ulla has been really strict with me about that. I want to be able to ride my high performance horses and look beautiful on them.”
Sara Lieser
2007 Competitive Highlights
Individual gold—Pan American Games (Brazil) (Regent)
Team gold—Pan American Games (Brazil) (Regent)
1st—Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Intermediaire I Championship (Regent)
1st—Intermediaire II, BLM Championships (Va.) (Regent)
1st—Prix St. Georges, Zada WEF Dressage Classic CDI (Fla.) (Regent)
1st—5-Year-Old Championship, Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships (Ky.) (Cabana Boy)
10th—5-Year-Old Consolation Final, World Championship For Young Dressage Horses (Germany) (Cabana Boy)
