Every December, we ask our talented writers to share their favorite stories of the year. This year, they contributed the best pieces they authored, as well as a few of favorites they read on www.coth.com. Here are some of the stories we published in 2023 that made a lasting impression on our writers.
Equine Practitioners Are Becoming An Endangered Species
Usually I dread having to call veterinarians to interview them for articles. They’re busy people who are hard to pin down! So I was surprised at how quickly I heard back from every veterinarian I reached out to for this piece, and how urgently they wanted to communicate to our readers about the impending shortage of equine veterinarians.
Our vets have seen this crisis coming for a while, but we consumers of equine veterinary services are just starting to experience the effects. The veterinarians I spoke to were anxious to sound the alarm and keep pushing for the industry to change to allow for a better work/life balance and to bring more aspiring veterinarians to focus on equine medicine. Lots of changes for the better have been made or are in the works, but it will also require cooperation from those of us who are holding the lead rope.
— Erin Harty
From Team Riders To Team Chase
I first heard about eventers Lynn Symansky and Lauren Nicholson’s forays into the team chase world while I was standing on a ladder braiding a horse for an opening meet. My friend, who also participated in the Orange County Team Chase in the Plains, Virginia, recounted the event while I braided, telling me that when it came time for the individual team test, “We made the Olympians go first.”
Lynn and Lauren couldn’t have been happier to chat about what for them was a fun weekend activity. They love foxhunting when they have the time, and they have found it’s a great way to be involved in the local community. I was especially impressed when they said the sport required more bravery in some ways than their own. After all, you don’t get to walk your track—you don’t even know where you’re going when you set off—and there are no technical delegates to approve the fences or footing.
— Mollie Bailey
‘Luckiest Man On Earth:’ Horses Helped Vietnam Veteran Through Foster Car, War And Paralysis
When I talked to Bob Giles’, a 75-year-old horseman and combined driver, the heart of his story was like that of so many equestrians I know: one of finding solace and stability in his friendship with horses. But what he told me was an extreme version of that typical narrative. Growing up in rural Maine as a foster child separated from his siblings, Giles moved from rural farm to rural farm. In each new and unfamiliar place, the work horses he met were a godsend.
He learned to drive in these foster homes, where the kids were often put to work in the fields and the woods, and he carried those skills with him into his future as a horse trainer, clinician, judge and eventually—after a life-changing injury in his 70s—as a para-driver.
When I asked him about his favorite judging experience, he didn’t hesitate. He shared that at a recent dressage show, he watched as a little girl clung to her POA while it bucked and snorted through the ride. Giles laughed as he recounted the little girl halting at the centerline. He’d expected to see tears, but she was beaming as if the pony had given the test of his life.
“The best part of this story is that when she left the ring, she hugged and kissed her pony,” he said.
I wondered if he saw in her a bit of his younger self—the kid who found a savior and best friend in every run-of-the-mill work horse.
— Hannah Sherk
Back From The Brink: Donegal V Returns To Show Ring After Nearly Losing His Hoof
Donegal V’s story had all the pieces we look for in a good candidate for our “Back From The Brink” series: a dedicated person willing to put a lot of time, effort and patience into a horse who might not ever return to the show ring—plus a bit of a medical mystery. Here was a gelding who’d experienced the setbacks with which those of us in the horse world are keenly familiar: ill-timed injuries, training setbacks. Jaimey Irwin had high hopes for the gelding, so when his veterinarians suggested using umbilical cord blood stem cells to aid in treating a soft tissue injury, it seemed worthwhile. However, Donegal experienced an adverse reaction to the treatment, and he lost blood flow to his foot. While additional treatment saved Donegal’s life—and foot—the syndicate who owned him dissolved, leaving Jaimey and his wife Tina to pick up the bills.
“We didn’t know if he was going to survive or not, but we had to give him the chance,” Jaimey said. In February the gelding made an unlikely return to the Grand Prix ring, where he finished second.
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— Kimberly Loushin
One To Watch: Alison O’Dwyer Has A Story To Tell At Thoroughbred Makeover
Have you heard of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx? There’s supposedly no worse way to guarantee a poor performance than to be featured on the venerable magazine’s cover. Injuries and dismal performances often follow in the wake of that honor.
Some readers think the Chronicle has its own version of this jinx in our “One To Watch” series, which features someone who might be a top contender at an upcoming major competition. Horses being horses, quite often the person we chose to feature ends up withdrawing before the competition even starts.
So I was a little anxious to profile Alison O’Dwyer, who has an impressive, multi-year winning streak in the dressage division of the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover. She is a truly lovely human being who did not deserve to be jinxed.
Alison was riding two mounts, and we focused the profile on Ratajkowski, a multiple graded stakes winning mare with a great story and truly remarkable support from her racing connections. But it was when I asked about Alison’s second mount, a small, plain bay gelding named Knockemdown, that you could hear her light up over the phone. She talked about how he was her soulmate, and how he was making the former eventer want to jump again after years of primarily focusing on dressage.
In a true fairy tale finish, Alison did win the dressage division (for the fourth time), but it was on Knockemdown, not Ratajkowski. And even more impressive, the pair were chosen the overall Makeover Champions by the judges from all 10 disciplines, the first time Alison has earned that honor. (We also wrote a story about their big win.)
The Thoroughbred Makeover is always full of great stories, as the people involved are truly passionate about the breed and the OTTB’s potential in second careers, and they’ve all worked so hard to get to the Makeover. It was great to see this particular story live up to its potential, although maybe not with the ending we had expected.
— Erin Harty
From Rescue To Ribbons: Retiree From Byrd’s Nest Flies Again—In Leadline
Our “Rescue To Ribbons” series offers up some incredible tales of horses saved, often from life-or-death situations, who rebound with love and good veterinary care to become wonderful partners and even competitive athletes again. Even among this lineup of touching stories, the story of “Poofy” particularly stood out this year.
Poofy was rescued from an alleged neglect situation that made local news, in part because of the number of horses involved and in part because the retirement facility at which they lived was owned by a respected judge and horsewoman. (Originally arrested on 10 charges of animal cruelty, she now is set to face a three-day jury trial in April on six of those charges.)
Poofy, once a glossy and successfully 1.40-meter jumper, had been retired to the facility after an injury a decade ago. His owners paid his bills regularly for years, unaware that, by the time he was found in February, he had a body condition score of 2 and feet ravaged by chronic abscesses.
After months of careful care, shoeing and rehab by rescuer Grace Maxwell, Poofy did what seemed impossible: He returned to the show ring, but this time as the beautifully appointed, diligently careful leadline partner for Maxwell’s 3-year-old son.
If Poofy’s story doesn’t get you in the feels, the pictures of him, healthy and beautifully turned out, making his triumphant comeback in leadline most certainly will.
— Melissa Wright
What A Dish: Arab Pony Jumps Successfully From Breed Circuit To Pony Finals
I was with several photographers center ring shooting the awards for the large green pony hunters at USEF Pony Finals in Lexington, Kentucky, when suddenly the normally efficient awards ceremony stopped. I’ll admit that several of us turned a bit annoyed, wondering what the holdup was, and eventually we saw a gray pony trotting toward the ring kitty-corner from the in-gate. A staff member hightailed it to that corner of the ring and moved the fences and a fern or two so the pony and rider could get in. When the pair—Josie Drummond and AM Rising Star—made it to the presentation area to accept their 20th place ribbon, Drummond was smiling bigger than any of the other competitors, and I found myself pausing before shooting the photo, asking a fellow photographer, “Is that an … Arabian?”
It was. I sat down and talked to Josie and her connections after her round in the USEF Pony Medal Final. How refreshing it was to chat with an incredibly well-rounded rider who does all her own grooming, braiding and longeing at the shows, and who came to the show for the right reason: a fun experience.
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— Mollie Bailey
Hunter Holloway And Dylan Gamble Merge Unlikely Backgrounds To Develop Winning Jumpers
Writing this story was one of those times that the plot gets away from you. I thought I was writing an article about Hunter Holloway’s recent win on her longtime horse, Eastern Jam, but as we spoke and she referenced how she and her boyfriend collaborate as trainers, I knew I had to speak to the cowboy in the jumper barn.
Even their names, Hunter Holloway and Dylan Gamble, sound like something straight out of an equestrian romance novel. I was moved by the way they described the compatibility of their training philosophies, although grounded in different disciplines.
The couple has found common ground in wanting their young horses to go correctly and happily, so that they like their jobs. I remember Holloway talking about how important it was to her that they set up her horses to go in simple tack.
“I’m not a big fan of all the—I don’t want to call them gimmicks—but you know, big bits or anything like that,” she said. “I think that’s another goal of [Gamble] also. We’re always thinking, ‘How can we make this horse better? How can we make it more comfortable? And how can we get them well-broke, where they can go and simple tack and not require all the bigger bits, and so forth, that you see a lot of in the show jumping industry?’ ”
— Hannah Sherk
Behind The Stall Door With: Claus 63
I have to admit I’m slightly biased when it comes to eventer Sharon White. I jumped my first cross-country fences (basically telephone poles on the ground) at her annual July 4 fundraiser when I was an intern at the Chronicle, and I took my first cross-country lesson with her the following day. Sharon began my accidental—and now permanent—foray into eventing.
I’ve always enjoyed Sharon’s positive personality, deep love for the horses and appreciation for everyone involved in the sport, from participants to spectators. So going to White’s farm to do a “Behind The Stall Door” feature with her 2023 Pan American Games (Chile) mount Claus 63 and a Free Rein for our magazine was a treat. Spending the afternoon away from a computer screen, chatting with White and her staff, laughing as we tried to get Claus’ ears forward for pictures, was a welcome change of pace.
Writing our “Behind The Stall Door” features is an excellent way to get a feel for the human-horse connection that I love about the sport. Though White, her assistant Lea Adams-Blackmore and groom Kate Servais all have very different relationships with Claus, what’s immediately clear is how they meet him where he is. White describes Claus as an emotional horse, and his crew all knew that force isn’t the way to get him on your side, instead a little understanding and patience is the way forward.
— Kimberly Loushin
Behind the Photo: A Pony Walks Into A Library
Sometimes, a photo doesn’t tell a story so much as it hints at it, and that’s what made this photo intriguing to me when the National Sporting Library and Museum posted it on their social media. This was a striking moment that conjured up more questions than answers and made you want to learn more.
Fortunately, writer Laura Lemon was game to dive in and find out exactly what happens when a pony walks into a library, and it turned out to be a charming story featuring one of the hunter world’s best characters, Snowden Clarke, as well as talented British artist Madeleine Bunbury, who was painting the pony’s portrait in front of an audience, both live in the library and online.
The cameos the pony made on the streets of Middleburg just further sweetened this palate-cleanser of a tale.
— Erin Harty
Check out the rest of our Best Of 2023 coverage, coming this week on coth.com, and make sure you follow @chronofhorse on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with everything happening in the horse world in the new year.
