Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 13

Last fall, young professional Elizabeth DeGolian received a Facebook message from her friend and fellow trainer Kristina Photakis with a proposition: Photakis and her business partner Matthew LeMaster had a young, green jumper who seemed like he might be a better fit for the hunters, would DeGolian be interested in selling him?

So DeGolian took a test ride on Oslo MK and found Photakis’ assessment of the gelding to be true; though he was quite wiggly, he was very easy to the jumps. She agreed to take him on and spent the next few shows putting some hunter miles on him, having no idea where it would lead her.

Photakis and LeMaster ended up owning “Oslo” when they purchased his dam Eloise Z (Epsom Gesmeray—LaBelle, Lux Z) for their breeding program at MK Sporthorses. Eloise Z was in foal at the time to Erco Van’t Roosakker (Darco—Babbe Van’t Roosakker, Kannan GFE), who is known for being a quiet stallion. The pair foaled out “Oslo” and raised him, hoping he would be sensible but have enough blood for the jumper ring.

“[He was] so sensible, great temperament [and] as a young horse real playful,” said LeMaster.

LeMaster showed Oslo last year over small fences and even competed him at the USHJA Young Jumper Championships (Michigan) in the 4-year-old division. But as they got to know him, it seemed clear Oslo’s metronome nature might be better suited to the hunters.

“He didn’t really have the drive to really go and really get to the jumps,” LeMaster said. “He just kind of wants to cruise around nice and easy, and that’s kind of his calm way of going.”

LeMaster rode him in one hunter show where he got good ribbons, and then they reached out to DeGolian about taking Oslo to sell.

“I’ve known Elizabeth for a long time, and she has started her business as a young professional and was kind of looking for some horses to develop, and I thought I’d like to give her a shot,” he said of the choice to send the gelding to DeGolian.

As Oslo started the winter circuit down in Ocala, Florida, DeGolian found she really jelled with the bay, and the trio found a perfect solution. At the time, DeGolian had a sales prospect she purchased for the hunter ring, but that mare showed aptitude for the jumpers. They traded, which put each horse in a program geared towards their nature. It was a decision DeGolian said she doesn’t regret.

“He’s like a golden retriever puppy,” she said. “He’s very, very, very sweet, but he’s funny. He’s kind of always got something in his mouth, like when I go to put his bridle on, I oftentimes have my riding gloves in my pockets, and he’ll grab them with his lips. We can’t turn him out in Velcro bell boots. We have to turn him out in pull-ons, because he will pull the Velcro bell boots off and toss them. He’s definitely not one you’d want to give a stall guard because he’d create havoc.”

Though they’ve dealt with the typical young horse challenges of wiggling and needing to build strength to carry himself softly in an open frame, DeGolian said Oslo has handled every challenge. She praised how Photakis and LeMaster developed him, saying his time spent in the jumpers has been beneficial to his hunter career.

“I think the one thing about developing the young hunters in the jumper ring is that it takes away a little bit of the pressure to be perfect,” she said. “I think that they did a good job teaching him that he just needed to go in and jump around the jumps, and that was all the expectation was, without too much extra pressure.”

Oslo has enthusiastically answered each new question presented to him, and after seeing how he marched around his first USHJA National Hunter Derby, she’s not concerned that he’ll be overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the Rolex Stadium as he contests the Platinum Performance USHJA 3’/3’3″ Green Hunter Incentive Championship this week. He jumped his first round today, with scores of 72, 77 and 81.

It is also DeGolian’s first time showing at the green incentive championship, and in addition to Oslo, she’s showing Inland Empire for Heather Tinney. She grew up showing in the hunters and jumpers and rode on the National Collegiate Equestrian Association team at the University of South Carolina from 2011 to 2015 before starting to work in the horse industry. But after getting burnt out, she went back to school to earn her master’s in counseling. While in school she did barn work on the side, and at graduation time, she realized she wasn’t ready to give horses up, so she continued to work at the barn while juggling a full case load as a therapist.

“At the end of the day, I’m glad I got a little more life perspective, but the horses is what I want to do,” she said.

“I do think school was a good thing in that I think that the horse world can get a little small and insular-feeling,” she added. “So it broadened my perspective, and it’s made it easier to come back and take things a little more with a grain of salt when you need to.”

She now runs her business out of two farms near Alpharetta, Georgia, with a focus on developing young horses.

“I think [Oslo is] a good example of the fact that there are sport horses here being developed too that can compete with the European counterparts,” she said. “I would say I’ve got an equal mix in the barn right now, so I’m not anti-importing by any means, but it’s fun that the ones from here can kind of like hold their own too.”

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.