The American dressage hot-line buzzed with excitement this summer when German star Ulla Salzgeber actually bought an American-trained horse–Pompidou, a 7-year-old, Dutch-bred gelding owned and ridden by Lynne-Kimball Davis of Natick, Mass.

Chris Hickey, Kimball-Davis’ long-time trainer, found the horse as a just-broken 3-year-old on a European trip in 1999 and urged her to buy him. Trusting Hickey’s judgment, she bought the horse sight unseen. The pair had trained with Hickey, at his stables in Westhampton, Mass., and Wellington, Fla., ever since, and they were showing at fourth level.

This spring, Kimball-Davis sent Pompidou (“Pete”) to Germany with Hickey for further training, a move that ultimately resulted in the sale to Salzgeber.

Last month Salzgeber won her first outing with her new mount, scoring 70 percent at S-level (Prix St. Georges equivalent) in Nordlinger, Germany.

“From the minute he saw Pete, Chris knew the horse had world-class potential,” recalled Kimball-Davis. “But he always supported me and helped me ride the horse well. He never tried to take the horse and show him himself, which is something I’m sure other trainers would have done. He is such an invested, compassionate, and insightful person and trainer.”

That Hickey’s training has caught the notice of international riders is no surprise to anyone who knows him well. Said Cindy Snowden of Byfield, Mass., who used to organize clinics for the New England Dressage Association, “I remember Ulla commenting on Chris’ riding during the first clinic she gave here three years ago. She told me that the most correct horses she saw there were Chris’ and that his training was a real stand-out in the clinic.”

And in 2003 Hickey participated as a demonstration rider during the NEDA-sponsored Lisa Wilcox/Ernst Hoyos symposium. “Lisa said that Chris had such natural horsemanship ability, such extraordinary feel and talent, that he made everything look easy,” recalled Snowden.

Really, Hickey, 35, has been quietly gathering accolades for years. He’s known for bringing horses along himself and competing expertly at all levels. At the 2003 USDF Region 8 Championship at Ox Ridge (Conn.) last August, Hickey was champion or reserve with four horses ranging from first level to Intermediaire II. And last winter, Hickey was awarded both the Maj. Anders Lindgren Dressage Foundation Scholarship from the U.S. Dressage Federation and a NEDA scholarship.

“The word is out,” said Patty Zinkowski, an adult amateur from Wellington, Fla., who has ridden with Hickey for years. “We long-time students used to have Chris all to ourselves,” she said ruefully. “Now he’s world-class, but he’s never abandoned a student.”

Test Riding

Hickey grew up in Westhampton, just down the road from a large barn where neighbor Carolyn Fuller and her father, Percy, raised Morgans. Under the Fullers’ tutelage, young Hickey competed their horses in the Western, saddle seat and driving divisions at local Morgan shows.

He caught the dressage bug after Fuller started to take lessons from Lendon Gray. Hickey met Gray through Fuller and signed on as a working student after high school.

“I learned so much from Lendon, not only about riding and running a large barn, but also how to produce under pressure,” said Hickey. “She’d have us warm up her horses, and if we didn’t ride them well, she’d put someone else on. You had to learn to make it happen.”

Gray also showed him how to ride accurate, precise tests at all levels. “Lendon was a test-riding machine,” Hickey recalled. “She’d go to a show and ride test after test, back and forth among the levels, from training through Grand Prix, and nail every one of them, clean all around. I was so inspired just watching her compete.”

Through Gray, Hickey found Vesper, a quirky but capable Dutch-bred gelding who couldn’t be bridled because he’d once been ear-twitched.

“He was a good horse, cheap because of how impossible he was to handle,” Hickey said.

But Hickey persevered and enjoyed a strong young rider career with him. The pair represented USDF Region 8 at the North American Young Riders Cham-
pionships in 1988 and 1989 and won several regional fourth level year-end awards.

But it was Hickey’s next partnership, with the gray, Dutch-bred gelding Dwight (by Volkmar), that propelled him onto the national dressage scene. Hickey bought the horse as a first level 5-year-old through Belinda Nairn-Wertman for a student. When the horse proved too much for his pupil, Hickey went into partnership with client David Huggin and bought the gelding.

In 1990, Hickey traveled to Florida with Dwight and began training with Robert Dover. Under Dover’s guidance, Hickey brought Dwight along through the FEI levels. The pair qualified to contest the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis, Mo.–but the night before they were to ship there, Hickey contracted appendicitis.

“I think that was the worst moment of my life,” Hickey recalled.

But they did compete in the final selection trials for the Pan Am Games in 1995 and reached Grand Prix in 1996, placing well at shows like Wellington (Fla.) and Devon (Pa.) for the next three years.

“Dwight was a brilliant mover with fabulous extensions,” said Hickey, “but he always had trouble with piaffe, which plagued him throughout his career.

“Although I had a wonderful career with him, I would have to admit now that I probably took him to Grand Prix before he was ready,” added Hickey. “That’s one reason today that I hold my students back–you’ve got to be solid before you go into the ring. The notion of getting into the ring simply to get mileage doesn’t really hold up–show a horse who’s not confirmed at the level, and you can do more damage than good.”

In 1999, Hickey won a NEDA scholarship, a USET Asmis Scholarship, and a grant from the American Horse Trials Foundation. These funds allowed Hickey to take both Dwight and Levin, a young horse he also acquired from Nairn-Wertman, to Germany for four months of training with Conrad Schumacher at his farm just outside Frankfurt.

“Going to Europe was so important,” Hickey said. “It’s easy to get complacent as a trainer–I never want to let that happen to me. I want to get help from the best people in the world if I possibly can.”

Hickey especially remembers watching Dutch team rider Ellen Bontje ride with Schumacher each day. “I rode two horses a day in such extraordinary company,” he said, “that it made me really rise to the occasion.”

And his work with Schumacher enabled him to further Dwight’s Grand Prix training. “Dwight was actually a lazy horse; Robert always said, ‘You need to make this horse go through fire for you.’ Schumacher showed me how to do that.”

Returning home, Hickey began working with Sue Blinks.

“Sue had such a tremendous influence on my riding, ” he said. “She always said, ‘It’s easy to make a Grand Prix horse, but hard to make a Grand Prix horse that’s happy about his work and can be ridden off easy, soft aids.’ Those words are always in the back of my head, whenever I train a horse today.”

Hickey returned to Germany in 2001 for another four-month training session with Schumacher. Later that year, Dwight suffered a career-ending injury–just after his piaffe had finally become confirmed. Hickey decided to retire him at Gray’s barn. Today Dwight, at 18, struts his stuff proudly with an adult amateur owner.

A Commitment To Teaching

Hickey’s teaching business has flourished with his competitive career. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching, feeling that I can make a difference for a student,” he said. “Teaching enables me to be a complete horseman. You can only ride so many horses a day.”

Not surprisingly, his students remain fiercely loyal to him. “Chris goes to extraordinary lengths to see that his clients get
the help they need, however demanding his competitive schedule may be. This summer he flew home from Germany three times–at his own expense–to help his hometown clients
in Westhampton,” said Zinkowski.

Gemma Gatti of Atlanta, Ga., believes in Hickey so strongly that she’s just invested in a winter base for him, at a new farm in Wellington. “Chris will take as much time with me, a former-hunter-rider-turned-dressage rider, as he will some up-and-coming hotshot. If you want to learn, he’ll work hard for you,” she said.

Hickey’s dedication to teaching makes for long days and earns him plenty of frequent flyer miles. He starts promptly at 7 a.m., rides until noon, then teaches until 7 p.m. He shows one weekend per month and teaches clinics during most remaining weekends, all year.

Hickey has taught monthly clinics at Hidden Oaks in Pleasant Hill, Mo., for five years. “Chris has an incredible work ethic–always giving more than he asks for in return,” said farm owner Marina Parris-Woodhead. “He’s extremely loyal and devoted to his clients, his horses, and the promotion of education in dressage. The longevity of mutual loyalty between Chris and his clients tells the real story.”

Hickey is also a confirmed volunteer in dressage organizations. A USDF-certified instructor through the fourth level, he’s served as a faculty member for the certification program.

“Chris has taught countless free clinics for our young riders program–to have a trainer of his caliber donating his time is quite a gift,” said NEDA president Sybille Crafts. “He’s also served as a demonstration rider at all of our training symposiums since 1998, which has meant riding in front of as many as 800 people. That’s a lot of pressure, but he always handles it well, even on horses at varying levels of training.”

Hickey’s name usually gets on the roster of USDF judges’ and training symposiums as well. “I’m glad to give something back to USDF and organizations like NEDA, who have been so generous in supporting me with their scholarship funding. And I’m lucky to have a string of nice horses now–I’m proud to get them out there and show them off for their owners,” he said.

The German Rapport

Hickey first saw Salzgeber teach at a November 2002 symposium organized by NEDA.

“I really liked what she did with horses and riders,” he recalled. So he invited her to Florida for a winter clinic and later to Westhampton for another clinic in March 2003.
“By this time we had a great rapport and a lot of fun together. But that didn’t keep her from being tough on me. She’s very tough on my position, and she really pushed me to ride well. She doesn’t accept incorrect riding at any level,” said Hickey.

Salzgeber was so impressed with Hickey that she invited him to Germany later that spring, to help her ride some of the young horses in her string. He’s just returned from training with her since April, this time taking five horses to Germany.

One of those was Pompidou.

“Selling the horse to Ulla is the ultimate in bittersweet fairy tales, isn’t it?” said Kimball-Davis. “I’m so proud and pleased that she has the horse. I just don’t have the financial means to campaign him at the international level. Now, he’ll have that opportunity. But even as we put the sale together, Chris kept asking me, ‘Are you sure you’re OK with this?’ “
If international celebrity hasn’t quite found Hickey yet, most of his owners and students believe it will soon.

“Some people spend their time and energy marketing themselves,” said Beach Bennett, of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., who’s ridden with Hickey for seven years. “Chris spends all his time teaching and training horses. That’s the only reason some sponsor hasn’t found him. He has every right to be at the top of the sport.”

But Hickey insists he doesn’t really yearn for Olympic glory, even this year.

“Making an international team someday would be fabulous, of course, but that’s not what drives me,” he said. “It’s bringing horses along, day by day, that I love the most. I’d like to think I’m training my current Grand Prix horse better than I trained my last.
“It’s not about riding the fanciest horse I can–it’s about making each horse I ride better each day,” he added. “I have some lovely young horses coming along, and I have a wonderful group of owners and students. How can it get any better than that?”