Sjoerd’s Journey
Charismatic Friesian stallion wins USEF top horse honor—and hearts, too
from horsetrader staff reports M
URRIETA—When Xena Vimercati heard her horse ’s name called as Horse of the
Year at the USEF awards banquet Jan. 13, emotions came more quickly than words. It had been a remarkable jour- ney with Sjoerd. T e 6-year-old Friesian stallion won
the honor after being named World or Grand National Champion 14 times last year and reserve four times. His trust and versatility shined through, taking wins with 11 diff erent exhibitors in diff erent disciplines, from dressage to Western pleasure. “I was stunned,” said Vimercati,
who purchased Sjoerd in 2007 not for the show ring, but for her T ree Day Ranch breeding program as a cross with Arabians for sport horses. “I never thought I was going to win.” Sjoerd’s story is rooted in the pas-
sion and determination of his owner. Vimercati, 39, had been studying potential crosses to Arabian mares when she encountered a video and pho- tos of the imported Sjoerd as a young colt late in 2006. Her 20 years of breeding Arabians
left her drawn to Friesians as a sport horse cross. After breeding her mares to diff erent Friesian stallions, she knew traits she was after—not too long in the back, strong hip, with more of an upright headset. When she spotted Sjoerd, she had to have him—even when others weren’t so sure. “I had made a big deal about getting
this horse,” she recalls. “So in March he arrives, and when we go to unload him from the trailer, everyone looked at me when he stepped off and said, ‘What did you do?’. I said ‘just wait… just wait!’” Five months later, she decided to
Xena Vimercati gets a kiss from Sjoerd while posing with daughters Anaiah (top) and Tynan. At left, Tynan, 16, and Sjoerd receive their Champion roses after winning 2011 IFSHA World Champion Show Hack Amateur to ride—Tynan's first time competing in Show Hack.
When I bought him, I had no intentions to show on the Friesian circuit.
I wanted to breed him. —XENA VIMERCATI
take him to Burbank for a Regional event, and they returned home with the 2-year-old Colt Championship unani- mously under three judges. T en a rec- ommendation reached Vimercati that she take him to Missouri for the World Championship Show. She did, and in three classes, he took a Championship and two Reserves. “When I bought him, I had no inten-
tions to show on the Friesian circuit,” Vimercati says. “I wanted to breed him.” Between that fi rst time the yearling
Sjoerd stepped from the trailer onto her ranch to last October, when he stepped off as a record-setting World Champion, had been a series of obsta- cles and triumphs for Vimercati and her daughters, Tynan Morley, 16, and Anaiah Richter, 12.
T e greatest setback came the
day after Vimercati fl ew home from St. Louis, with his fi rst World Championship. In an accident she calls freakish,” Vimercati was riding her well-broke mare in a round pen when her toe, caught on a crossrail, caused her leg to whip around, snapping her right leg. T e force fractured her tibia and tore all three major knee ligaments. Nerve damage was so extensive that surgical repair of the ligaments was postponed until there was evidence of nerve function in her leg. “I went from my highest high I could
ever imagine,” says Vimercati. “ T is horse I was told was a mistake goes unanimous World Champion 2-year- old, and I fl y home, snap my leg behind me and am told I would probably never walk again.” T e peak-to-valley turn of events
proved transformational. Tynan and Anaiah, both homeschooled through Julian Charter School, stepped up their roles with the ranch and family as Vimercati convalesced, confi ned to a wheel chair for months. Mom, the trainer, would not return to the saddle for more than a year. In her place, Tynan, who at age 12
had ridden well but had not so much as lunged a horse, was tutored and then assumed the hands on role while mom observed from a deck in a wheelchair. “I have told people that if I had to give
up my leg for the incredible changes that took place in my children, I would do it in a heartbeat,” says Vimercati, who eventually worked her leg back into form for riding and handling halter horses. “I had done all the training—they’d wheel me out on the deck, and I talked her through—how to lunge a horse, saddle, bridle, all of it. She started working all 15 of our horses, 2-year olds, 3-year olds…all of them. “It was amazing,” she adds. “T e
only thing I can tell you about my life is that God has completely blessed me and brought me through everything to this point. T ere is no way this is of me or of my doing or of my own volition or that I deserve this. T is is totally a blessing from God. Every person, every event put into my life, every opportu- nity—good and bad—taught me some- thing and it was never just about me. He brought my kids along.” Far from over, Sjoerd’s journey this
year will include another drive to win a third consecutive Shakespeare Hi-Point Friesian honor. Tynan and Anaiah have their streaks to maintain, too: Tynan is the IFSHA No. 1 Junior Rider the last two years and Anaiah was Reserve last year.
Horsetrader photo
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