“…I could tell him 50 percent of the information, and he would literally fill in the rest.”
Paragon, I was trying to be smart on how to make a living as a trainer by having a horse under saddle and one in the pipeline for investment. Plus, I love starting my own horses. I install the initial software. Then by the time they’re doing the FEI, the basics are hardwired. I thought Paragon would be a very saleable horse; he just turned out to be better than I planned,” says Heather with a smile. Paragon was a glint in Heather’s eye when she was the head trainer at Oak Hill Ranch, owned by Richard Freeman Jr., breeder of Danish sport horses in Folsom, Louisiana, and headquarters for the North American Danish Warmblood Association. The ranch had imported his mother, Pari Lord (a Pari
line mare by Loran) that Heather started as a three-year- old and took through the Danish inspection. She was straightforward with an agreeable temperament and had very nice basic gaits. On the stallion side, Heather was attracted to Don Shufro, having ridden several of his offspring. “If they would breed her to Don Shufro, I told them that I would buy the foal. I knew there was size in the
cross. I lucked out getting 18 hands. 17 would have been great too,” she says. “My intention buying Paragon was not to have a foal that would end up on a team and maybe go to the Olympics, but just to be happy, make money and take what comes my way. I love challenges. And I love what is happening to me today.”
Education Overseas When Paragon was three, he and Heather set out on an
adventure and moved to Denmark for four years. Such moves are not new to her. She was born in New Jersey, grew up in Kansas, went to college in Colorado, lived in Louisiana and now calls Wellington, Florida home. “Denmark was an invaluable experience for my riding
and for me personally to be away from the United States, even though it was difficult and stressful. The country is English friendly, but there still are a lot of things you miss,” she says. “I was competing at the Grand Prix with Otto and
Arabella, just hoping not to embarrass myself. I had been fairly successful in the U.S., but there I felt like I was starting all over. By watching others you learn just how good you have to be in order to be competitive. Slowly I made my way up and became more and more competitive. At the prestigious CDI 5* at Stuttgart I came in eighth in the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special in a lineup very similar to the Hong Kong Olympics.”
Paragon’s Development For Paragon, the Denmark years were a time to grow up.
The people-loving, laid back, big guy handled the move successfully and his training progressed well, in part because of his nature and in part in spite of his nature. “Some foals have an innate fear of humans. From the
beginning, he was comfortable with people. He was born not concerned about what people might do. He thought he was on a level playing field with humans. That was both good and bad. He had to learn that I’m the teacher and he’s the student. We have a great relationship now that we have those rules established,” Heather explains. From the start, he was a well-balanced horse, she says, and he didn’t go around on the forehand or express a lot of resistance. “It wasn’t a fight to have him work. He has huge feet, huge bone, but he is made with size and proportion that fits appropriately with his height.” “Some horses need to be told everything,” Heather continues. “Not Paragon. He is such a willing, easy going
Left top: The pair schools the piaffe at home in Wellington, Florida. Bottom: Heather and Paragon competed at the Pan-Am Games last year, winning the individual silver medal.
20 July/August 2012
Photo by Britt Carlsen
Photo by Mary Kay Bonner / MacMillan Photography
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