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put onto private sponsors. Our best horses and riders needed to compete in Europe, again, requiring more financial support. We have excellent riders and trainers, however, the biggest problem was—brace yourselves, here it is—that our horses weren’t good enough. Tis last point is a hard one to swallow, but one I have to agree with. So now, the question is, where do we go from here? We have the capable trainers, we can always somehow find the money, but how do we acquire
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Olympic-caliber horses and get them in the hands of our top riders now to prepare them for 2016? Are we breeding them here on our own soil, or do we have to keep flying to Europe to try and find them, when it’s no secret that the Europeans like to keep the crème de la crème for themselves? I hear frequently that Americans are now breeding horses that are of a much higher standard. Tis is good news. But I’m also hearing that the
missing link is the development of the promising young horses that we do produce. Dressage trainer Lisa Wilcox, who is a big proponent of the USEF Young Horse programs, says it well in her interview on page 24, noting “you don’t see it [talent] early on,” and that “the development of the horse is very detailed, such as how long it takes some horses to get the suspension.” Only time with an experienced trainer will determine whether or not a young horse is international quality. Finding and matching great horses with great riders is our country’s biggest challenge. Offering young horse events in all the disciplines is a significant step towards identifying future talent. Besides the Young Horse and Developing
Horse programs in dressage, the jumpers have their Young Jumper Championships, and the eventers have their Young Event Horse East and West championships. (Do we have such a thing as an “equine talent scout?” If so, these are obviously the types of events they should be attending!) Warmbloods Today can’t run around scouting for potentially-elite horses, but we will certainly try to do our part. Looking inside this issue, on page
37 you’ll find an analysis of the bloodlines of the 2012 Olympic jumpers. In our next edition, we will present the bloodlines of the Olympic dressage horses. Te gathering of all of the elite horses in one venue every couple of years allows us an educational opportunity to study the bloodlines of the world’s champions. It is important to identify trends that emerge, and we hope that this kind of information will help American breeders and the sport horse industry as a whole. Also in this issue we interviewed the newcomers to the international scene, this year’s youngest Olympians in dressage, eventing and jumping.
Teir viewpoint of the Olympics is fun and different than their co-teammates who have been there before. And I can’t close without mentioning an extra special article on the gold-medal-champion event horse Sam. When my good friend Susanne Lauda told me she was going to Germany and would see his trainer Michael Jung in September, I jumped at the chance for us to get the real story behind this incredible pair. And, as it turned out, Sam’s breeder was willing to talk to her aſter evidently turning down all other media invitations! Besides our post-Olympic coverage, there are a variety of other features including a special section on the well-established Belgian sport horse registry, the Stud-Book sBs. Despite the lack of medals, I am proud of our equestrian Olympians. It’s never fun to lose, yet every one of our team members did their
absolute best—their efforts and spirit of sportsmanship were admirable. No doubt, we’ve been knocked down a little; we just need to figure out how to pick ourselves back up. Te next two and four years will be critical as we identify our finest team players for the 2014 World Equestrian Games and 2016 Olympics. In the spirit of sportsmanship, if there’s anything more that Warmbloods Today can do to help with the effort, please drop me a line. I’m all ears.
ublisher’s Welcome
Spirit of Sportsmanship
he summer Olympics came and went, and today it seems like old news: no medals for U.S. equestrians. Now that London’s dust is long settled, we’ve had some time to reflect on our uncharacteristically disappointing outcome. Tere have been plenty of opinions posted online about the subject: We don’t have a good funding system in place to support our top horses and riders — too much of the financial burden is
Liz Cornell, Publisher
editor@warmbloodstoday.com
Our Mission: Warmbloods Today is the leading magazine in North America focused on the entire spectrum of Warmblood breeds. It’s a place where people from all aspects of the sport horse community can come together: amateurs, owners, trainers and breeders. Each issue contains interesting, informative and often heart-warming stories of peoples’ experiences with their horses, along with thought- provoking opinions from various professionals and amateurs. We cover all horses from European descent bred for the sports of jumping, dressage, eventing and driving including the Iberian breeds and American Warmbloods.
10 November/December 2012
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