sport horse snippets
Emerging Athletes Winner Has Passion for Sport Horse Breeding
“I
t’s hard to tell what Stephen Foran likes best: researching sport horse bloodlines or riding. He does both with equal passion. His hard work, both in the barn and on horseback, earned the 17-year-old Lake Forest, Illinois, native the top prize in the United States Hunter Jumper Association Emerging Athletes Program (EAP) national finals held at Fields and Fences Farm near Chicago in November. “I’m so thankful and so excited. I’m still pinching myself.
I can’t really put into words how badly I wanted this when I was coming here. I think about horses 24/7. I came here dedicated to learn as much as I could, to be as successful as I could and to work as hard as I could. And I feel like it paid off in the end,” says Stephen, who with his win earned a spot in the George Morris Horsemastership Clinic to be held in Florida in January 2013, as well as a $3,000 training grant, a $1,500 Dover Saddlery gift certificate and a new Charles Owen helmet. The EAP competition included both barn management
and riding phases, as well as a written test. The riders drew lots for borrowed horses, and then spent two days getting to know them on the flat and over fences in a clinic with Peter Wylde. They ended the weekend with a Nations Cup- format jumper competition and the top four riders switched horses in the final round. “Stephen was pretty much in first place throughout the whole weekend. His riding is exceptionally good. He has a very good feel and a lot of talent. I see him going far in this sport,” says Peter who has been living in Europe for a number of years, but plans to move back to the U.S. this winter. The barn management clinicians were Karen Golding
and Sally Ike. In addition the EAP participants benefited from instruction by EAP committee members Mary Babick and Julie Winkel, Kip Rosenthal, a sports psychologist, and Janice Marquis, an equine physiotherapist. Karen notes Stephen’s dedication. “From day number one, he slipped in there like I’d just worked with him the day before. He and Connor Siegel [who won the Stable Management Award] were the first ones at the barn each morning, even before Rush [Weeden, the EAP host] arrived," she says. What separates Stephen from many of his fellow
junior riders is his exceptional knowledge of sport horse bloodlines and his interest in learning all that he can about breeding horses. “It is something I have always been interested in, but over the last few years I have dedicated myself to learn as much
74 January/February 2013 By Kim MacMillan
as I can. I think what sparked this was when a young American-bred prospect came into our barn. The horse is Etienne B by Simsalabim (Nonstop) out of a Concorde mare, bred by Bannockburn Farm. I got him when he was a six-year-old and developed him myself, and now at eight years old he is showing successfully at the 1.45-meter level and qualified for the North American League Low Junior Jumper finals and Washington Junior Jumper finals with me,” explains Stephen, a high school senior who rides with his father Steven at their Liberty Farm. “We have bred a few mares in the past, but this year I am
Stephen Foran of Lake Forest, Illinois, topped a field of 16 riders from 11 states at the 2012 USHJA Emerging Athletes Program national finals
very excited about our new broodmare Pandora ISF who is the full sister to the stallion Judgement ISF, who with Beezie Madden won the CN International $1,000,000 Grand Prix [at Spruce Meadows] three times. We are hoping to breed her to Kannan, the sire of the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, Nino des Buissonnets,” he continues. Stephan believes being knowledgeable about breeding should be a part of being a good horseman. He feels that it helps you understand the source of horses’ talents and traits and can help identify prospects. “I hope to breed 1.60-meter Grand Prix horses capable of winning at the highest level. I look forward to being able to compete horses I bred myself. Taking one to the Olympics would be a dream come true.” In a world where
Stephen Foran pilots his jumper Etienne B, an American-bred eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood Gelding by Simsalabim (Nonstop), out of a Concorde mare, bred by Bannockburn Farm, Bowling Green, Indiana.
European-bred sport horses currently top the money-won lists, Stephen’s American- bred aspirations are a bright spot for the future of our sport in North America.
Tricia Booker/USHJA Archives
Shawn McMillen
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