Catching Up with International Eventer
Clark Montgomery By Amber Heintzberger It’s important for me that people at home don’t think we
left the states because we want to be less American. Person- ally, I feel like I can be a better competitor for America from over here—it elevates my game to compete against the rid- ers who are at the top of the sport.
L
eading American eventer Clark Montgomery is a mem- ber of the USEF World Class Training Squad. Originally from Texas, he and his wife Jess are currently based in the Cotswolds region of England where they operate
Silverwood Farm, a competition and training “yard,” and have immersed themselves in the British eventing scene. Clark has trained with numerous top riders and coaches
over the years, including David and Karen O’Connor, Capt. Mark Phillips, Sandy Pflueger Phillips and international show jumper Sharn Wordley. He has been a regular fixture on the USEF’s high performance training lists since 2001 and was the recipient of a 2011 Land Rover USEF High Performance grant which funded his trip to compete at Blenheim Palace CCI*** in England. In 2012 he and the Irish Sport Horse gelding Loughan
Glen (by Limerick), owned by Kathryn Kraft and Bill and Holly Becker, were named to the short list for the London Olympic Games and finished twenty-seventh at Badminton in 2013. His wife Jess’ horse Universe is a 2001 KWPN gelding by Lau- riston that Clark is also competing at the four-star level. In early March, Clark eagerly tells us about his best, and
worst, horses, and what it’s like to compete and train in Europe.
WBT: What prompted your move to England? CM: My wife Jess and I had sold my family’s farm in Virginia a while ago and moved back to Texas for a year—and realized it wasn’t the place we wanted to be. We went back to Virginia, but tested out England for six months and loved it. We hadn’t really planned that move out, so we came home, got orga- nized and have made England our home for now. We needed to find out where we were going to settle
down, and decided to make this move to England one more time and see if we could make it stick. We plan to stay here through my competitive career, then move back to the U.S. when I settle down to do more teaching and training.
20 May/June 2014
WBT: How has your riding and training business and philosophy changed since your move to England? CM: You don’t do near as much teaching over here as you do at home—our business is based more around selling horses and riding. I’m riding a whole lot more and for me that’s better—I like to teach but I’m a better competitor when I’m focusing on my riding. I definitely want to help out the U.S. riders by finding good horses over here; I think it’s beneficial that they have somebody on their side in the horse selling business, which can be difficult. Jess doesn’t compete anymore, but she loves riding Uni-
verse, who was her horse, and she helps galloping and hack- ing. She does all the fun stuff without the stress. She’s also my “eyes on the ground” probably more than she likes—I think she has a great eye and a sense for what looks good, and she doesn’t necessarily like to say she knows how to fix it, but she knows when it looks tense or unpleasant.
WBT: How has your lifestyle/day-to-day changed since moving abroad? Any major pros/cons? CM: It’s really, really cold over here, consistently cold. That’s hard to adjust to when you come from a warm place like Texas! I’d say a pro is this is the longest span of time since we’ve
been married, which is eight years, that we’ve lived some- where without moving. Over here you don’t pack up and move to Florida or Aiken for the winter, you get to stay put and base out of one place year round, which is awesome since you don’t have to be away from home so much. Most of the shows are also one-days, so the horses get to stay in their own boxes or turnout at night. At the events there is a lot less time to overanalyze and get nervous since you show up and get the job done and then go on to the next one.
WBT: Do you get to work with David O’Connor (the U.S. team coach) very often? CM: I don’t get to work with David a lot; he was here Tuesday until today, so we’ve had him a couple times this winter, and he’ll be back before Badminton and for that weekend. A few
Top of page: Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen at The Fork CIC*** 2011.
Amber Heintzberger
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