Warmblood By Julie Winkel Hanz’s Story
special Warmblood. I promise, there’s a great moral at the end of the story! In 1999, I was successful nationally and internationally
I
with a young jumper and was enthusiastic about finding my next star. A friend sent me a video of several five-year-olds in Germany. One was a beautiful bay gelding that took my breath away when he jumped. His style was incredible! I had just returned home to Reno after judging the Hunter Spectacular in Wellington and this horse had a more special technique than any of the ones I had just seen. I had to have him. I went to Germany to buy him, check in hand. He arrived in the U.S. and I took him straight to a competition to show him off. I didn't even make it from the barn to the ring before I got spun off! ‘Hanz,’ a.k.a. Cincenatty, was a spooky, suspicious horse from the start. He was highly aware of his surroundings at all times. He was nervous but honest to the jumps and learned to jump all the natural obstacles and open water like a champ. But he was afraid to touch a jump so although always clean, he overjumped every obstacle. I remember his first high preliminary class at Indio in the Grand Prix ring. He overjumped so high with his hind legs I landed in front of the saddle over fences 2, 3, 4 and 5 before I tipped my hat (graciously retiring from the arena)! The triple combination was next and I chickened out. Additionally, he had a big lazy stride. I spent years trying
to get his rpms up and worked on getting him to jump from the base. He simply liked the gap. I won a lot of big classes or got spun off before the timers,
which was about a 50/50 occurrence either way. Last to go, I won the preliminary jumper championship on Hanz at Indio, only to get spun off after the timers when a ring crew guy jumped out of the tent to help build the next course. Since it happened after the timers, I still won the class! By the time Hanz was nine we were competing in the 1.45m open classes and smaller Grand Prix. It was terrifying being a foot over a 4'9" oxer with a horse that cracked his back and dropped his head between his knees!
66 July/August 2014
'm so flattered to have been asked to contribute to this popular column. For my first attempt, I’d like to share some of my many trials and tribulations with one very
Finally came a moment of clarity. I found myself sitting
on the ground in the All Canada ring at Spruce Meadows because, as we were starting the jump-off in a 1.4m competition, a ring crew guy suddenly stood up from his chair—and boom! As I made the walk of shame to retrieve my horse, who seemed about a mile away grazing under the teleprompter that said 'Julie Winkel-USA-Eliminated,' I caught the brat and said, "This isn't fun for you or for me! We’re doing the hunters at the next show!" The following week, Hanz showed in the 4' hunter division. When we landed off the final jump, for the first time ever, I could feel him take a big breath and relax. For all the world, it was as if he was saying, "That's it?! You mean I could get my hair and my nails done, jump slow and from the gap, hang out at the ring for the jog and only work
two days a week!? I'm in!" Hanz was reserve champion at
that first show and went on to be a top junior hunter, competing at Devon, Capital Challenge, Harrisburg and Washington, winning
numerous junior hunter classics and show championships with many different riders over the next ten years. Today he is 19 yrs old, lives on my farm, still competes at 3'6" and still takes my breath away! Moral to the story: just because you buy a fabulous
talented youngster, the discipline he is best suited to might not be what you had in mind. Find the ring he will excel in by paying attention to what your horse’s strengths and weaknesses truly are. At the end of the day, you will be so much more successful if your horse is comfortable and happy in his job.
Julie Winkel is the owner of Maplewood Stables in Reno, Nevada, and is an accomplished hunter/jumper competitor and USEF judge. Julie offers internships, as well as full training for horses and riders and sales horses. She also stands two jumper stallions. You can learn more about Julie and Maplewood Stables at
www.mwstables.com.
Hanz
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