years together, Lordan proved he had the agility and outlook to tackle the big courses, even the water jumps. “I think he’s a better oxer jumper than vertical jumper,” says Nayel. “But he’s a talented horse and he knows his job. He’s definitely still a little bit funny with water. Not bad or naughty, but it takes a little bit more riding.”
THE JOURNEY BACK Lordan was Nayel’s top horse by 2014. Then he injured his offside (right) stifle. Nayel’s task was to manage his horse’s treatment and eventual comeback. “He’s such a unique horse
and such a special horse that we decided we weren’t going to rush him back,” he says. “We took our time and gave him double the time he probably needed. It’s paid off so far.” Nayel credits IRAP (interleukin-1 receptor antagonist
protein) joint therapy with helping to heal Lordan’s injury. “And we did a lot of range of motion exercises to get him used to bearing his weight again,” he says. “Also a lot of rest. We had a plan and stuck to it. If we thought he needed a little bit more time, we took our foot off the gas and did a little bit less until he was ready to do more.” For Lordan’s return, Nayel planned to expose his horse
to the show environment. Their first class was a lower test (meter 20) at the Del Mar International Horse Show, close to home. “That was his first time being at a horse show again, in October 2015. Then he did the Las Vegas National Horse Show in November. In his first meter 40 there, we had time faults. I knew we weren’t jumping big enough at home, so he needed it. The height of the jumps were not an issue. It was just a matter of him getting back in rhythm and getting his body up to speed again.” At that point Nayel was pleased with Lordan and so he planned a foreign trip after a month’s rest. They traveled to Mexico in January 2016 for the Valle de Bravo CSI4*-W. “I thought it was a nice change of pace, getting him out of Cali- fornia and traveling again. Sure enough, he was happy to be there and jumped great,” he says, mentioning that Lordan travels well. “He digs a little bit, but he is a pretty seasoned traveler at this point.” In Mexico, Lordan jumped what Nayel calls “his first real
World Travelers
Lordan and Nayel have competed and won in CSIs in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. Nayel is from Egypt and rode on the Egyptian team at the 2014 World Equestrian Games. The pair also competed in the 2014 World Cup final in Lyon, France, finishing 18th. When they traveled east to win the 2013 HITS Zoetis
$1 Million, Nayel was a senior at Stanford University and Lordan was nine. In their six years together they’ve won over $800,000 in the U.S. alone. And what about the 2016 Olympics? “The Olym-
pics is every rider’s goal,” says Nayel. “And I have a horse now that can actually do it.” He explains that Egyptian teammate Karim El Zoghby has secured an individual slot already. “He will represent us. But Lordan and I will be ready. You never know.”
Photo: Lordan and Nayel Nassar jumping the last fence—a Liver- pool—at the AIG $1 Million Grand Prix at HITS Thermal Desert Circuit in March 2016.
28 May/June 2016
classes.” He jumped the meter 50 and then he jumped the meter 60. “He had one down in each. They were both my mistakes. I was a little rusty, not having jumped a class like that in a year. It took me a little bit of adjustment to get back in the groove,” Nayel admits. Then this past winter the pair returned to the HITS
Thermal Desert Circuit with lofty competition goals: the $350,000 HITS Thermal Grand Prix, the $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup qualifier and the AIG $1 Million Grand Prix. They exceeded expectations by placing third in the HITS Thermal Grand Prix and a week later winning the World Cup qualifier. Would they be the first-ever horse and rider combination
to conquer the $1 Million twice? Days before that Grand Prix event in March, Nayel was ready. “I hope that all goes accord- ing to plan and, if not, we’ll try again in Saugerties.” The pair ended up placing fourteenth and therefore will go back to Saugerties in September. Also on the summer schedule are Canada’s Spruce Meadows and Thunderbird. “I’m trying to gear him up for the big shows,” says Nayel.
“I’ve got some other horses to jump down here in Califor- nia. (One is Lordan’s Oldenburg half-brother, Baraka.) I’ll save Lordan for what matters.”
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