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Eye on the Prize FRANKIE AND FRIC TAKE ON ROLEX


Spectators at this year’s Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event will be witnessing history. Fric Frac Berence will be the first one-eyed horse to try and complete this difficult and prestigious event.


years of hard work, dedication and re-learning after Fric’s enucleation (eye removal) surgery. It’s been an incredible journey for the pair.


“F


FINDING EACH OTHER Frankie, 24, is an adult amateur rider who spends much of


her week in an office at New Evolution Ventures, a fitness, media and sports company based in Lafayette, California,


ric,” as he’s known around the barn, and owner/ rider Frankie Thieriot from Walnut Creek, California, will make the journey to Kentucky after


By Erica Larson


where she works as director of communications. “I also write articles and do on-camera coverage for the United States Eventing Association,” she adds. “It’s a lot of fun because it’s a privilege to write about great people, many of whom are friends.” She began riding when she was just three. It was


then that her mother took her to “pony camp” held at an eventing barn which hooked the young rider on the sport. She received her first pony, Brass Ring, at age five and began competing shortly thereafter. When she was ten, Frankie became the owner of a


Warmblood/Appaloosa cross named Dr. Seuss. Together, the pair successfully competed up to Training level. Unfortunately, in 1999, Dr. Seuss suffered a severe suspensory ligament injury and had to be retired from competition. “I absolutely adore Dr. Seuss,” she says. “He is now retired at my mom’s house and I love seeing him on the weekends.” After Dr. Seuss injured his suspensory, Frankie needed


to find another horse. At the time, she explains, the exchange rate between the American dollar and the European euro favored the United States. So Frankie, along with her coaches Yves and Christine Sauvignon, both of whom are natives of France, made the trip with her across the Atlantic. “We found Fric on that trip,” she recalls. Fric is by Laeken


out of Tyrannie II. “At the time, he had just turned six. I was only 13 years old, and he seemed huge to me the first time I saw him, but I remember thinking how beautiful he was. He was very playful and tried to buck me off the first time I sat on him, but he was in no way out to hurt anyone.” The big bay Selle Français won Frankie over quickly and a few weeks later, Fric arrived at his new home in California. Before long, Frankie learned all about Fric’s quirky


personality. “Fric is like a big dog on the ground; he’s very sweet to me. At my barn on weekends, he walks around with no halter on at times and follows me wherever I go. He bows for cookies, a trick he learned while having time off for a tendon injury,” she reports. “He is generally quite opinionated in the cross ties and


doesn’t care much for standing still,” she adds. “He also loves water and anything having to do with it. Fric loves to play with the hose, or he’ll put his entire head in the water trough and make a giant mess.”


14 May/June 2011


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