About Their Faves O THEIR FAVORITE MOUNTS ARE
DEBBIE STEPHENS
Debbie’s ridden for the USET on many different horses. From Palmetto, Florida, she started the legendary Trakehner stal- lion Abdullah in his show jumping career and also bred the jumper C.E.O. (VIP x Tim Tam xx) Her current star is Condor C (Cassini II x Caretino) a 2005
Holsteiner stallion licensed with the BWP. “I’m such a Warm- blood fan,” she says. “This horse just came into my life,” she continues. “My
story is about how lucky I am, how this horse materialized—a horse I never imagined would happen again.” Debbie found out about the young stallion, who was jumping in Brazil, through a friend there who saw the horse in the trials for the 2011 Pan-American Games. Condor C came to Debbie’s barn as a sales horse and she was able to buy him when two potential sales fell through. “I hadn’t
In June Debbie Stephens and Condor C placed a close second at the $130,000 Ashe- ville/Greenville BMW Centers’ Grand Prix CSI 3* at Tryon, North Carolina.
really ridden in the Grand Prix for six years. Either horses
got hurt or we couldn’t keep them sound,” Debbie recalls. “This horse is the horse of everybody’s dreams. He jumps and takes six or seven seconds over every jump—it is so effort- less. He’s hardly putting effort in. He’s got the greatest char- acter. It’s about what he can do for me. He’s polite and has a good work ethic.” Debbie says she was originally concerned about extra
time on course due to her new horse’s style over jumps. “George Morris rode him, and I told him about time faults. George was riding and riding—he said, ‘Why would I want to get off?’” Then she had a discussion about Condor C with Eric Navet
that put her at ease. “He’s one of the most effective riders in the whole world. Eric said, ‘I am so impressed, you haven’t had a Grand Prix horse in so long. I would want to ride like
you. Your horse spends so much time in the air and jumps so effortlessly. Put all that [time faults] out of your mind. I just love to watch you ride this horse.’ Oh, this is Eric Navet talking to me!”
She praises her horse’s attitude, saying, “He just walks in
the ring and it’s whatever you tell him. He never loses his focus. He’s such a gentleman even though he’s a stallion. He waits for you to tell him. He doesn’t make decisions himself.” “He’s big, 17-plus hands, and he has a beautiful gallop and is a big mover. But he will add strides. He will do a short four strides and come right back,” she continues. He is also polite as a breeding stallion, Debbie says. She
walks him to and from the neighboring equine reproduction clinic in a halter and lead chain. “I ride him in an eggbutt gag with two reins, so I can use
either ring,” she says. “I hack him in an eggbutt snaffle. No martingale. I pinch myself all the time. I can’t believe this is really happening. I have a 1.60-meter horse I can show anywhere in the world.”
She plans a big summer of jumping 1.60-meter courses.
“For me, the bigger the better. My saying is no scope, no hope. I have lots of hope because I have lots of scope.” She boasts that her horse impresses, even in the FEI horse inspections. “In Tryon and in Florida, my groom Victor Castillo has won the Equis Boutique Best Presented Horse award twice on him. [Jumper rider] Allen Nabors called me and said, ‘It’s like you and your horse are putting on a show for all of us.’” Condor C is 18.75 percent Thoroughbred in five
generations. ANDREW RAMSAY
From Wellington, Florida, Andrew is a Grand Prix winner who rides with Chris Kappler. “I have a hard time picking favorites,” says Andrew. “I really love them all, and I’ve had great horses in my career so far.” He’s had recent wins with two, Cocq a Doodle (Tolan R
x Niagara) and Stranger 30 (Stakkato x Cheenook). Andrew says that, though they’re different in many ways, “Both are my type of horse. They are blood horses. They are in front of you and take you to the fence. That type works well for my system.”
He describes how they differ. “Cocq a Doodle (Doodles)
is a larger, longer mare, who has a lot of length to her back. Stranger is a small gelding, 15.1 or 2. I’ve never measured
Warmbloods Today 21
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