Krack C The Ride of a Lifetime
Californian Nick Wagman reflects on what it was like to ride the famous KWPN stallion.
By Patti Schofler
The year was 1996. Four-year-old Dutch stallion Krack C would, almost literally, walk through fire for his young American rider. He proved it when the pair, with nine other riders on four-year-old stallions, entered a large, unlit arena, accompanied by ball- room dancers, singers and live music, and surrounded by a clapping, shouting audience. The young horses followed spotlights into the darkened venue and all but Krack were leaping into the air, terrified. Krack never missed a beat. That same year and again in 1997 the pair demon-
strated the value of their partnership when Krack C and “his” American won Holland’s prestigious young dressage horse championship, the Pavo Cup.
Behind him he left a legacy of successful Dutch and German breeding stallions, but with his American rider who trained him to Prix St. Georges and international fame, he left a last- ing impression. “He was one of those rare stallions that was super sensi-
T
tive but not studdy. You could literally take him to breed and then two seconds later get on him and ride,” Nick Wagman recounts. “He was just a really good-natured, good-brained horse. In all my years of riding him, I don’t think I appreciated how truly special he really was until later when I had more experience. You come to realize how exceptional Krack was and how hard it is to find that one horse that takes you so far.” Nick received word about Krack’s passing from business
partner Gerard Hoogervorst, whom Nick had joined forces with in 1993 when he moved to Holland to jumpstart his riding career. “I think about Krack all the time because I have a number of his offspring in my barn. We have two that my
TOP: Nick Wagman schooling Krack C in Holland in 1998.
his year, at age 26, Krack C (Flemmingh x Beaujolais), one of the top KWPN breeding sires, died peacefully on a warm May day while turned out in his pasture.
students ride and one that my sponsor rides. My main competition horse, Zenith, is a Painted Black out of Rajana, one of Krack’s offspring. So he’s sentimental to me, of course.”
MEETING KRACK When the California native took on the the four-year-old stallion in 1996, he had lived in Holland for three years riding young horses for the horse dealer and half owner of Krack. Ad Valk was one of those rare people who could walk through a field of 25 yearlings and pick out the two best. Krack was one such horse. Nick recalls how he got the ride on Krack.
“We all have some special talent and mine was to get the horses to trot fancy. Ad liked that because we could sell the horses for a lot of money. When I got to ride Krack, he was being
ridden well, but Ad felt that there was more in there. After a few rides, his movement was coming out. And then we had some successes at the stallion shows and so I kept the ride.” This privilege was a result of a profound commitment.
The eighteen-year-old had dropped out of school, moved to Holland and stayed for seven years, in no small part because of Krack. He remembers that his partner Gerard needed their car to get to work, so every day Nick hopped on his bicycle, pouring rain or not, to get to ride. “When we moved him to a breeding station farther away, I borrowed this little rinky-dink car and drove for an hour and half one way each day to ride Krack. But that’s what you do when you’re 20 years old and you want to ride and it’s a cool horse.”
FAME BRINGS PRESSURE Then came the Pavo Cup, Holland’s famed young horse championship. “Because of my last name and because I spoke fluent Dutch, people almost forgot that I was Ameri- can,” Nick says. But they soon remembered. Here was a relatively unknown American rider winning two years in a row on a super horse with movement like no
Warmbloods Today 27
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Courtesy Nick Wagman
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