By Charlene Strickland Is the S
ome say no, that today’s sport is too sanitized. In 2017, Katie Monahan Prudent and Armand Leone spoke up to challenge the state of jumper riding.
These two legends have represented the U.S. in interna- tional championships. Both are influenced by their coach, George Morris, who also taught all three Leone broth- ers: Armand, Peter and Mark of “Team Leone.” That team collaborated to prepare Peter for the 1996 Olympic Games where he earned a team silver medal. Katie and Armand argued that riders are soft and
avoid tackling obstacles like the open water jump. While modern sport horses have the talent for the major cham- pionships, do their riders energize them to confront the toughest courses? We spoke to two of the Leone brothers, Mark and Armand, who are passionate about the subject.
Respect for Nature Turf, water, banks, ditches—these natural features reflect the traditions of show jumping. Today they’re found in venues like Spruce Meadows, Aachen and Hickstead. Those venues are in contrast to the usual “ring” riding, almost separating show jumping into two different sports. Those who aspire to the Olympic Games must master the open water jump. The water certainly tested the world’s best at the 2016 Olympics, where many horses faulted. Mark defines the open water as a “specialty jump,” call-
ing it “a very good question.” “You’ve got to test riders. They were talking about getting rid of the water last year. Thank God, they didn’t yet,” he adds. In the FEI jumping rules, Article 211, the water jump is defined as having a minimum spread of two meters and a maximum of 4.5 meters. For a Nations Cup, FEI Article 264 specifies the water jump’s inclusion and size. “As junior riders, 14-17, at the horse shows we jumped
water jumps. Our standard was high. You learned to do it,” Mark recalls. That natural obstacle remains a require- ment in the North American Junior/Young Riders Cham- pionship, so riders need to practice it. The water jump is compulsory in the team and individual final round of a continental championship for young riders and juniors (FEI Jumping Rules, Annex IX, Chapter III, Article 17). “I force my riders to go to the Old Salem Farm show,”
Mark adds. “That show is still grass. It has the hills and the grass. People fear that. We grew up in that. It has real Liverpools, not cheap plastic ones.”
All photos by Charlene Strickland
The Trakehner stallion Horalas (Veimaras x Gret) jumping a wide water jump with Hap Hansen at the 2004 USEF Selec- tion Trials in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Warmbloods Today 210
Veneto DH Z Zangersheide (Va-Vite x Codex) and Jodie Camberg jumping the low wall and water jump, $3500 Junior/A-O Young Rider Qualifying Class at HITS Desert Circuit, Thermal, California, in March 2017.
Gone? Confidence. Tenacity. Old-fashioned grit.
Do today’s riders demonstrate these qualities as they attack jumping courses? He explains how the sport has changed. “People don’t
want to jump on grass. Like all sports, show jumping has gotten better—the riders, the horses, the training. With that comes this sense of, ‘I’m too good for that’ or ‘I’m not going to put myself in that position.’” “You need horses on a real field. Nowadays the answer
is to get rid of the water jump and use a Liverpool with plastic. The horses understand it’s not real and they step on it,” Armand says. Mark recalls when his sons, 11 and 14, spent a day riding outside. “My boys are ring riders. They don’t know
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