14 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
willingness to ride close to the edge and risk
not looking picture perfect. In April, Will got
down in the scuffe with all the rest of the big
guys and really got it done. I know him and
his family a little bit, so I was thrilled on both
levels – as a horseman and US supporter,
but also on a personal level. I know what a
nice young man he is in the civilian world.
What about Phillip Dutton and Mystery
Whisper?
We have not seen the best of that horse
yet. I did not see him go at Red Hills.
When I saw him go later on this spring,
I thought, ‘Gee, that’s too bad, because
that horse will be fabulous next year
with Phillip.’ Then I saw him two weeks
later and I thought, ‘Well, it’s still too
bad, he’s going to be fabulous in another
six months.’ Then I saw him at Jersey
Fresh (in May) and I thought, ‘Wow, he
might come to hand at the end of July.’
Because that horse’s learning curve and
performance curve have been almost
vertical. He’s capable of spectacular
results. Mystery Whisper is Phillip’s best
chance and possibly last chance at an
individual Olympic medal.
Are you surprised that Boyd Martin
will ride Otis Barbotiere, not Neville
Bardos and Tiana Coudray and
Ringwood Magister got the ffth spot?
Otis is a wonderful horse and will get
a wonderful ride from Boyd. Whatever
is great for Tiana is sad for three or four
other people who conceivably could have
gotten the nod from the selectors. With
this format of fve scores, three to count,
that means almost all of the international
team selectors are going to put in a horse
and rider that will raise your eyebrows.
Look at the Brits putting Zara Phillips in
from nowhere and making her the ffth
rider; what do you think they’re telling
her? Kid, go for broke! Because she’s
going to do a very, very nice dressage
and then they’re just going to turn her
loose. If the conditions are horrible, then
Zara will feature in my medal predictions.
Just how crushing is it to work so hard
and not make the team?
You know, I’ve been picked when
I shouldn’t have been; I’ve not been
picked when I should have been. I’ve
been team captain and I’ve been team
dog or team drop score. (laughs) I’ve
been all over the various permutations
and combination of team selection.
When you’re qualified and going pretty
well and you’re left off, you said it
yourself, it is just crushing. Sometimes it
is [character building in order to compete
at this level], and sometimes athletes
never get over it.
Any major positive lessons to share?
Over the last three or four years, it has
been learning how good it’s possible for an
event rider to be in all three phases. I was
standing at Luhmuhlen with Mark Phillips
chatting, saying that I had just seen Michael
Jung ride by and that he was looking very
well. Lauren Hough had just walked up and
was kind of listening and she said, Who
did you say? I said “Michael Jung” and I
was about to explain who he was to a non-
eventer and Lauren said, Oh yeah, that’s
that eventing kid that comes to all our CSIs
and kicks our ass! She was not happy about
it and guess what? He’s now starting to
show Grand Prix dressage. He’s the poster
boy right now for the ultimate specialist; but
everyone forgets that when Mark Todd won
his - ahem - second gold medal, he also
did the show jumping on a horse he bought
for nothing because no one else wanted to
ride it. They told him, we don’t have much
of a team, and if you can jump a few clean
rounds at Nations Cup level we’ll put you on
the show jumping team, too. Toddy said, ‘Oh
yeah, that’ll be a bit of a giggle.’ Toddy was
well placed and the show jumping people
were all shaking their heads. There was
Toddy doing two out of three in 1988 and
in 2016 it’s going to be 1948 all over again
when the military offcers all did at least two
disciplines. What goes round, comes round.
What’s on your to-do list?
Clinics and rewriting my book
“Gymnastics.” That will be out within a
year and in a totally new format. It’s being
brought into the 21st century. When I say
rewrite, we’re rewriting the text and it will be
expanded, illustrated by modern graphics
and color photographs. No changes to
technique; horses are horses and Col.
Chamberlain told us how to do that. This is
just specifc exercises that will produce the
sort of horse that Chamberlain wanted to
see. Between rewriting the book, doing two
to three clinics a month and teaching two or
three times a week, I’m staying out of trouble.
For Jimmy Wofford’s biography and roster
of students who competed in the Olympics,
Pan Ams and World Championships, many
earning medals, visit www.jimwofford.
blogspot.com
About the Writer: Lauren R. Giannini is an
award-winning writer specializing in stories
and photos about the equestrian world. She
began writing regularly for Sidelines in April
2005 with the Focus On Virginia issue. After
covering Rolex Three-Day Event in 2006
and producing six pages of photographs,
she became Sidelines’ frst staff writer. Crazy
about horses her entire life, she lives in the
horse and hunt country of Virginia. Lauren’s
motto is “write, ride - not necessarily in that
order!”
Mystery Whisper, owned by Jim and
Arden Wildasin and Phillip Dutton
participate in a jumping clinic in Aiken in
February, early in their partnership. Jim
Wofford said, “We have not seen the best
of that horse yet.”
Photo by Beth Harpham
Rolex 2012, Mr. Medicott and Karen
O’Connor, who sported a total makeover
in the saddle and out - according to
Wofford, “...the secret reason for [Karen’s
improved dressage test] is that the team
hired Linda Zang and she knows what
she’s doing.”
Photo by Lauren R. Giannini