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58 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2012 
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Jim Wildasin and his very own Benjamin Button
Tribute to an
Olympic Family
By Lauren R. Giannini
No rider, however great, gets to the international level in
any discipline without help. This support comes from sponsors
providing goods or fnances, owners and anyone willing to
contribute funding for your competitive aspirations. The daily
routine maintenance of a horse can be expensive. If you are
serious about competing, factor in beaucoup bucks for entry fees,
ongoing training with specialists in dressage, cross-country and
show jumping, travel, lodging, food, equipment, tack, proper attire,
veterinary care, special feeds and supplements, etcetera. The
higher the aspirations, the greater the cost and professionals with
students and/or a barn full of training and sales horses must divert
time from income-producing work in order to pursue that Olympic
dream.
Financial support from an individual or group “angel” can
mean a world of difference to an equestrian. In eventing circles,
certain names spring to mind: Jacqueline Mars, Annie Jones,
Bruce Duchossois, Joan Goswell, the late great Richard and Vita
Thompson and the various syndicates, such as Team Rebecca,
LLC and several names for actual horses. Their horses have
partnered with some of our great riders, including Jimmy Wofford,
Phillip Dutton, David and Karen O’Connor – there isn’t room to
list all of them. These owners have cheered their horses and
riders around the world and savored the nectar of Olympic, Pan
American or World Equestrian Games glory.
Right now, two of the horses on the United States Three-Day
Eventing team for London are frst time Olympians. Both are
owned by the Wildasins of Virginia. The father-daughter team
of Jim and Arden Wildasin own Mystery Whisper, ridden by
the veteran Olympic medalist Phillip Dutton. Jim owns Twizzel,
partnered with frst time Olympic contender Will Coleman. Jim and
Arden, aided and abetted by Sarah Wildasin, wife and mother in
the family dynamic, can be considered the dark horse in the quest
for Olympic glory.
“Horses have to love what they’re doing and have the physical
skills to accomplish it,” stated Jim, who rode once as a youngster
in Australia and didn’t get back in the saddle for about 30 years.
“Twizzel belongs at that level – he knows when it’s cross-country
day and becomes a completely different horse.”
Jimhas owned Twizzel for four years, which adds great familiarity
to their connection. Whisper, bought last November from Heath
Ryan in Australia, may be a new entity, but proved himself by
winning three three-stars in the frst fve months of 2012, thereby
advancing rapidly to the upper levels and catching the interest of
the United States Three-Day Olympic team selectors.
The Wildasins “get” the equestrian triathlon. While Jim rides
Arden Wildasin and Il Vici, one of her Intermediate rides