90 SIDELINES APRIL 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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By Holly Hugo-Vidal
Hugh Mutch, or Bert as many call him, has made his home in
San Francisco for the past two years. Originally from New Canaan,
Connecticut, he is the son of legendary horseman Ronnie Mutch
(for whom the equitation class is named). As a junior, Hugh
trained with his father and assistant trainer Timmy Keys at their
well-known Nimrod Farm in Weston, Connecticut.
Hugh gives Timmy credit for teaching him valuable tools that
he still uses today in his lessons. His dad would occasionally send
him off to George Morris (for a little humbling) if they got into a
father-son argument, which Hugh says always worked and he
would come home a little humbled and better for it!
Achieving one of his frst goals in life, Hugh won the AHSA
Medal Finals in 1978 (having been second the previous year).
Still to this day, Hugh and Ronnie hold the record for being the
only parent and child to win this prestigious class. Ronnie won
it in 1950. This win was not only a great family accomplishment;
but quite amazing considering the fact that Hugh actually lived
in Kentucky with his mother and only came to Connecticut over
Christmas vacation to ride. Not until he was in his last junior
year did he dedicate all his time to riding. Up until then football,
basketball and soccer had been his sports.
Hugh had the incredible opportunity to work with many of the
horse world’s greatest horsemen, including Bert de Nemethy in
Gladstone, New Jersey at the USET team headquarters. Hugh
also rode with Bernie Traurig as well as the great Rodney Jenkins,
who Hugh regards as the best rider he ever saw. He worked for
Rodney as a ground man as well as preparing Rodney’s horses
for several years at Rodney’s Hilltop Farm in Orange, Virginia.
If Hugh was having trouble correcting a problem with a horse,
Rodney, not being a verbal man, would say, “Get off and I’ll get on
and show you how to fx it. Watch me and then you do it.” Rodney
could do things with horses that other people couldn’t!
Spending three winters at Gladstone was valuable training
for Hugh. The riders
brought a couple of
their own horses and were permitted to ride some of the famous
old horses at the team that had been donated, such as Almost
Persuaded, Flying John and Mainspring. Hugh recalls Bert
drawing on a blackboard the correct way to do a leg yield or some
lateral movement, showing the sequence of the horse’s legs.
Then the riders would ride the team horses and with the beneft
of mirrors on the side of the ring and in the corners, they could
watch the horse’s movements as well as get a feel of the correct
way to perform these movements. Having already felt it on the old
schoolmasters, they would ride their own horses and try to do the
same thing. Hugh said he is reminded of these experiences to this
day, every time he gets on a horse.
Giving credit to his dad, Hugh feels that Bert de Nemethy and
Rodney Jenkins were also the most infuential horsemen in his
life; a generation that he feels no longer exists. He hopes to pass
on this incredible knowledge to today’s riders. “It’s my turn! This
needs to be passed on,” Hugh said.
Hugh became a successful professional rider, winning his frst
grand prix in 1979 just a year after winning the Medal fnals. Hugh
also took several sabbaticals as he tried to determine exactly what
he wanted to do. This included galloping racehorses and breaking
babies in Kentucky. Then in 1991 Hugh had the opportunity to
ride the incredible dappled gray hunter Roxdene and he showed
her with tremendous success. It was not uncommon for her to
win every class in the division. Hugh still gets goose bumps when
he thinks of her. “A freak of nature!” In late 1991, Sam Edelman
stepped up and backed Hugh’s career as a grand prix rider,
resulting in 12 grand prix wins over the next four years on both
coasts as well as in the Midwest.
In addition to his involvement with horses (Hugh still shows
and recently competed horses for John Charlebois at a show in
Del Mar, California) Hugh is an accomplished landscaper and
has designed some incredible barns, including one of his own in
Virginia. His latest passion is a gelato business called Yogorino in
San Francisco. It originated in Italy and two Italian master chefs
trained Hugh, who now owns a franchise in partnership with his
wife Jennifer and her family.
Hugh and PF Twister II.
Hugh “Bert” Mutch and his wife
Jennifer.
Photos by James Leslie Parker