66 SIDELINES JUNE 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
AValiant Journey
By Dani Moritz
W
hen Jeanette Sassoon bred her black Dutch stallion,
Valant, to her newly acquired mare, Caprice, she
named the foal Valiant. Little did she know at that time
just how much he would embody his name.
Born on the wild side, Valiant always had an exuberant spirit.
When he was only two-years-old, Jeanette had a well-respected
German dressage trainer evaluate his potential. As they stood
at the bottom of a mountain looking up at fve horses, Jeanette
whistled for the horses to come in. All but one took the long,
winding path. Valiant was the one who chose a different route.
Using the bushes and boulders as if they were fagged gates on
a giant slalom course, Valiant weaved his way at lightning speed
straight down the mountain.
Jeanette recalls the trainer immediately dove for cover then
deemed Valiant unsuitable for dressage. He told her, “He’s crazy
and too small. Get rid of him. He’ll never do.”
Reluctantly, Jeanette put Valiant up for sale - only to discover
that he could not pass the vet check because of an alleged
degenerative disease he didn’t really have. Then, the unthinkable
happened. Soon after moving to a new farm in Florida, Valiant
stepped on a horseshoe nail. After treatment from the vet,
abscesses developed at the site where injections were given
and the following morning a raging infection spread to Valiant’s
eyes and nearly killed him. He developed Uveitis, more commonly
known as moon blindness. Fortunately, Valiant survived – but he
had completely lost his sight.
Jeanette was given two choices. She could turn him out in
Jeanette Sassoon and Valiant
Photo by www.BarbarasVisions.com
e
Making A Difference
Jeanette celebrates with Valiant after their musical freestyle
performance at the 2013 World Dressage Masters in Wellington,
Florida.
Photo by Alan Fabricant
Continued on page 68