42 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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Bobby Murphy: A Course Designer’s Life
By Mandy Su
Robert “Bobby” Murphy, a fifth generation horseman and
Lexington, Kentucky native, shows obvious love for what he
does. After designing his first course at the age of 15, he realized
how much course designing had to do with horsemanship, and it
shows in his work.
The creativity and originality seen in Bobby’s courses challenges
both horse and rider when they enter the ring. He wants them
to see something other than a set of jumps. His creative and
technical style has earned him bragging rights on the designs
of the 2011 Hunter Derby Finals in Lexington and the 2012 CN
Derby in Chicago.
As the creative mastermind behind courses up and down the
East Coast, Bobby is also looking forward to getting back in
the saddle. Wanting to transition from hunter courses to jumper
courses, he wants to step into the jumper ring as a competitor
and get a hands-on feel for the types of courses that will be soon
to come.
How long have you been designing courses?
Long enough to know that nobody ever complains if the course
is too easy! I was 15 years old and a sophomore in high school
when my father, Rob Murphy, put me into the world of course
designing. Growing up in a fifth generation horse family introduced
me to different aspects of the horse industry at a very young age
and course designing was one of those aspects. I think in this
industry we all strive to be great horsemen, and for me course
designing has taught me a lot about horsemanship, but I still have
a long way to go
Do you have a masterpiece of all of the courses you have
designed?
I do have a masterpiece but I have yet to use it. It involves sand
castles. I’m designing the 2013 CN Derby with George Morris so
maybe we will see the masterpiece soon.
If you aren’t revealing your masterpiece just yet, what has
come close?
I have two courses and they are the 2011 Hunter Derby Finals in
Lexington and the 2012 CN Derby in Chicago. The main focus of
the 2011 Derby finals course was to present a course that looked
as if there weren’t any jumps in the ring. So we went with a course
that looked like a farm complete with a barn, front gate, driveway,
paddocks, pond, docks, boats, trees, hay wagon, etc. The
second course, at the beautiful farm of Carl and Rush Weeden,
we expanded on the concept of the 2011 Derby Finals and did a
course that looked like a CN train taking a stroll through Bali. The
course was a mix of jumping train carts from our title sponsor CN
and art in the form of wood. Kandis Wrigley imports fine woods
from Indonesia and lent us $500,000 of the most amazing wood
and stone sculptures that I have ever seen.
Do you have a favorite show venue?
The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The Horse Capital of
the World will always be my Number 1.
Where can you typically be found on a horse show weekend?
Most of the time I’m somewhere close to a ring, either watching
horses compete or hanging out with friends.
Bobby Murphy
Photo by Julie Moses
What would you tell someone about to ride one of your
courses?
Good luck.
Do you have a “style” when it comes to designing courses?
I think my style is introducing new concepts that are acceptable
for both the horse and rider, entertaining to watch and bring out
the best in both horse and rider. Style is always changing with
innovation and that comes from doing a lot of derby courses
at a time when the industry was trying to make hunters more
interesting through the derby program. I look back and see some
of these different phases I went through like spelling out sponsors
names with jumps, or putting shapes in the ring like straw circles,
or building jumps that don’t look like jumps or creating the grass
Liverpool and I see a style that is creative. At the ingate I’m rumored
to be technical - so my style is both creative and technical.
When you aren’t busy, what is your favorite thing to do?
Honestly I’ve just been kicking it at the barn and getting back
into my CWD saddle. It was an intense 12 weeks at WEF and I
have enjoyed just being able to ride.
What job would you do if you weren’t designing courses?
I don’t look at my job as “course designing” but rather learning
horsemanship. I think the next chapter for horsemanship for me
is riding horses and living the barn life. I grew up riding as a kid
and I want to be back in the competition ring. This will also help
introduce me to the next phase of course designing, which is a
focus on jumpers. I spent this past September through December
as a working student for my sister at Murphy Manor. Going to the
barn every day from sun up to sun down made me fall back in love
with horses.
About the writer: Horse crazy since the age of five, South Florida native Mandy Su
graduated from the University of Kentucky in the spring of 2013. Other than spending
every waking moment in the saddle and at the barn with her horses, she also enjoys
photography and playing with her Great Dane, Ben.
