106 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
principles with his own students that she shared with him. He says
he’s grateful she managed to persevere with him.
Another big influence in Jeff’s development was 10-time
Canadian Olympian Ian Millar. At the age of 19, Jeff began as a
working student at Millarbrooke Farms. Jeff recalls, “My objective
was to go there for a year and be a working student. What I
realized after being there for a very short time was that I didn’t
know much at all!” Subsequently, he stayed on for six years. Jeff
recognized parallels between Ian and his mother when it came
to incorporating dressage into training. While there he was the
recipient of excellent dressage instruction from Eve Mainwaring.
Eve schooled Ian’s grand prix horses as well. What Jeff says he
learned most from his time with Ian was the value of having a
systematic way of schooling and training horses that is thorough
and patient.
Since then, Jeff’s mountain of accomplishments has been
steep. Among them, he became the youngest coach at the age of
21 to lead a gold medal winning Young Riders team. He competed
in the 2003 World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. He finished eighth
at the 2004 Olympic Trials. With his top horse, London, he is the
high jump record holder at the Del Mar International. There they
finished at a height of 6’9” in the six bar competition. Jeff and
his riders are routinely winners of the Oregon Hunter Jumper and
Zone 9 Championships.
Aside from riding and training, Jeff is very involved in the
progression of the sport of show jumping. He holds several
positions on committees at the United States Hunter Jumper
Association (USHJA) and the United States Equestrian Federation
(USEF), charged with examining all aspects of riding and
competition. Currently, Jeff is a member of the USHJA Jumper
Zone Council, the USHJA Jumper Working Group and the USEF
National Jumper Committee. He is also Chairman of the USHJA
Children’s/Adult Amateur Regional Jumper Championships Task
Force and since its inception he has been the Chairman of the
USHJA Zone 9 Jumper Committee.
He says of his early involvement with the USHJA, “I was
attending these conferences accompanying my wife Shelley who
was on the Board of Directors and still is. She was very involved
and at the time I was more like the ‘company husband.’ More and
more as it would happen I became interested in the conversations,
discussions, decisions and implementations of these ideas that
benefitted our horses and sport.”
It is evident from speaking with Jeff that it is the governing
aspects of this sport that really fascinate him. He expressed a
keen interest in developing areas such as competition standards,
equine and rider safety, educational opportunities and horse
welfare.
As a native and resident of the Pacific Northwest, Jeff says he
finds living and working in the West to be both comfortable and
relaxed. The geographic nature of working in the Pacific Northwest
presents some unique opportunities for training and showing. Jeff
and his clients don’t go to shows every week like riders might in
other regions of the country. Most of the shows they attend are
more than four hours from Canby. Their show schedule is built
around the events they really want to attend rather than frequency
of showing.
Jeff says he appreciates that he can have an emphasis on the
teaching and training at home as well. He finds that his horses
have the physical advantages of purposeful down time, there is
time to start young horses and the riders get a break too. This
approach provides the opportunity for goal setting and long
range planning that yields results. He says when things begin to
work together, when people begin seeing success, that moment
is contagious. Suddenly everyone has a common goal to work
toward. This is one of the things he loves most about teaching.
Jeff Campf has the road map for a life in balance. He has
struck a meaningful partnership between showing away, training
at home and participating actively in the progression of the sport
of showjumping. All the while, he enjoys the rich beauty of the
Pacific Northwest.
About the writer: Sophie St. Clair is a high school freshman from Southern
California. She has an interest in the psychology of high performance athletes. She
is also a Junior Ambassador for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where she works
to raise funds and awareness for the hospital. Sophie is working toward becoming a
professional show jumper, but is taking it “one jump at a time.”
Jeff awarding the silver team medal to Sidelines Magazine
Juniorside columnist Sophie St. Clair for the USHJA Children’s
West Regional Jumper Championship Team Competition at the
Sacramento International.
Photo by Bret St. Clair
Jeff and Meghan Carney of the USHJA discussing the format of
the USHJA Children’s and Adult Amateur West Regional Jumper
Championships at the Sacramento International.
Photo by Bret St. Clair
