42 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
House. “I wear her perfume,” Brianne said. Brianne’s grandmother,
on her mother’s side, is Terry Allen Kramer, a prolific Broadway
producer. “She’s also very supportive. She rode as a child and she
comes to my shows and is on the phone with us four or five times
a day. She has a farm in New York called Remarkable Farm.”
The Goutal girls were young when they named their own
farm. “We named it Cloverleaf because we thought clovers were
lucky and we’d have a lucky barn,” Brianne said. Has the name
Cloverleaf brought luck? “I always wanted my life to involve horses,
and it does. And I always wanted to compete at the highest level
possible and I’ve always had championship goals.”
Another goal Brianne has always had is to travel. “I love to
travel and I’m obsessed with Asia. I eat Asian food five times a
week. I’ve been to Japan and Cambodia but I haven’t been to
Vietnam and I want to go there. Not just for a short break, but to
Now — Brianne and Clementine continue to show together.
Photo by Cayce Harrison-Judge
Then — Brianne and her sister Clementine
Photo courtesy of Brianne Goutal
Brianne competing in Wellington, Florida.
Photo by Mancini Photos, ManciPhotos.com
spend lots of time there.” Her constant travel companion is her
dog, Max, a breed known as a St. Petersburg Orchid that her dad
brought back from Russia. “Max is 13, but he acts like he’s 4. He’s
my travel buddy.”
Brianne’s European travel consists of country hopping
combined with horse showing. “I spend one week in France,
the next in Switzerland. When you’re on that kind of schedule,
you’re exposed to so many different riders and when competing in
Europe you’re riding against people you’ve never heard of. In the
United States you’re competing against the same top riders over
and over again and you get to know who can go fast, who can
make sharp turns and so on. But in Europe you add the elements
of not knowing.”
If Brianne had her choice of methods of travel, it might surprise
some to discover that her preferred mode of transportation might
be a different kind of horsepower. “I love vintage cars and I’m a
motorcycle freak,” she said, adding with a laugh that if someone
gets her started talking about cars she won’t stop. “I can talk cars!”
she said. “My favorite is a 1961 Shelby AC Cobra or a Porsche
356 Outlaw.”
She can also talk horses — although she won’t name a favorite.
“That wouldn’t be very fair,” she said. “Although Onira’s in a league
of his own, but I feel guilty even saying that.”
At the beginning of 2014, Brianne was competing at the Winter
Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, and everything was
going great until week nine when a horse flipped on her and she
hurt her shoulder. “It was a burner injury, which is common in
football players,” she said. “But that’s not the longest I’ve gone
without riding. I broke my leg and had to take three months off.
And I’m literally the world’s worst patient and I drive everyone
insane.”
Brianne’s back in the saddle now, and whether she’s starring
on a reality television show, spending time with her family,
traveling the globe or riding a motorcycle, Brianne’s passion for
horses remains the power that drives her. “My life will always
involve horses,” she said. “It’s an amazing sport because you can
continue to ride for a long time.”
Rest assured, Brianne will stick with it. The young girl who won
the hearts of so many will always have a passion for horse power.
