Oliver Brown in the Pony Breeding class at Upperville, wearing his trademark Yankees ball cap, showing Say What—a pony he bred and sold to Robin Greenwood.
By Britney Grover
Oliver Brown lives on the same road that his family has since 1916, “and probably within three to five miles as a crow flies from where we’ve been well over 200 years!” he added. Oliver and his wife, Joan, live in Culpeper County, Virginia, near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Oliver’s four children and eight grandchildren all live nearby, and they stay close as a family.
Family, history and horses are perhaps the most important things in the world to Oliver—and much of the time, they overlap. “My father’s family was farming, and he got into horses much to his mother’s dismay,” Oliver shared. “She didn’t really like us doing it, but he became pretty well known for breaking and showing ‘bad’ horses. So I had the good fortune of growing up knowing so many of the prominent show people of that era: Gene Cunningham, Garfield Harding, Jack Payne, Delmar Twyman—names you’ve probably never heard of, though Jack was Rodney Jenkins’ uncle.”
Foxhunting, steeplechasing and showing in the winter gave Oliver a solid foundation for a career with horses that continues today. In addition to continuing to run his Hunter’s Haven farm, Oliver serves on several USHJA committees—including as chair of the Hunter Breeding Task Force—judges and continues over 50 years of involvement with his local tri-county 4-H event as chairman for 30-plus years. “My wife, Joan, keeps saying, ‘You need to slow down,’ and I feel like I have!” he said. “I got to thinking some time ago, What would I do if I quit? I don’t play golf—never did, because I’ve always been so busy with the horses that I know some stiff shirt would beat me and I know me—I’m competitive—I wouldn’t work for weeks till I could kick his rear. So I don’t play golf. I have 40 or more horses I’m responsible for, 30 boarders—I’m very blessed. I don’t want to have to get up at 2 a.m. to show babies, but if you stop you’re through, so I don’t plan on stopping. I just want what’s best for the sport, and I mean that with all my heart.”
How did your career with horses get started?
I started breaking ponies professionally at 7 years old. My father had an accident when I was 12 so I took over the horses and broke a lot until 30 or so and slowed down on that end. But I rode, and in my upper 20s I was kind of tired of showing. I never wanted to hunt to hounds, but they talked me into it and I foxhunted for 21 years, until ’99. I’m still Master of the Hounds, though I don’t ride anymore. I did sales in Kentucky and Saratoga, as a lot of us show people got involved with years ago. I’ve been fortunate that as one door is closed there’s another door right there: I got into showing in-hand in the ’80s as I was slowing down riding. I’m the most blessed person in the country.
What’s your favorite thing about being part of the horse world?
The people. I miss some of the yesteryear camaraderie—I think it used to be a little better, but I still enjoy the camaraderie. That’s one thing I’ve loved about judging since I got my card 12 years ago, the dinners in the evening especially with those who share my enthusiasm for keeping the hunters the way they were.
If you could tell every rider one thing, what would it be?
Learn about the horse. For years I’ve said, ‘I don’t teach riding, I teach horse psychology,’ and I have a quote in my barn from Winston Churchill: “Nothing teaches riding like the horse.” Spend time in the saddle, spend time in the barn, get to know each individual horse because what works for one horse won’t work for another, more than likely.
What do you like to do outside of horses?
I’m a history buff! I love studying it, and my son inherited that love and actually majored in it. He has tracked our genealogy all the way back to the 1600s.
What’s your favorite meal?
I love seafood when I go to Florida four or five times a year and I love steak, but my favorite is a good pork chop. What Southern boy don’t love a pork chop?
What are some things that can always be found in your refrigerator?
An ice drink—of course, my wife has me drinking healthier stuff, which I’m pretty much into—some sort of seltzer water for sure, then grapes and cherries. I love having cherries, but I have to make myself not eat too many. I walk by and just pick up a bag, and if I don’t watch that at least half of it will be gone!
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
I often think I’d like to be able to go back to the 1800s or the later 1700s to see what that would have been like—and to find out how those people would react to today’s time. Would they be shocked, or interested?
Who are your heroes?
The people who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They were committing treason, and when you read those things and start analyzing, you wonder, How did they think like that, with the way they’ve been brought up? I marvel at some of the things they developed.
