Ronnie Beard, who trained some of the USA’s greatest hunters and show jumpers, died Tuesday.
Jet Run, Southside and Springdale were among the many horses with which Ronnie was associated over his decades in the industry. The riders he worked with included Katie Monahan, Bernie Traurig, Buddy Brown, Robert Ridland and Melanie Smith, among others.
Ronnie “knew how to do all the right things,” said Robert, who rode Southside in the 1976 Olympics.
At the Caine family’s lavish Winter Place Stables in Maryland during the 1970s, Ronnie assembled a group of horses and riders who became legends. That talent was so impressive it could have made up two Olympic Nations Cup teams, reminisced Robert, now the U.S. show jumping coach.
Ronnie trained both the first and second place winners in the 1981 Volvo World Cup Finals, Michael Matz with Jet Run and Donald Cheska on Southside. He started with both those horses from the age of four.
“Ronnie was a great ambassador for our sport. He was a wonderful horseman, a guiding light for Winter Place Farm in their heyday. An all-around good guy,” said Jimmy Lee, chairman of the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame, into which Ronnie was inducted last year.
Jimmy recalled that at the beginning of his career, Ronnie was in the Reston, Va., area and rode locally. But he always had an eye for a fine animal.
“He knew nice horses,” said Jimmy, who hired Ronnie to work at his Belcort Farm in Virginia.
“He drove the van, he took care of the horses; we all did everything, and he did too. There wasn’t anything Ronnie couldn’t do.”
Although Ronnie was a skilled rider, he felt his future belonged more to training than time in the saddle. When he won the hunter championship at the Keswick, Va., show with Gozzi, he decided to end his riding career on that high note and turned to bringing along horses and riders. Jimmy arranged for Ronnie to get the trainer’s job at Winter Place.
While that facility was known for its decor, Ronnie always emphasized, “it was a lot more than chandeliers,” referring to the massive, glittering light fixtures in the indoor ring, for which the stable became famous.
Ronnie Beard with Robert Ridland and Kathy Kusner.
“He set the gold standard for hunters and jumpers there,” Robert observed.
“He was the heart and soul of Winter Place.”
Melanie came to Winter Place when the Caines bought her mount, Mississippi Mud.
Although she would go on to win team gold at the 1984 Olympics with Calypso, Melanie recalled that in the early 1970s, “I was kind of a nobody then. Ronnie really gave me a wonderful opportunity.”
He sent some lovely horses her way, including Jet Run, a budding superstar she took from Preliminary/Intermediate to Grand Prix.
“The Winter Place era was such a magical time,” she recalled. “Ronnie had a tremendous eye for a good horse. Horses are the best teachers, and he allowed me to do what I felt was right. We stayed friends through the years after that.”
Sue Ashe often judged shows with Ronnie, who had been suffering heart issues. As she talked about her friend, she mentioned his great sense of humor. Sue recounted the time that he and U.S. Olympic show jumper Kathy Kusner went to the National Horse Show ball in Manhattan. Ronnie was in a tuxedo; Kathy wore a dress he made for her out of the curtains that had been hanging her hotel room, a la Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.
“He was a great horseman and a wonderful, wonderful person,” Sue said.