An equestrian heritage pays off in USEF Talent Search

Nature vs. nurture. It was the first thing that came to mind when I realized the top four competitors in the Platinum Performance/ U.S. Equestrian Federation Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East came from equestrian families.

In case you’re not familiar with the expression, it refers to the question of how much a person’s characteristics are formed either by genetics or upbringing/life experience.

Winner Taylor Cawley is a third-generation serious horsewoman. Her grandmother, Sue Ashe, won the 1958 AHSA Medal finals and is a respected horse show judge. Taylor’s mother, Molly Cawley, is a successful grand prix rider. (Molly and Sue judged the 2019 edition of the Talent Search together.)

Amira Kettaneh, the reserve champion, is the daughter of Leigh Kattaneh, who owns and trains at Fox Creek Farm in New Hampshire. Irish Olympic show jumper Shane Sweetnam and his wife, trainer Ali Sweetnam, from Sweet Oak Farm in Florida, are the parents of third-place Olivia Sweetnam.

Fourth place JJ Torano is the son of show jumper, hunter exhibitor and top trainer Jimmy Torano and his wife, Danielle, who also has her share of success in equestrian competition.

Expect to see all four on senior national teams when they’re older; that’s the point of the Talent Search.

I asked Jimmy about the advantage for children of having parents who are involved in the horse business. Nurture won.

“They’re around it every day, they’re living it, they’re breathing it. They’re getting the opportunity to ride several horses,” he pointed out.

Thinking back to his own childhood, Jimmy said, “I didn’t get the opportunity JJ has, so Danielle and I are doing everything we can. If he can get there, we’re want to do everything in our power to try to get him there.”

One goal is for JJ to be on a Nations Cup team with Jimmy’s friend, McLain Ward. That will have to wait a bit; JJ rides as a 13-year-old at the moment.

Each rider in the top four has trained with their parents, “but for the equitation, we’ve put them with these top equitation trainers,” said Jimmy.

His son works with Missy Clark and John Brennan; Taylor is with Stacia Madden, Krista Freundlich and the team at Beacon Hill, Olivia is taught by Ken and Emily Smith and Andre Dignelli and the Heritage team coach Amira.

The competition at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone, N.J., began on Friday with a flat phase won by Taylor on 95 points, with Olivia one point behind. JJ was third on 91 and Amira eleventh on 86.5.

In the gymnastics segment Saturday, JJ went into the lead, followed by Taylor and Olivia, while Amira moved up to fifth. JJ stayed on top after Sunday morning’s show jumping round, which had a double coefficient. JJ was ahead of Taylor overall by one point, 424 to 423. Amira was third further back with 413, and Olivia had 411.

The Final Four, modeled on the way the individual medals used to be decided in the world show jumping championships, involves each competitor jumping a shorter course on their mount, and then doing the same on those of their rivals.

Taylor wound up on top with a score of 379, while Amira, who had a knockdown, was 10 points behind. Olivia finished on 366 and JJ got close to the next-to-last fence in his final round to end on 344.5 in fourth place. Both he and Olivia had time penalties along the way.

“No matter who won today, the top of this group are definitely our riders for the future. We really hope they will be team riders,” said Anne Kursinski, the U.S. chef d’equipe for the developing show rider program.

“This group notably was very young,” said Ellie Raidt, who judged the Talent Search with Nicki Shahinian-Simpson.

“That impressed us, because it takes a lot of maturity and experience to get here.”

DiAnn Langer, who has served as U.S. Show Jumping Young Rider chef d’equipe, noted when asked for her impressions of the competition, “Every year, there’s a great group that comes forward, they’re the obvious ones that have a lot of experience. You expect it.”

But she and Anne also like to look at the riders who are the next level down.

“We have some beautiful riders that are coming along who are in the middle. The more that they jump into the jumper ring and start moving up through the heights, they are going to get stronger and stronger,” she believes.

Taylor, who called her victory “surreal” noted “the final gets you ready for the jumper ring, where I eventually want to be.”

Taylor said she is the only one who has shown her mount, Oki D’Eclipse, in equitation. She has been with Oki, who won the Grappa trophy for  the Talent Search’s best horse, since Devon 2023.

“He’s really been a joy to watch grow up in the equitation. I love working with him,” said Taylor, who was seventh in the class last year.

Amira, fourth in 2023, said “I just really wanted to do better than I did last year. I ended up taking my jumper (Mark 19) here which got me to the top four, which I am really grateful for.”

Olivia, who rode Class Act, said she enjoyed the final phase the most because “it’s so educational to be able to get on different horses and show versatility. All four of them were so extremely different.”

JJ, who like Olivia was in the Talent Search for the first time, rode Favorite Edition Z, who was a jumper in Europe.

Although the jumpers are his goal, JJ knows the importance of equitation in achieving that aim.

“Equitation is teaching the basics of how to ride those jumper courses, the bending lines and inside turns are the basics for jumping,” he said.

Taylor observed that all of the people who have won the Talent Search “have gone on to win so many great things in the jumpers. Being here at Gladstone, it’s so historical, looking at all the pictures on the walls knowing the people who have come through here and trained here, it’s unbelievable I could be in the top four and even have won this finals.”

The Hollow Brook Wealth Management Sportsmanship Award was presented to Skyler Gurtis from Florida, who was making her debut in the Talent Search.

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