by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 16, 2021
The nominated entries from Britain for its dressage team include (no surprise) multi-gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin with Mount Saint John Freestyle, and Gio as a direct reserve, which would keep her in the picture if Freestyle couldn’t go.
Her mentor, Carl Hester, the man who got British dressage in a position to earn team and individual gold at the 2012 London Games, was named on En Vogue (with Charlotte listed as one of the owners, as she is for Gio). The actual team won’t be named until later this month, but you know Charlotte and Carl will be on it.
Germany is in an overwhelmingly powerful position for Tokyo, owning the top four on the ranking list (Isabell Werth is numbers one and two). Charlotte is number five. And with three-member teams, Germany would seem to have an edge. But Britain shouldn’t be counted out as a contender, depending on how astronomical Charlotte’s scores are. And then there is always the individual medal fray.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 14, 2021
The Vaulting World Cup™ Final will be held in Omaha in 2023, along with the jumping and dressage Cup finals, which were first held in the city during 2017 The competition April 4-8 marks the first time the vualing finals have been held outside Europe.
The dressage and show jumping Cups were a sensation when they were held in Omaha four years ago, although skeptics had wondered about the choice of the Midwestern location. They wound up raving about the well-organized competition, which made many converts to horse sport as a spectator event in a new location.
The U.S. was supposed to have a dressage and show jumping finals in Las Vegas in 2020, but it was cancelled due to Covid.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 11, 2021
The Mercer County Park Commission’s stable, 431 Federal City Road in Pennington will mark Juneteenth (June 19th) with a special celebration from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The holiday commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in America.
There will be an opportunity to learn about the contributions of Black Americans in the West of yesteryear, as Buffalo Soldiers and Pony Express riders, as well as the history of Black jockeys. There will be demonstrations by Black equestrians, including the Crazy Faith Riders, a nonprofit, faith-based riding club in central New Jersey that brings together a diverse community with a common interest in horses. They will perform between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Admission is free.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 7, 2021
Olympic show jumper Rich Fellers was arrested this morning in Oregon in relation to an indictment on four counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Rich Fellers and Flexible at the 2015 World Cup Show Jumping Finals. (Photo © 2015 by Nancy Jaffer)
Fellers, who gained stardom in 2012 by becoming the first U.S. rider to take the World Cup Finals in a quarter century, was being held at the Washington County, Ore., Jail today, according to a statement from the Tualatin, Ore., police. He had been placed under interim suspension in February by the Center for SafeSport and the U.S. Equestrian Federation, while in April, his wife, Shelley, was put on the USEF’s suspension list due to accusations of abuse of process, retaliation and failure to report.
Over the course of an investigation lasting several months, with witnesses in multiple states, “Tualatin Police established that Mr. Fellers had a sexual relationship with a female victim who was 17 years old. Mr. Fellers was the victim’s horse trainer and the alleged crimes occurred at the victim’s apartment, located at Eddyline Apartments in Portland,” the police statement said.
Fellers was released from jail hours after his arrest after posting 10 percent of his $40,000 bail. He is due to be arraigned next month.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport delivered the original disclosure information in the case of Fellers, 61, who was the highest-placed U.S. show jumper at the 2012 London Games. He was best known for his partnership with the gallant Flexible, a stallion he rode in both the World Cup finals and the Olympics.
The victim, Maggie Kehring, now 18, is a former student of Fellers. She has spoken out about the matter on social media, saying she originally did not want to participate in the SafeSport process, knowing it could “lead to someone America came to love to possibly be banned from the sport.”
Following the Grand Jury’s decision, Kehring said she was “relieved and grateful to see that my truth, The Truth, was heard, understood and believed. The power in me has been restored by protecting others and ensuring that no one else will be scarred by this same experience.” She expressed gratitude for the work of the Tualatin Police Department and the FBI.
Fellers did not respond to a request for comment.
The federation issued a statement in the wake of the arrest, saying “USEF strongly believes that sex abuse has no place in sport. Protecting athletes from all forms of abuse should be the collective concern of our community. USEF urges all participants to respect the privacy of the victim and her family at this time. Please be reminded that sexual abuse involving athletes under 18 must be reported to the U.S. Center for SafeSport and the authorities. Let’s stand together by supporting victims and survivors of abuse in our sport.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 1, 2021
The Olympic Games always have been more than an athletic competition: in the past, they offered an opportunity for athletes to mingle with their counterparts from other countries, swap pins and (time permitting) visit a variety of venues to watch sports other than their own.
Then there are the fans. The cheering of spectators has lifted many an athlete to greater accomplishments. The entire Olympic experience usually presents unlimited inspirational potential–think “Chariots of Fire.”
But that won’t be the case in Tokyo this summer. It all has been changed, like so many other things, by the presence of Covid, and in this instance, strict mitigation measures. That has prompted many Japanese (the percentage depends on which poll you believe) to call for cancellation of the Games.
Barring what International Olympic Committee Vice President John Coates calls “Armageddon,” however, these Olympics will go on July 23-Aug.8. But they will be quite different from every other Games since the ancient Greek tradition was revived at the end of the 19th Century.
Those on the podium won’t be able to greet their nearest and dearest after they step down with their medals around their necks; no spouses or parents can attend, or for that matter, any foreign spectators. We will have to wait until June 30 to find out if Japanese fans are allowed in the stands, and if they are, it’s likely they will have to show proof of vaccination or undergo a Covid test before taking their seats.
During its virtual sports forum this morning, the FEI (international equestrian federation) offered a glimpse of what athletes can expect if they make the team and travel to Japan, but there are still a lot of questions to be answered, including whether horse owners can attend.
“This definitely will be different…we’re all operating a little bit in the vague here,” said Catrin Norinder, the FEI’s director of eventing and Olympics.
There will be no sightseeing, no restaurants, no shopping for the athletes. It’s a little like being under house arrest for these competitors, who will remain in their rooms or at the venue in a “bubble-to-bubble” set-up designed to eliminate the need for quarantine. While there is no requirement for athletes to be vaccinated (though it is strongly recommended), they will be tested frequently–and twice even before they depart for Japan.
Smart phone applications required for all foreign visitors include health monitoring and “close contact” apps to be used in case someone tests positive for Covid, as well as a locator that specifies the phone user’s whereabouts. Close contact will be defined as having spent 15 minutes without a mask in less than 1 meter distance.
There are only three riders on a team this time around, but every squad has a traveling reserve. Pre-competition changes of athletes on a team can be made two hours before the start of each discipline, and also before the start of the team competition in show jumping, which follows the individual competition. This can be done without veterinary or medical excuses, but substitutions also be made under other circumstances with vet or medical certificates.
That includes between the team qualifier and the team final in dressage, before cross-country or team jumping in eventing (with the addition of 20 penalties) and between the team qualifier and team final in show jumping. Since there is no drop score without the usual four-member team for eventing and show jumping, the idea is to make sure the nations can finish as a team to earn a place in the final standings. Subs are not eligible for individual medals, though.
Oh, and then there’s the climate situation. Tokyo in mid-summer is hot and humid. Very. So much so that the human marathon, for instance, was moved further north to Hokkaido.
“It’s going to be uncomfortable for horses and humans alike,” said Catherine Bollon, the FEI advisor for athlete services, noting that it can affect performance and, if not well-managed, health as well..
She advised acclimatizing for both horses and humans, “training your body to get accustomed to heat.”
Are you enjoying going around without a mask now that Covid has declined here?
In Japan, Catherine warned, athletes and others who will be there, “on site, you will need to wear a mask at all times.” And there will be limits on how many people can be in an area at the same time.
On the plus side, stables and transport will both be air-conditioned, and cooling facilities will be available at competition and training sites. Horses will be monitored by veterinarians and physiologists. Ground juries will have help in making decisions when “the weather may become very challenging for competition,” according to FEI Veterinary Director Göran Åkerström.
If conditions are difficult on the day of cross-country, however, the ground jury won’t have a lot of flexibility, except perhaps moving the competition to the afternoon, since rowing and kayaking are scheduled to start the next day at the Sea Forest venue. All the Olympic equestrian competition except cross-country is at Baji Koen equestrian park, a refurbished version of the site used for the 1964 Games that were held in Tokyo.
A scene from the Olympic test event at Sea Forest. (FEI/Yusuke Nakanishi)
Will Connell, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s director of sport, called Tokyo, “the most challenging Games I’ve ever been involved in.”
There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but the U.S. riders have an edge because they have been able to compete regularly over the last year, while many Europeans and people in other countries have not, due not only to Covid, but also to an outbreak of EHV-1.
So Americans can count themselves lucky and won’t be deterred by the challenges as they get ready to represent their country, a higher purpose they have worked toward for years..
As eventing team member Liz Halliday-Sharp put it, “There’s nothing more that I want right now than to go to Tokyo.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 31, 2021
The Essex Horse Trials didn’t run in 2020 due to Covid, but the event will be making up for that this summer, adding to the competition at Moorland Farm in Far Hills with tailgating, shopping, a car show and a concert.
The fixture runs July 17-18, with the Music in the Somerset Hills organization kicking things off July 16, as Stephen Sands conducts an all-star Broadway orchestra led by Jonathan Dinklage, the concertmaster for the show “Hamilton.” Call (973) 339-7719 for information.
The Essex Horse Trials has a great site at Moorland Farm, also home of the Far Hills Race Meeting. (Photo © 2019 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“Essex is on the same weekend in July as Fitch’s Corner (New York) used to run,” said Ralph Jones, who co-chairs Essex with cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell.
Essex Horse Trials co-chairs Ralph Jones and Morgan Rowsell. Photo © 2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
As Fitch’s founder, Fernanda Kellogg, explained her event, “My motivation was to create the best quality event for the lower levels, but with the spirit of a top national or international horse trials.” It ran for 25 years through 2018.
The Essex crew hopes to emulate what Fitch’s Corner achieved.
“Fernanda Kellogg did such a great job with that event and the country weekend atmosphere she created, as well as the support for riders with young horses to bring along,” explained Ralph.
Tickets go on sale this week for the multi-faceted fixture at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, which will offer eventing levels from Beginner Novice through Preliminary, with prize money for the first three places in Open Prelim sponsored by Running S Equine veterinary services. Other sponsors are MARS Equestrian, Peapack Gladstone Bank, AIG, Maxons Restoration, Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty and Turpin Realtors.
Essex was a mainstay of equestrian sport in the Somerset Hills for 30 years until it ceased running at the U.S. Equestrian Team headquarters after 1998. It made a comeback at Moorland in 2017, followed by successful editions in 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic put it, like so many other things, on hold. And now Essex is making another comeback.
It’s for a good cause. Proceeds benefit the Greater Newark LifeCamp in Pottersville, which provides an enriching day camp experience for approximately 300 Newark-area youths per day for six weeks during July and August.
General admission for Essex is $10 for adults, with those under 17 complimentary, as is the parking. Those who want to get closer to the action and enjoy a picnic have a choice of locations for tailgating. Each tailgating spot offers four general admission tickets good for both the Saturday and the Sunday. A waterside location is $300; a water view is $150 and a hillside location goes for $50. Get tickets at https://essexhorsetrials.org/tailgate. Private tents are also available by the show jumping arena upon request by emailing Katherine@essexhorsetrials.org.
The car show at the 2019 Essex Horse Trials drew hundreds of vehicles and enthusiasts. (Photo © 2019 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
An added attraction on Saturday is the Peter Chesson Memorial Car Show. Peter, a Gladstone resident who died in April, is best known in the equestrian community as the father of Lizzy Chesson, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s managing director of show jumping, and the former husband of Sharon Chesson, who was one of the USA’s top driving competitors.
For more information about Peter, read the obituary in the box below. It was written by P.J. Chesson for those in the race car world:
The man, the myth, the legend…..as cliché as it sounds, that was Pete! Growing up in a small town in New Jersey with two sisters, Susan and Sally, Peter always saw the world through a different lens than most. With humble beginnings and large aspirations, the stage was set for a young “rule-breaking” boy to explore the realm of possibilities.
Referred to as the ‘Dirty Revolutionary’ by Hot Rod Magazine in 1975, Peter was a self-proclaimed ‘grease monkey’ from the ‘old school’ and a true innovator. Whether it was transcending the international sport of combined driving at the World Championship-level with his wife, Sharon, as well as with Finn Caspersen’s four-in-hand with Bill Long, or holding a national drag racing record for 10-plus years, or building a business, he was constantly pushing the boundaries of life.
A childhood friend of Pete’s, Larry Mongo, shared a story. Peter’s father, “Bump” Chesson, had a couple of Ford dealerships where Pete would hang around. One day, a trailer with a bunch of new cars showed up. There was one car that stood out to Pete. It was a navy blue Mustang, which he took the liberty of unloading straight into the shop, where he proceeded to strip it down and turn it into a drag car, unbeknownst to Bump. When Bump found out about this, weeks later, he was furious and chased Peter around the shop with an exhaust pipe. The story has a good ending. That car, which Pete drove, went on to set a national record in the B stock automatic class with factory Ford support.
Pete loved racing.He started building race cars in his early teens and never stopped. Pete transcended every form of racing he got involved in. From Drag Racing, Dirt Modifieds, Go Karts, Motocross to WoO Sprint Cars. Pete left his mark. He was a very humble man with a great passion for life. When he got involved in something, there was nothing half-hearted about it. It didn’t matter if it was growing his family business, Barker Bus Company; building a hot rod/race car or imparting knowledge to one of his kids, Pete was all in.
Dad would never say it, but he was very successful in life; both in his family life and in business. He was the ultimate protector, provider and patriarch of his family. He was the glue, he was a real life superman. He made everyone feel important by caring and being present in the moment.
He once said, ‘at the core of every challenge is a very simple solution’. This was his North Star and guiding principle throughout his life. Dad was a proud man. He was most proud of his family and his businesses. He was not the best at saying it to the family member in front of him, but he would brag about each one of us any chance he got. We are a very close family and we owe it to Dad. His greatest accomplishment in life, by far, was his family and the bond that we all have. Peter left behind his four children; Lizzy, PJ, James and Tim, along with eight loving grandchildren, with the youngest one due in August. Sharon, Peter’s former wife but still his partner in so many ways, together shared a deep love, contributing to the inseparable Chesson family bond of which Peter was so proud.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 28, 2021
What could well be the U.S. show jumping team for Tokyo got a test run at Rome’s Intesa Sanpaolo Nations Cup in the scenic Piazza di Sienna, and it showcased top American talent, even with a disappointing fifth-place finish.
First of all, the placing off the podium was determined by a single time fault, collected by Jessica Springsteen in a round free of jumping penalties with Don Juan van de Donkehoeve, still an improvement over her 4-fault first round.
Laura Kraut isl getting accustomed to her brand new ride, Baloutinue, purchased just last month.Although she had 8 penalties in the first round over the Uliano Vezzani-designed route in the lovely public park, Laura came through with a clear in the second round. Kent Farrington had two 4-fault rounds with his longtime campaigner Gazelle, while McLain Ward showed why he deserved to be the anchor with a pair of perfect trips on Contagious.
McLain Ward and Contagious. (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
The team total was 9 penalties. Without the time fault, the U.S. would have tied for third on 8 with France and Brazil, behind winning Belgium and Germany. A representative from each of those countries faced off in a tie-breaker after their second round left them tied on 4 penalties. Both those nations will be among the teams to beat in Tokyo.
“Overall, we’re very happy with the way it all turned out,” said U.S. Coach Robert Ridland.
“Naturally, we always aim for a podium finish and we were just off by a fault, so we were right there in it. More importantly, this is the beginning of the second phase in our preparations for the Olympics, and I have to say, I am very happy with the way things turned out, particularly in the second round. We have some newer horses involved and it is still a bit of an adjustment, but I could not have been more pleased with how things came together for our horse and rider combination and the adjustments that were made. They did a great job. Our rounds were beautiful and it’s a very positive feeling back in the barn right now.”
In the Rolex Grand Prix of Rome on Sunday, Laura showed her new relationship with Baloutinue is blossoming as she finished second to David Will of Germany with C Vier 2. Jessie was third on Don Juan, another hopeful sign. Kent was 37th with Gazelle and McLain 38th on Contagious. Both had 12 penalties.
Other U.S. squads will go forward in the Nations Cups in Poland and the Netherlands next month, before the Tokyo team is named at the beginning of July.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 27, 2021
While the dressage and show jumping disciplines are still going through their selection processes for the teams that will go to Tokyo, the U.S. eventing squad was announced today. The short-listed dressage riders and show jumpers are still in their trials process, but eventing’s final trial was Jersey Fresh earlier this month, so there was no reason to delay.
As expected, Phillip Dutton and Z made the squad, along with Liz Hailliday-Sharp and DeNiro. But Boyd Martin was named with three horses–his Jersey Fresh winner, Luke 140; Tsetserleg his Pan Am Games double gold mount who had a fall at the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star last month and On Cue, a 5-star debutante who finished fourth at Kentucky to make Boyd the highest-placed U.S. rider in that competition.
Boyd Martin and Luke 140 (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
How this works is that if something happens to Luke, Tsetserleg would be the direct replacement. And if something happens to him, then it’s On Cue’s turn. Meanwhile, Doug Payne was named the traveling reserve with Vandiver. It’s a very important role, since substitution of a horse and rider will be allowed in some circumstances. The first alternate is Tamie Smith on Mai Baum.
The riders will have a mandatory outing next month at Great Meadow in Virginia before shipping to Germany for pre-export quarantine prior to flying to Japan.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 24, 2021
A quick description of Ray Francis would be perfectly accurate using just three words: dignified, respected and meticulous.
But when one talks about him as a horseman’s horseman, there has to be more detail to explain his essence. A convivial top trainer and judge who made a graceful transition from riding in competition to showing young horses in hand and serving as head of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s hunter breeding committee, he set a standard and left his mark on the industry, as well as the people who are a part of it.
Ray and Cheryle Francis. (Photo by James Leslie Parker)
When he died yesterday at age 96, we lost a true gentleman who not only did it all, but more important, did it all well. With his loss coming just days after the passing of Mason Phelps and John Franzreb, the equestrian community is truly bereft.
Ray’s wife, Cheryle, said “My belief is that Devon Horse Show is going on in heaven and all the special people are there.”
Rita Timpanero, a fellow judge who was a longtime friend of Ray’s, noted that although he had health problems in recent years and was confined to his chair and bed much of the time, Ray still had that special twinkle in his eye and loved being with Princess, a Jack Russell she bought for him that became his constant companion.
Ray and Cheryle, together for 42 years, ran Offington Stable in Pennsylvania. It was named for the horse business Ray and his mother had in his native Britain, where he left school at age 14 to work in the stable on the historic Offington Hall estate after his father died of a heart attack.
He was involved with a broad spectrum of equestrian activities–teaching and training, playing polo as well as fox hunting and showing, As a youngster aboard a 12.2-hand hackney pony named Bill, he set a record, jumping a five-foot, eight-inch fence in competition. He would hitch his pony to a cart and drive him to the shows, then saddle up and compete, before putting Bill in harness again and heading home.
He came to the U.S. in 1959, figuring rightly that in those days, he could make a better living in America than in England, though he never lost his delightful British accent or precise diction. In Ohio, he worked at Cyrus Eaton’s stable, Acadia Farms. He replaced a mediocre group of horses there with better mounts, and soon Eaton’s friends started coming around and bringing their children for lessons.
Acadia became one of the country’s top show stables in the 1960s. Ray’s star students included Pam Carmichael, who had Chance Step and Lansonette, a pair that became the Horse of the Year and reserve two years in a row for the junior hunters. Pam is the mother of top show jumper Lillie Keenan.
Trainer Robin Rost Brown remembered that when she was growing up in the 1970s, Ray was very businesslike. “His kids (students) were always presented perfectly, horses presented perfectly. He brought us up to a new standard, a new level.”
When Ray turned to hunter breeding competition, he put on the white cowboy hat that was his trademark in the ring. Named leading handler at Devon eight times, he also was involved in breeding horses that he showed. Hunter breeding day at Devon in 2016 was dedicated to him; it was the first time in 45 years that he couldn’t show there.
Ray showing at Devon. (Photo courtesy of Cheryle Francis)
Some of the best horses he worked with included Trouble with Tom (his first in-hand horse), Beau’s Cottage, a pony named Flying Mouse, Given Road and Character Count, as well as Anastazia and Spanish Spear (both Best Young Horse at Devon), among many others.
Despite his busy career, he always found time to put his efforts toward the betterment of the sport, serving as president of the National Professional Horsemen’s Association, as well as heading the Ohio and Eastern Pennsylvania chapters, and becoming vice chairman of USEF Zone II.
After he and Cheryle closed their stable, they moved to Maryland. Their location on the Chester River was perfect, next door to hunter pony breeder Nancy Jayne Reed of Lands End Farm, whom he advised and helped in promotion of her ponies.
Explaining why Ray was so popular, National Horse Show Secretary Cindy Bozan noted that “first and foremost, in the minds of horsemen, if anything ever happened, you knew you could call Ray. If you were broken down on the side of the road, without a question he would be there with a trailer, no matter what the time. He was a true friend and a horseman. He always had a joke, he always had a laugh. He understood everything there was about getting to the ring, being in the ring.”
Ray earned many honors outside the show ring, including the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also in the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame and received the Pennsylvania Horse Show Association Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to the National Professional Horsemen’s Association’s Frank Hawkins Lifetime Achievement Award and the New England Equitation Finals Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the USEF’s Pegasus Award.
Those wishing to make a donation in Ray’s memory may contribute to Compass Regional Hospice 150 Courseball Dr., Centreville, MD, 21617; the Equestrian Aid Foundation (https://www.equestrianaidfoundation.org) or Danny and Ron’s Dog Rescue (https://dannyronsrescue.org).
Cheryle, who is secretary of the Devon Horse Show, said Ray didn’t want a funeral and was cremated, but asked that a tablespoon of his ashes be placed in the Dixon Oval at Devon. You can expect that there will be some celebrations of his life. Perhaps the National Horse Show can do something for Mason, the former chairman; John Franzreb, the longtime ringmaster and Ray.
“It’s been a wonderful life with horses,” Ray once told me.
“I had some beautiful horses, great horses, and known a lot of nice horses too. And good riders. I’ve got no complaints.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 22, 2021
The horse show world has lost another icon during a very sad week.
John Franzreb III, the ringmaster of ringmasters, died yesterday at age 79. He was diagnosed with cancer only recently, after coming back from last month’s Pin Oak show in Texas, where he worked as hard as he always did. His death came four days after we lost his friend Mason Phelps, former chairman of the National Horse Show. It’s all very hard to handle.
John served everywhere from the Florida circuit to Devon, the Washington International and National Horse Shows, as well as points west, but will be remembered as much for his warm and welcoming personality as for his dignified and effective arena demeanor. Despite having done his job for decades, he never lost his enthusiasm for playing such a key role on the sporting scene.
John Franzreb where he belonged, center stage at the National Horse Show. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
John made every class and every presentation seem special, whether it was at a smaller show or an international competition. Always perfectly turned out, his mere presence demonstrated a standard that paid respect to the sport. He was old school at its best.
His wife, Judith, recalled how he loved to pose for photos with children, who years later would come up and remind him, “You gave me my first ribbon.”
John was as vibrant as a man 30 years his junior. His work kept him young and gave him energy..
“He was blessed by every person he ever came across in the horse show world. He thrived on their enthusiasm and love of horses and hoped each day he was with them he was a contributing factor to their lives,” Judith said.
She noted that in addition to his horse show work, he was active on Staten Island with the Boy Scouts, Red Cross and local zoo.
Vicki Lowell, president of the Washington show, called John “an integral part of the Washington family,” a genial presence who “always brought his wonderful style, smile and pomp and circumstance to the opening of each class and the presentation of awards. Start to finish, he was all class, warmth and kindness. We loved John.”
Every presentation was special for John Franzreb ( Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
As she fondly recalled, “He was so kind and reassuring. He really loved everyone and was so positive.”
“He was like everybody’s horse show grandpa,” remembered Liz Soroka, a key staffer at many horse shows, noting John was a real gentleman. He always used to compliment the women working at the National when they dressed up for the Saturday night grand prix, which made them feel very special.
John was tapped for his first ringmaster position at the age of 17 at Madison Square Garden by National Horse Show Manager Honey Craven. He was supposed to compete in the show, but his junior hunter had gone lame.
Honey recognized talent when he saw it. He told John’s father, who ran the family’s Clove Lake Stables on Staten Island, “I need someone to be a ringmaster. Your son knows what to do.”
And indeed he did.
Honey also passed along some “advice”, an order, not a suggestion: “Stand up straight, keep your hands out of your pockets, keep your jacket closed at all times, say `Yes, sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am’ and make sure you go to Mass on Sunday.”
While John served as a horse show manager over the years, including at the National, he was best known for his style and capability in his ring duties.
“If you needed a ringmaster at your horse show, there was nobody better,” said David Distler, Washington’s manager and Devon’s co-manager. When something went wrong, “John kept his cool and knew exactly how to handle it,” David stated.
He recalled that when a four-in-hand had jackknifed at Devon, John specified what needed to be done, and that kept the coach from turning over. Once when a horse went down, John called members of the jump crew to surround the animal until screens could be put up to shield the scene from the public.
“The ringmaster should always be a horseman,” John used to say, and that he was.
“If something goes amok, the ringmaster must stop it,” he emphasized when we talked about it a few years ago.
“I am omnipresent,” he told me, “I’m always watching.”
Alan Keely, a ringmaster who worked with John at Devon, noted “he always had great stories to tell.” Alan sometimes wondered if they were a bit embellished, but after knowing John for awhile, he said “I could see the twinkle in his eye.
“He was a pleasure to work with,” added Alan, commenting that he and John “spoke the same language. If he saw something going on in the ring, he did something about it, whether it was a dog in the ring or a rider down.”
John Franzreb and Mason Phelps at the National Horse Show. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lenore Phillips, president of the Phelps Media Group founded by Mason, recalled that she liked to see John brushing his coats at 6:15 a.m. at the National, making sure all was perfect for his appearance that morning.
“I felt like I was watching a piece of history in action, someone who took pride in carrying on a tradition,” she said.
When many people decided not to go to the National last year due to the Covid situation, she was gratified to see John there.
“I wouldn’t miss this,” he told her.
Noting that Mason and John had known each other for decades, she said, “as sad as I am not to see either of them any more, I’m just happy they’re together now.”
In addition to his wife, John is survived by their three sons: John IV (Cheryl), Jeffrey (Christine) and Jarad (Crissy), as well as six grandchildren: Dr. Taylor Franzreb, who graduated from veterinary school this month as John III watched on his iPad; John IV, Margaret Rose, Casey, Sean and Ally.
There are no plans as yet for memorial ceremonies, but there certainly will be.
