by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 27, 2023
Carol Lavell, a pillar of the 1992 U.S. Olympic bronze medal dressage team, died today, a little more than a week before her 80th birthday.
She and her statuesque flashy bay Hanoverian gelding, Gifted, were the rockstars of American dressage in the early 1990s.
Carol Lavell and Gifted.
A Vermonter who exemplified the New England values of hard work and persistence, she was both opinionated (and often right!) as well as generous with her time and knowledge.
Carol established the Gifted Memorial Fund grants for adult amateurs through the U.S. Dressage Foundation, recognizing the importance of supporting U.S. dressage at all levels across the country.
The Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize, started at The Dressage Foundation in 2005, provides financial assistance for coaching and training to talented, committed, qualified riders with plans to reach and excel at the elite, international standards of high-performance dressage.
Up to two prizes of $25,000 each are available annually to riders who are U.S. citizens over 21 years of age. Recipients are selected on the basis of merit and need.
When she went looking for a dressage prospect in 1984, Carol explained to a German horse dealer, “I want something special that stands out.” He promised he would find it, calling three days later to say he had the horse. She told him, “I’m coming right away to see it. Don’t sell it.” And that was the beginning of a famous partnership.
Carol, who graduated from Vassar College, worked in research with a biochemistry professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also taught lab research to students at MIT, but left all that to devote herself to dressage and her special horse.
In 1987, three years after Carol started working with Gifted, he was named U.S. Dressage Federation Horse of the Year at Fourth Level and Prix St. Georges. It was the beginning of success after success.
A year later, Gifted was honored as the USDF Horse of the Year at Intermediate I. When Carol brought Gifted out at Grand Prix in 1989, the pair made their debut on the European dressage circuit. Shortly after completing that tour, Gifted won an individual gold medal at the North American Dressage Championships in Canada.
Gifted placed 11th at the World Championships in 1990, and in 1991, he was USDF Horse of the Year at Grand Prix. Carol became the first American to win the Grand Prix at the Hermes International Dressage Show in Goodwood, England.
The highlight of Gifted’s career came at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, where Carol was sixth individually and led the U.S. to a bronze medal, the first Olympic medal in 16 years for the U.S. dressage team. They needed to score 1,524 points in the Grand Prix to bring the bronze home. Gifted’s result was more than 100 points better than that, when he and Carol were marked at 1,629.
Named the 1990 and 1992 U.S. Olympic Committee Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year, Carol also received the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Whitney Stone Cup in 1992 and was the 1992 American Horse Shows Association/Hertz Equestrian of the Year. At the 1994 World Equestrian Games in The Hague, Carol and Gifted finished ninth individually as the U.S. picked up another team bronze.
So many people expressed their feelings about Carol on social media. Sarah Martin Dressage put it beautifully: “I believe there is a Rainbow Bridge for humans, too, and Carol Lavell has crossed it to find Gifted waiting.Two incredible souls who taught me so much.
“Carol was so generous. When I told her I had never ridden piaffe, she put me on Gifted that day. Can you imagine? Her heart was always so genuine, generous and she always had one more thing to teach… I am so honored to have had this woman in my life. Fly high and ride on, Carol!”
Tuny Page told a great story: At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, after the first day of dressage concluded, riders were hanging out in the athletes’ hotel. Trainer Conrad Schumacher walked up to Carol (knowing that she and Gifted needed to do a performance of their lifetime to ensure a bronze medal) and asked the following, “So how does it feel to have the weight of your country and your team on your shoulders?”
In characteristic Carol style, her answer was: “With all due respect, Mr. Schumacher, it feels just fine because the pressure is exactly where it supposed to be!”
Sabine Schut-Kery, who in 2021 insured with Sanceo that the U.S. would get a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, posted this sentiment: “Fly high, Carol Lavell, and thank you for what you have done for U.S. dressage in the saddle and after, with your amazing dressage grants that helped so many, including myself with my precious Sanceo.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 20, 2023
Services are set March 22 for Olympic and Pan American Games eventing medalist Kevin J. Freeman, 81, who died March 18 in Portland, Oregon. His passing came six weeks after the death of his teammate and close friend of 57 years, Jimmy Wofford.
Kevin, who represented the U.S. at three Olympic games and the Pan Ams, was also a successful businessman, as well as coach and mentor to equestrians around the world. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife of 52 years, Barrie, who were best friends in high school, lived in Portland at Clodomir Farm.
Kevin Freeman and Good Mixture.
Kevin’s equestrian accomplishments include winning a gold medal as part of the U.S. team that competed at the 1963 Pan-American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he also won an individual silver. He helped the U.S. team win silver medals in the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympic Games, and in 1964, he was the U.S. National Three-Day Event Champion and won the Olympic Trials in Gladstone. At the 1968 Olympics, Kevin competed on Chalan, a horse he’d ridden only once before. Kevin capped off his Olympic career at the 1972 games, finishing fifth individually and leading the American contingent to a team silver as the highest-placed U.S. rider. He had one of only three clear rounds on cross-country aboard one of his longtime partners, Good Mixture.
Kevin also placed third in the Maryland Hunt Cup and won the 1968 Iroquois Steeplechase in Tennessee, the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup in 1969, and the New Jersey Hunt Cup in 1970. He then turned his attention to show jumping, winning at the highest levels across North America, including at Spruce Meadows and Thunderbird venues in Canada.
As a coach, Kevin delighted in sharing his knowledge with the hundreds of horses and riders he trained over the last 50 years at Clodomir Farm. He also hosted the Freeman Farm Horse Trials at his family’s Molalla farm for several years, attracting competitors from around the country.
An all-around athlete, Kevin was a varsity athlete for the 1961-62 Cornell University men’s polo team and an avid skier. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the United States Eventing Association Hall of Fame in 2009, along with Good Mixture.
Kevin worked closely with his father, Percy, and brothers, Michael and Perk, to run J.A. Freeman and Son, a farm-implement manufacturing company based out of Portland for more than 100 years. When the family sold the business to Allied Systems Co. in 2004, he and his two brothers continued working together, creating the Freeman Group, a commercial real estate company that he helped run until his death.
In addition to his wife, Kevin is survived by his children, Eric (Stephanie); Peter (Anna); Kevin and Wendy Freeman Gallo (Edgar); his brother, Perk; sister, Laurie Freeman; his six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The March 22 memorial service will be held at 10 am at St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Kevin’s name to the United States Equestrian Team Foundation or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 1, 2023
McLain Ward, who has piled up triumph after triumph since winning the first leg of the Rolex Grand Slam in Geneva last December, had to settle for sixth place tonight in the $500,000 Rolex 5-star Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Richard Vogel took a victory lap after winning the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix.
The 40-horse field faced quite a challenge at the Wellington International showgrounds on the course designed by Guilherme Jorge.
German rider Richard Vogel on Cepano Baloubet was one of only two contenders in the seven-horse jump-off to finish fault free, winning by an amazing 8.62-second margin over Colombia’s Roberto Teran on Dez’ Ooktoff, who wisely decided to go for a clear rather than time.
McLain was aboard HH Azur, the mare on whom he won at Geneva as well as the second leg of the Rolex Grand Slam series in the Netherlands. She was also his ride six years ago in Omaha, when he won the FEI World Cup Finals for the first time.
Luck was not with him, as he had rails down at both the Rolex double, as well as the vertical that followed it. His total was 12 faults in 40.6 seconds.
“I’m overwhelmed,” said Richard.
“Two weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to do this horse in this big a grand prix. But, he felt really good and then we thought, ‘We’re here and he’s in very good shape, so let’s give it a try,’ and he was amazing.”
“My plan was not to risk too much in the jump-off, but also to put the pressure on the ones coming after me so they had to risk a bit more to be faster and I was lucky it all worked out,” said Richard, who had four international wins during the 2023 season at WEF.
Cepano Baloubet just found a new home in Richard’s stable after Veronica and Molly Tracy purchased the gelding for him to compete.
“I first rode this horse when he was six, and not too long after the horse came to our stable with the same owner and we were able to produce him. In January, they purchased the horse for me to keep it in the stable, so I’m lucky to have such good owners and so much trust in those people.”
Guilherme Jorge’s course map for the $500,000 class.
Explaining his strategy, Roberto said of his horse, “I knew he wouldn’t have the foot speed to take a win but was thrilled with the second-place finish.
“When I bought this horse, he was quite green at this level,” said Roberto, who represented Colombia in the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games.
“He’s not a fast horse, but he’s consistent in clear rounds. I’m ecstatic with him because we’ve been working with him for more than three years and he’s now very consistent at this level.
“I wasn’t going to pass Richard, or Mclain, or anyone else going fast, so I wanted to go double clear and hope for some mistakes and it worked out,” he added.
Richard, 26, and McLain, 47, will face off again this week in Omaha, which hosts the Cup finals for the second time. McLain will be aboard Callas, while Richard rides United Touch S.
by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 28, 2023
Charles “Champ” Hough was only 18 when he made history in Helsinki with the 1952 U.S. Olympic squad, earning a team bronze medal in eventing as the youngest equestrian competitor at those Games.
That was the USA’s first civilian equestrian team at the Olympics, after the cavalry was phased out and the Army no longer was involved with horse sport. But it was just the beginning for someone who would go on to make his mark in multiple segments of the horse industry.
Champ Hough on the great hunter, Sutton Place, in 1968. (Photo by Fallaw)
Champ died peacefully at age 88 on Monday, after a week in hospice. He suffered a stroke in 2001, and it had been “a bumpy road” since then, but true to his can-do attitude, “he lived his best life in the nursing home,” said his daughter, Lauren Hough, a show jumping Olympian herself.
She noted Champ was in the Hall of Fame at the Palm Beach Nursing Home in Lake Worth, Fla., where he enjoyed wearing his cowboy hat and cowboy boots as he visited everyone in his wheelchair “and flirted with all the nurses.”
During his long career, “He did every aspect of equestrian life,” said Lauren, who mentioned he was involved with saddlebreds at one time, then went on to run the famous Sutton Place hunter/jumper stable in California with her mother, Linda Hough.
After the couple separated, Lauren would go to the East Coast for the summers to spend time with Champ.
“He would hook up a two-horse trailer behind the motor home. I had a small pony and a junior jumper and we’d travel all over the east coast together. He groomed for me and polished my boots; we just had a great time.”
Champ went on to racehorses, training them and preparing them for sale when he worked for Fasig-Tipton. He also was on the ground floor of the Saudi Equestrian Federation as it got started, helping build their stables.
“He was a really keen horseman,” Lauren observed.
“He’s going to leave a hole, for sure. You think you’re prepared, but it’s something I haven’t really navigated yet.”
Although he and Linda were divorced, she was his caretaker for the last 20 years.
Linda, Champ and Lauren Hough. (Photo courtesy Lauren Hough)
Champ was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame. Jimmy Lee, the president of that organization, recalled him as “a great horseman. He had a vast knowledge of all aspects of the horse. He could condition and present a horse, as well as anyone I’ve ever known.”
Jimmy called Champ, “an amazing showman who set the standard for doing it the right way and a credit to our sport. He was a master at presentation, whether in the show ring or at the sales. He was kind enough to share his knowledge about the horse and about showing with me. Needless, to say I always took his advice.”
Sharon Stewart-Wells met Champ when she was about 13 and he and her father were at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base.
“Every year, there was a big rodeo at Camp Pendleton and Champ put on an exhibition of jumping a horse around a course that he had set up. I told my mother that I wanted to do that. She took me to the base stables and Champ taught me to jump by jumping the picnic tables at the rodeo grounds,” she remembered.
In addition to Linda and Lauren, Champ is survived by another daughter, Cindy Brooks.
A celebration of Champ’s life will be held on Monday, April 3 from 4-6 p.m. at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, Fla.
by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 30, 2023
Laura Roberts, who had been the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s dressage performance and event support director, will now be the managing director of dressage. She has moved up to fill the spot vacated by Hallye Griffin when she was promoted to the organization’s director of FEI Sport this month.
In addition to serving with USEF for five years, Laura has other sports experience. She was involved with USA Karate and U.S. Figure Skating, serving as team USA coordinator for the latter at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Laura was the USEF’s team leader for the 2019 Pan American Games and and led several Nations Cup teams at both senior and youth levels.
“I am thrilled that Laura is stepping into the managing director role for dressage,” Hallye said.
“Laura has worked closely with our coaching staff and committee members throughout her time with us and has developed invaluable knowledge about the ins and outs of dressage. She is a hard worker and a team player, and I have no doubt that she will be a great leader for U.S. Dressage.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 21, 2023
Canadian show jumper Jonathon Millar, who fell and hit his head March 12, underwent brain surgery to stop a bleed and relieve swelling. He is now off sedation and breathing on his own at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he is showing promising signs communicating with facial expression and hand signals.
Jonathon, the Florida-based son of Canadian show jumping chef d’equipe Ian Millar, is in stable condition, but the care required for his full recovery is financially daunting, and he has a long journey ahead.
A Gofundme has been started to help with expenses. Those who wish to donate may click on this link.
