It’s time to recount the big stories from this website that made an impact in the year just past, in addition to some that weren’t earth-shaking, but are worth remembering nevertheless. If you want more details on any of these items, click the search box on this website’s masthead, or on the “previous columns” icon.
In New Jersey, the biggest story was the revival of the Essex Equestrian Center in West Orange. We ended 2022 with news that it was closing. But 10 months later, trainer Brianne Goutal-Marteau revealed she and her husband, Romain, had bought the venerable facility and would be refurbishing it.
The old Essex Equestrian Center.
The story got a huge reaction, with some people who hadn’t been there in decades rejoicing that an icon of their past wasn’t vanishing after all, while others were simply happy that the site would not be the scene of more housing in the suburban town.
There was no reprieve, however, for the iconic Tempel Lippizans. After 65 years, this wonderful stable and enterprise in Illinois announced it would shut down, as the family that owned it was going in a different direction.
Further afield, word that Aachen in 2026 would be hosting what in effect is a rebirth of the World Equestrian Games was welcome news; no one presents shows better than Aachen does.
We held our breath until the U.S. show jumpers finally qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, doing it in a last-ditch attempt at the Pan American Games in Chile. That was way too close for comfort.
It was announced that the new League of Nations (As I’ve often asked, why name something after an organization that couldn’t stop World War II?) will be making a stop at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, another boost for that amazing new facility.
Tamie Smith became the first American to win the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star event since 2008, taking the title with the intrepid Mai Baum.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum scored a victory for the U.S. at Land Rover Kentucky. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The European championships highlighted the nations to watch at the Paris Olympics. The British were awesome in eventing, with team gold and individual gold and silver to their credit, and they also won team gold in dressage, as well as individual silver and bronze.
No one, though, has bested Germany’s Olympic and World Cup champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB, who took the European freestyle title after finishing first in the Grand Prix and Special.
Sweden finished its triple crown of Olympic and world championships show jumping gold with a team victory in the Europeans, while Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat captured the individual title.
The FEI World Cup finals made its second appearance in Omaha, with vaulting included, along with show jumping and dressage. It was six years since the last U.S. Cup finals (also in Omaha) but it will only be three years until the next, in Fort Worth in 2026.
Lisa Roskens, the woman behind the Longines FEI World Cup finals in Omaha with winner Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, runner-up Harrie Smolders of the Netherlands and Hunter Holloway of the U.S. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The Washington D.C. International Horse Show said goodbye to the puissance, noting it was hard to get entries, but jumping a big wall was still popular on the other side of the Atlantic, most notably at the Dublin, Royal Windsor and London horse shows.
An ongoing saga is the battle over constructing housing on a parcel of Wellington, Florida’s Equestrian Preserve. More than 40 hours of hearings were held on the matter, which is connected to plans for an expanded Wellington International showgrounds on another parcel. This story is continuing into 2024, with thousands of people protesting losing any part of the preserve, as the Village council gets ready to vote on the matter.
Equestrians in trouble included Andreas Helgstrand, whose dressage training center was the subject of a Danish TV undercover documentary on methods that involved rollkur, as well as use of whips and spurs that left marks. Andreas said the facility was cleaning up its act, but he was barred from the Danish equestrian team until at least Jan. 1, 2025, though it could be longer.
Show jumping World Cup champion and 2012 Olympian Rich Fellers was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for sexual abuse of an underage student.
Meanwhile, dressage trainer Michael Barisone was released in November from a psychiatric hospital, more than 18 months after a jury found him not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity in the shooting of a tenant at his New Jersey farm. He hopes to return to competing, but first has to deal with a SafeSport suspension.
Michael Barisone with partner Lara Osborne after his release. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
There was much more that happened in 2023, of course, and you undoubtedly have your own special equestrian memories of the year.
But for many people, one of the most special stories–a tearjerker that was amazing–involved Cody Dorman and Cody’s Wish. We’re talking horse racing here, not this website’s usual fare of non-racing equestrian sport, but it’s worth some reflection.
Cody, a Kentucky resident, had a rare genetic disorder that caused seizures and left him unable to walk or speak; he communicated by using a tablet. In October 2018 Cody went to Godolphin’s Gainsborough Farm to meet a foal, a session arranged by the Keeneland racetrack and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The weanling to whom he got introduced was a son of Curlin who wasn’t afraid of Cody’s wheelchair and laid his head in the boy’s lap. It was an instant connection.
The colt was named Cody’s Wish, and Cody Dorman lived for the young horse. Following the thoroughbred as he grew became Cody’s mission, and he often was at the track when the colt ran. The horse always was drawn to Cody; the two had an unbreakable bond.
Cody Dorman and Cody’s Wish.
At the Breeder’s Cup, where Cody’s Wish scored a narrow victory in the Dirt Mile and survived an inquiry in his last race, Cody Dorman was on hand to bring him luck. His mission accomplished, 17-year-old Cody died on the way home to Kentucky. The timing was such that many spoke of divine intervention. It certainly makes you think…
Cody Dorman is one of the many people in horse sport that we lost this year. We’ll be running a story about some of them on Sunday, so you can toast their memory while ringing in the new year.
