A panel of voters from the horse industry has selected Francisco “Pancho” Lopez and the Holsteiner gelding Cedric, a regular on the U.S. Nations Cup teams, for induction into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame March 3 in Wellington, Fla.
The once-in-a-lifetime partner of rider Laura Kraut, Cedric made his FEI debut in 2006 and, despite being quirky and only 15.2-hands, the gray gelding bred in Belgium quickly became a powerhouse on the international show jumping circuit. His partnership with Laura spanned 11 years, producing 81 clear and 45 double-clear rounds in competitions offering $100,000 or more. The pair helped the U.S. win a team gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong.
It was 1998 when Cedric became a pillar of the U.S. team. He was originally owned in the U.S. by Peter Wetherill and Happy Hill Farm. After Peter passed away in 2010, his brother, Cortie, assumed ownership with Laura before Margaret Duprey of Cherry Knoll Farm became Cedric’s final owner in 2012, keeping him in Laura’s barn.
Laura Kraut and Cedric in Hong Kong at the Beijing Olympics, 2008. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
Cedric’s successful career also included being on the U.S. team at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games and numerous Nations Cup appearances, including Aachen, Barcelona, Dublin, La Baule, Rome, Rotterdam, St. Gallen and Wellington. He and Laura also won the Grand Prix at four Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT) events, and they were the first horse-and-rider combination to win back-to-back events, claiming top honors in 2010 at Chantilly and then Valkenswaard just two weeks later. Cedric and Laura also won GCT events in Lausanne (2012) and Wiesbaden (2013).
A naturally careful and competitive horse, Cedric was one of the nation’s leading money winners, amassing well over $2 million in prize money. He was formally retired at age 19 during a moving ceremony in Wellington in 2017.
“Cedric became something we never expected he could be,” Laura said in an interview, explaining why he was so special.
“He was so small and so difficult. He had always the most tremendous amount of jump; but he was afraid, and it never really entered my mind that he would become what he did. He was this unbelievable horse that when it was important, he had to know, because he never let me down.
“The few times I failed was never when it was a life-or-death moment,” she pointed out.
“I always used to figure that he thought I was getting too cocky; then he would throw me off. He was quite something. He was such a personable horse. He could have lived in the house.”
Laura and her partner, Nick Skelton, are based on a farm in Pielbergen, Netherlands from mid-April to December, and Cedric is nearby with his buddy, Quick Study (Lauren Hough’s former rider), on another farm.
“If I put him in Pennsylvania at Margaret’s farm, I’d never see him again,” said Laura, who wants to be near him. “He’s like family, Now I’m going to see him a lot because he’s five minutes down the road.”
The other Hall inductee, Pancho, was born in Mexico and joined his father in Los Angeles as a teenager. On one of his first days in the U.S., he walked several racehorses at the Del Mar racetrack where his family worked, and immediately fell in love with horses. He took his first grooming job at age 15 at Blakiston Ranch, not far from Los Angeles. He moved on five years later to work for Grand Prix rider Jimmy Kohn, and then joined George Morris at Hunterdon Inc. in New Jersey, where he worked for six years.
It was at Hunterdon that Pancho met Katie Monahan Prudent, the international champion with whom he is most identified. He became her barn manager and coordinated everything to keep the horses and the business in top shape.
He cared for such horses as The Jones Boy (second-place finisher in the inaugural FEI World Cup™ Final in 1979), Noren (1982 American Grandprix Association Horse of the Year), The Governor (1986 AGA Horse of the Year), Amadia (team Gold medalist in the 1986 FEI World Championships) and Special Envoy (1986 AGA Horse of the Year). Pancho is unable to attend the Hall ceremony at the Wanderer’s Club, so Katie will accept for him.
Starting in 1996, Pancho worked at Willowcreek Ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He spent many years with Elise Haas, whose family established in his honor the “Francisco ‘Pancho’ Lopez Scholarship” at the University of California’s Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It was fitting, as he had had started veterinary school when he was young but was not able to complete his education due to family obligations
Pancho had a remarkable “feel” for each horse and somehow knew when something wasn’t right. He was always ready to share his experience with others and passed on his knowledge to a host of grooms and barn managers. He has also shared his more than 50 years’ worth of knowledge with riders and horses as a clinician, joining Katie and other top professionals in educational settings.
Another trophy at the gala will go to Rodrigo Pessoa, the Brazilian who is an Olympic and world championships gold medalist, as well as a three-time winner of the FEI World Cup Finals.. He will receive the Hall’s international award, being presented for the second time. The honor was inaugurated last year when it went to Ian Millar, Captain Canada.