We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? EN’s Got Talent introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].
Courtney Cooper and R Star at Fair Hill. Photo by Steve Berkowitz.
Last week we met Courtney Cooper and R Star, her lovely 7-year-old Irish Sport Horse homebred mare, who had just moved up to preliminary last year when a freak accident landed Courtney in the hospital with multiple fractures and a long recovery time. Rather than have someone else continue competing her beloved “Hope,” Courtney kicked her out into a field and planned to leg her back up once she was back in the saddle. “We brought her back that fall, and she would have these moments where all of a sudden she would go 4/5 lame and then the next day she would be fine,” Courtney said. “One time it happened at the walk, another time it was when she came in from the field, and a third time was when I had just started riding her again and had jumped her. I went to brush her after the ride, and she was quite lame again. Nobody could figure it out.”
A bone scan ultimately showed that Hope was suffering from an osteochondroma, or a projection of bone off the backside of the radius above her knee. “The bone was sticking out parallel to the ground,” Courtney said. “When she bent her knee in a certain way, the bone would poke the tendon sheath, and blood would mix with the synovial fluid. That’s what created the pain and acute lameness. Once the blood dissipated, she would be sound again.” Hope underwent surgery in which a veterinary team shaved off the extra bone and cleaned out the tendon sheath. After the surgery, Hope recovered very well and started competing again this past May. “She felt great coming back,” Courtney said. “She’s always happy about her job and happy to go to work. She just tries very hard and always shows up. It’s been great to have her back.”
Courtney and Hope at the Horse Park of New Jersey.
Since returning to competition in May, Hope has placed third or better in all of her events. Courtney bumped Hope down to training level for her first outing at Fair Hill in May, where Hope finished third. She then placed second in her preliminary division at Flora Lea at the end of May before winning at the Horse Park of New Jersey a month later. And just this past weekend, Courtney and Hope again won their preliminary division at New Jersey. “I’ve had some difficulty making the time with her on cross country, through through no fault of her own,” Courtney said. “It’s more my problem because I don’t always want to press her. It’s hard when you have horses you breed yourself and bring along. At some point, they go from being your baby to being your performance horse, and it’s hard to make that switch and know when to push.”
Looking ahead, Courtney knows she’ll need to push Hope at some point, but for now she’s content to play it safe with this very talented mare. “Trying to get to a two-star this fall will be too much,” Courtney said. “We’d like to think long-term with her. With the new FEI requirements, I need an international CCI* or CIC* based on my rider level. I’ll do that at Plantation Field and then move her up to intermediate in October. Then we’ll aim for a two-star in the spring.” Hope is out of the same dam as Who’s A Star, Courtney’s Advanced partner who finished third in the Jersey Fresh CCI3* earlier this year. As is the goal with all of her homebreds in the “Star family,” Courtney hopes this mare will go all the way through the levels. “I’d love for her to follow in the footsteps of her half brother and go up through Advanced,” Courtney said. “We’ll keep going until she tells us she doesn’t want to play this game.”
Next week on EN’s Got Talent: While warmblood, Irish and Thoroughbred superstars have dominated this series since I launched it last fall, we’re going to bring in some new blood next week when we meet Cavalier, a 5-year-old buckskin Appendix Quarter Horse gelding owned and campaigned by former EN blogger Carrie Meehan. “Rusty” placed fifth as a 4-year-old in a very competitive beginner novice division at last year’s American Eventing Championships and moved up to novice in February. After a very solid spring campaign at the novice level, in which Carrie and Rusty placed second at Pine Top and third at Southern Pines, this pair made the move up to training level in May. Carrie’s good friend Cassie Boehm tipped me about Rusty: “It’s not every day that you see buckskins competing at all!” Go Kansas eventing!
