Adelaide French & Rockview Mr Diamond at Morven Park in 2021. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
This weekend at Morven Park International includes one very special new award: the Rockview Mr Diamond Award for Preliminary riders. This award will be given to the top placed rider in the Preliminary Rider class, and was specifically created to celebrate a horse and rider combination that has worked together to get to the preliminary level. Qualifications include a dressage score under 40; no more than 8 jumping faults and 0 time penalties in show jumping; no jumping faults on cross country; and no more than 5 time penalties. Neither horse nor rider can have competed above the preliminary level, and it’s a $250 cash prize.
Looking at those qualifications, you might think it seems fairly generous, but an award with generosity of spirit could not be more fitting. Rockview Mr Diamond, lovingly known everywhere as Huey, was the single most selfless, giving, and frankly adorable horse that any of us had ever met. This one hits close to home for me, as Huey lived right down the road from me for most of his life, and his owner is one of my oldest friends. I schooled him for her when she was out of town, and clipped him every year to save him from the monstrosity that is her barbershop “skills”. I loved him as one of my own, and everybody who ever met him would agree.
Ten years ago, when Addie French was still a young rider, her heart horse arrived in the form of a freshly imported grey Irish gelding, who nobody believed would be able to do much more than Training level. The pair traveled the east coast together, working under the tutelage of almost every top-level rider as college faded and adult life began. Through their incredible partnership, and Huey’s hard-working attitude, they landed on the Training leaderboards multiple years in a row, and moved up to Preliminary, completing almost every event within driving distance with ribbons at the level.
“Huey brought home so many ribbons,” reminisces Addie. “He was the definition of a good boy; he didn’t have a best phase, he was equally good at all of them, and he was a workman. He never had the fanciest gaits, and he just jumped exactly as high as he needed to and nothing else.”
There was no interaction with Huey without snuggles. Photo by Kate Samuels.
“He worked hard every day of his life, and he always tried really hard, and even when it was super hard for him he gave me everything.” Everyone who met him fell in love with him was because he looked like a stuffed animal and he acted like every girl’s dream of a white pony.
Sadly, we all lost Huey from our lives in the spring of 2022 to a sudden and terrible case of colic, despite his previously unmarked medical records.
Addie was inspired by Jennie Saville’s annual award at Galway International in honor of the late great Cooper, and decided to sponsor an award at one of her local competitions, Morven Park International. One of their last competitions together was at Morven Park in 2021, and they competed there many times over the years.
“I’ve always loved Morven,” says Addie, “as it’s always had really tough cross country courses with big galloping fences, tough combinations, and plenty of terrain. I feel like it’s one of the last real ‘traditional’ events, but with the recent upgrades it has also become a destination event, and it really has everything you want from a competition facility.”
The qualifications for this award were created by looking back at Huey’s scores over his lifetime, and the emphasis is mostly on the cross country performance, as that is what sets eventing apart from all the other sports. The intention is to celebrate a horse and rider pair that have neither competed above the Preliminary level, and have come up the levels together.
The perfect dream pony. Photo by Kate Samuels.
“I wanted to celebrate the partnership, just like I had with Huey. It’s very easy to compete in the amateur divisions with an experienced horse, but it’s another thing to do it on a horse you trained yourself,” says Addie. She also wanted to make sure that the prize was sizable enough to make a dent in the entry fee, and have an impact for an amateur rider such as herself.
Any time you can win money without competing at the top levels is an excellent opportunity, and a shining example of how to keep our sport viable for all participants. The Rockview Mr Diamond award is for anybody who exemplifies the qualities that we all admired in Huey: loyalty, love, hard work, and most of all, generosity of spirit.
