Happy Father’s Day ❤️ Steven Symansky ❤️….albeit a little tardy 🙈 Yesterday I was looking for a nice picture to post of us, but then I came across this gem from back in the day of handheld camcorders. After editing down about 40 minutes of actual footage all filmed by my dad, I was able to put together 7 minutes that fully captures the essence of Steve.If you know anything at all about eventing or nervous dads or have ever met Steve before, this video is definitely worth a watch with sound ON. There are small guest appearances by Karen O'Connor, Jimmy Wofford, Phillip Dutton, Bruce Davidson, Jan Byyny, Randy Ward, the Green’s dogs Ben and Jerry, Brian O'Connor and my good buddy Kim Severson, who it appears he was quite fond of 😂My dad showed up to Radnor on Saturday morning for my first CCI2*. He was excited to check out the XC the course and took my little brother with him. When he returned to the barns he was in full tears, telling my mom he didn’t know how I was going to jump all the jumps. My mom sent him away to go watch XC where he met some people to watch with, and judging from the stain on his shirt they decided to give this nervous loud father some wine to settle him down.Steve has never met a stranger. He has always been my biggest cheerleader. I hear him around any big track he has ever come watch. At my first Kentucky I could pick out his cheers over thousands of spectators while I was on course. I heard him on XC at my first World Championships in Normandy. My mom and I used to make him come watch the big competitions in person, but over the years we all realized he gets too nervous and prefers to watch the live stream at home. Since I was a kid he’s kept himself busy running horse trials and scoring programs as a fun hobby in his spare time. On Father’s Day yesterday he was scoring at Seneca even though I wasn’t even competing there. He does it for no reason other than he’s incredibly selfless, and it’s his way to be part of a sport and community his family grew up with and that I still love.Thank you for being the sweetest, funniest, loudest, most energetic and supportive dad I could have dreamed of. I got pretty lucky ☺️
Posted by Lynn Symansky on Monday, June 17, 2019
Facebook on Father’s Day weekend is full of feels as horse-crazed girls and guys celebrate the dads who hauled the trailer, carried the buckets, and most importantly supported them in this undoubtedly bonkers hobby. But if we want to find the pinnacle of horse show dads, we need look no further than Steve Symansky, father of five-star rider Lynn Symansky.
Not only is he Lynn’s loudest cheerleader, but he’s given countless hours to the sport scoring, organizing and being an all-around volunteer in Area II. To celebrate Father’s Day, Lynn dug up footage from her first CCI2* at Radnor where her dad was more than a little nervous for her, but carried on, handheld camcorder in tow. The next seven minutes are equal parts heartwarming and hysterical.
From Lynn:
“My dad showed up to Radnor on Saturday morning for my first CCI2*. He was excited to check out the XC the course and took my little brother with him. When he returned to the barns he was in full tears, telling my mom he didn’t know how I was going to jump all the jumps. My mom sent him away to go watch XC where he met some people to watch with, and judging from the stain on his shirt they decided to give this nervous loud father some wine to settle him down.
“Steve has never met a stranger. He has always been my biggest cheerleader. I hear him around any big track he has ever come watch. At my first Kentucky I could pick out his cheers over thousands of spectators while I was on course. I heard him on XC at my first World Championships in Normandy. My mom and I used to make him come watch the big competitions in person, but over the years we all realized he gets too nervous and prefers to watch the live stream at home.
“Since I was a kid he’s kept himself busy running horse trials and scoring programs as a fun hobby in his spare time. On Father’s Day yesterday he was scoring at Seneca even though I wasn’t even competing there. He does it for no reason other than he’s incredibly selfless, and it’s his way to be part of a sport and community his family grew up with and that I still love.”
From the archives: Steve Symansky cheering for Lynn at Kentucky.
Go Steve. Go Eventing.
