Horse Tales with Cat

Send us Fan Mail Chris Pratt thought that his days of show jumping at the top level of the sport were over. He had settled in to a business of training students and was content to make that his focus. But as fate would have it, the universe had other plans for him. Even when he took over the rides for his clients (Karen Long Dwight and Glen Fleischer) he thought it would just be until they could f...

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of my conversation with show jumper Kevin Babington, Kevin recounts his recollection of the day he had his life-changing fall off Shorapur. He shares his journey of treatment, rehabilitation and finding a new way to share his gifts from the confines of a wheelchair. He has rebuilt his life and reinvented himself with tenacity, grace and humility. His positivity and optim...

Send us Fan Mail The youngest of 11 children, Kevin wasn’t sure about how he was going to make a life with horses growing up in Ireland but he was obsessed with them from a very early age. He initially thought his future was in racing but thankfully for us he made friends with some showjumpers and pursued that path instead. In part one of this two part chat we talk about where Kevin’s passion star...

Send us Fan Mail From as far back as she can remember, Lauren Hough always wanted to go to the Olympics. She knew that her father had gone and so she was determined to do the same ,albeit in a different discipline. She set her sights on the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and managed to convince a group of clients (with the assistance of her mother Linda )that she had found the horse to do it.  She still...

Send us Fan Mail Stal Hendrix has been an institution in Europe for almost 50 years. Their breeding, training, selling and auction business was built on commitment to quality , relationships , respect and word of mouth. If you meet, Janou Hendrix , the head of marketing behind the brand , you understand why they are so successful . She is humble, authentic, passionate and smart. There is a quiet s...

Send us Fan Mail They say that there is a heart horse for everyone and for Rowan Willis , that may have been Blue Movie. Rowan met Carrots ( her barn name ) when she was a foal and spent everyday with her for 19 years.  She was a complicated mare and it took a non traditional approach to train her, but in the end she gave everything and their partnership took them to the top of the sport. Rowan re...

Send us Fan Mail It has been 50 years since Michel Vaillancourt won an individual silver medal in showjumping at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal but it feels like only yesterday when you hear his story.  At 22 years of age with a young horse who had no international experience , he was a longshot just to qualify for the team.  Couple that with an incredibly difficult course , a jump-off following a...

Send us Fan Mail Luis Sabino Goncalves started his riding career in Santarim , Portugal as a bullfight rider. However,it did not take long after his exposure to showjumping in Lisbon that he decided he had found his real calling. After spending years in Europe pursuing his dream he found himself unexpectedly in America during the pandemic and decided to make Ocala, Florida his home . There he has...

Send us Fan Mail There are two things you need to immediately know about showjumping legend  Shane Sweetnam. The first is that he is from Castlemagner not Dunmanway. The second is that his partnerships with his horses are always evolving. What immediately struck me in my conversation with Shane was that he is very much in tune with his horses and he is of the mind that there is not one mold that f...

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of the series, showjumping legend Eric Lamaze sits down with me to share his side of the lawsuits that have impacted him and where they sit right now.  He does not pull any punches as far as the details are concerned. Be that as it may, he also gives his insight on what role horsemanship plays in finding a new mount for an amateur and how important it is that the horse a...

Send us Fan Mail It is not often a Canadian rider at World Equestrian Centre (Ocala) gets to hear the Canadian anthem play in the hotel ring. However, Sean Jobin managed to experience it twice this past winter at the 3* level. Add to this a win in the International ring at Spruce Meadows on his first time there in 2024, several podiums in 2025 and it gives one reason to pause . After spending seve...

Send us Fan Mail When Covid 19 shut down most of the world , Elena Haas had the same concerns that most of us had . She was not sure how she would continue to do the things that brought her the most joy. However, she quickly realized that there were some blessings during that restrictive period - riders could continue to ride their horses and studies would go online. She seized that opportunity to...

Send us Fan Mail There have been many times in the last year that I have been struck by what a gift it is to have the opportunity to sit down and chat with the best that the sport of show jumping has to offer .  None no more than this last episode. Hot on the heels of my conversation with Norman Dello Joio , I had the opportunity to sit down with Leopoldo Palacios. What made it even more special i...

Send us Fan Mail I have spoken to a number of legends in the sport of show jumping this past year. But I don’t think any have been as thoughtful in their answers as Norman Dello Joio.  He is quiet in his demeanour but strong in his character and opinions and is very engaging. He remembers many details of his days of competition and is happy to share the memories but is equally enthusiastic about h...

Send us Fan Mail If ever there was a rider to beat the odds, Eric Lamaze is it.  He has had more comebacks then you can imagine.  A lifetime ban, a brain tumor, numerous lawsuits.  Arguably the best rider and chef d’equipe the Canadian Show Jumping Team has ever had, Eric’s success has often been clouded by complications. Because of this, you are always routing for him. Sitting down with Eric was...

Send us Fan Mail Every amateur rider will relate to Cullen Drescher’s story.  The pursuit of a dream to ride in the bigger classes while trying to fund it with another full time career. Throw a child and partner into the mix and it really gets interesting. Cullen’s secret superpower is her ability to focus in on the task at hand to the exclusion of everything else around her. Her other gift is tha...

Send us Fan Mail Jenna Friedman-Lopez. If you haven’t heard of her, you will. If you have ever seen her in the ring, you will remember her. She exudes such love for her horses and passion for the sport that you know she is destined for greatness. Jenna is frank, authentic and genuine. She is candid about sharing how she keeps her head in the game. She is vulnerable when she shares how it felt to r...

Send us Fan Mail When Pieter deBrabandere moved to the US to ride for Maarten Huygens in July 2024 his goal was simple- back to basics and focus on his riding. He never expected to look back on the year and see all the firsts he accomplished - first time riding for Belgium on a Nations Cup Team, first time winning a $75,000 Grand Prix in Saugerties and finishing in the top 12 at his first 5* Grand...

Send us Fan Mail McLain Ward has had the pressure of trying to be “the best” on his shoulders since he first had success in the equitation ring winning both the USEF and USET Medal Finals at the age of 14 . 36 years and 5 Olympic medals in show jumping later, he is very forthcoming about the pressure he still feels and the anxiety that goes  along with it-especially on those days when he is the an...

Send us Fan Mail When showjumper Bruce Goodin secured an invitation to the Master’s at Spruce Meadows in 1991 he had no idea how he was going to pay his entries. However, where there’s a will, there’s a way…  Bruce entered a speed class that he thought he had a shot of placing in and ended up winning it , ensuring that he had enough to pay his way for the week. He went on to place second in the CP...

Send us Fan Mail Kyle King is no stranger to winning. He has amassed many Grand Prix victories over the years. But ongoing success at the 5* Level is something new to him. He is learning a whole new skill set to navigate and facing it head on as evidenced by his 2nd place finishing in the CPKC Rail Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows in September. I was struck by Kyle’s vulnerability and courage in navig...

Send us Fan Mail Schuyler Riley has been in the sport for more than 40 years and she has never lost sight of the reason she does it - for the connection with the horse. Whether she is picking a horse for herself or for one of her clients, she will always put character first . That has led her to great success as she never rushes the relationship. She believes that the bond between rider and horse...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes you meet someone and you immediately like them. Such was the case with Kyle Dewar. He puts his family first, is passionate about the horses and wears his Canadian pride  (and his heart) on his sleeve for all to see. Kyle and his wife Kathy are the owners of Chestnut Hill Farms in Ocala where they run a successful training and sales business. Kyle’s  story is one of patie...

Send us Fan Mail Small but mighty, Lauren Hayes is a force to be reckoned with. She juggles riding, training and motherhood with grace and a positive attitude. Lauren shares her journey of school, becoming a parent and having to lower her expectations when riding couldn’t be her only focus. She is a shining example of remaining positive and rolling with the punches while demonstrating that the app...

Send us Fan Mail Growing up in Wicklow, Ireland , Aoife Leggett discovered her passion for horses at an early age and was drawn to the adrenaline rush of the cross country portion of 3 day eventing . While continuing to compete she landed herself a position managing yards at a couple of different stables including Cooley Farms and Ardeo Sport Horses. Not content to stay with what was easy and in f...