On the heels of a recent, Olympics-themed gaffe by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, all eyes will be on Rafalca, the Oldenburg mare co-owned by Ann Romney, at the London Olympics next week.
Ann Romney, a well-known horse enthusiast, has owned several six-figure horses in past years, including the 15-year-old bay, which will be ridden by Jan Ebeling in the dressage competition August 2 and 3. But when asked on TV about his wife’s chances in London, Mitt awkwardly disavowed nearly all knowledge of the sport.
Romney’s flub highlighted the image of high-level horsemanship as a sport practiced only by the wealthy. Such an affiliation is not a good look for a guy trying to appeal to the voting masses—though in distancing himself from show jumping he made it seem like he didn’t care about his wife’s interests.
Thing is, the rich-and-famous stereotype is partly true. The cost of exhibiting a horse on the international circuit can exceed $200,000 a year. Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, just won a silver medal in the Olympic eventing competition. And many billionaires revel in the three main equestrian events of show jumping, eventing and dressage: Georgina Bloomberg, the daughter of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Katie Dinan, the daughter of billionaire Jamie Dinan who founded York Capital Management; Ekaterina Rybolovleva, whose Russian billionaire father Dmitry Rybolovlev made his fortune selling fertilizer. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang also owns dressage horses, including the 17-hand Olympic standout Ravel.
Then there are the daughters of famous people, like Bruce Springsteen’s daughter, Jessica; Grace Kelly’s granddaughter, the Gucci model Charlotte Casiraghi; and Athina Onassis Roussel, the granddaughter of billionaire shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Not to mention Tom Selleck’s daughter, Hannah.
But there are plenty of elite riders with fewer, or at least less notable, money ties.
Consider Beezie Madden, a three-time Equestrian Olympic medalist. Madden is ranked the No. 2 show jumper in the nation and No. 17 in the world; in 2004 in Athens she won a team gold medal and in 2008 in Beijing won a bronze individual medal and a second team gold.
Madden started riding as a toddler with her parents in Milwaukee, Wisc., and is trained by her husband, John. And while she’s lucky enough to have premier sponsors including Ariat and Purina, she has worked for decades to reach this level of success.
“You need a lot of skills to really make it to this level, because what it takes is the support of our owners, which is not easy to find--somebody who wants to be a private sponsor for you,” says Madden who lives and works on her farm in Cazenovia, New York. “A lot of that is done through teaching. Maybe we teach their children or we teach them. And maybe they find a passion for the sport and want to participate in a higher level, and the only way they can do that is to have a horse that we ride for them.”
There’s also an element of horse sense to becoming a great equestrian, she says, because it requires becoming a discerning judge of horseflesh.
“It’s a feel when you ride of deciding this horse feels like he has it or this horse feels like he doesn’t have it,” Madden says. “It’s a snap decision. You see a horse for one or two hours out of his life, and you have to decide.”
London will be the first time Madden rides a new horse, Coral Reef Via Volo, in an Olympic games. She previously rode Authentic, a Dutch Warmblood gelding with celebrity status, to great acclaim. (Authentic has three Olympic medals and is tied as the most-winning Olympic show jumper in history.)
A 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare, Via Volo is small—15.2 hands, with the nickname “Shrimp”—but she’s strong. And anyway Madden says several factors besides height contribute to coaxing a horse to a winning ride.
“She is very sure of herself,” Madden says. “She sometimes has a little bit of opinion about what she wants to do, but mostly she wants to do the right thing, so that’s good. And she is careful. She wants to do it, so it makes it easier.”
At 48, Madden’s experience will help guide the US Equestrian team along with two-time Olympic veteran McLain Ward, 36. Both were part of the USA’s gold-medal teams in Athens and Beijing. Joining them for the show jumper events will be first-time Olympians Rich Fellers, 52, who won the FEI World Cup Championship with year, and 18-year-old Reed Kessler, who qualified for the Olympics in her first year of eligibility as a senior show jumper. Charlie Jayne, 26, is the alternate.
So, which countries will prove the stiffest competition for the podium in London? There’s no dominant front runner, though England will likely do well, especially British riding star Nick Skelton. The Germans are always strong, Madden says, even if they don’t look as competitive on paper. And the Swiss have excellent horses to work with. Though for that matter, never count out the French, she adds.
It’ll be a challenging few days. Show jumping consists of a course through which a horse and rider must jump obstacles via many turns and direction changes. The intent is to jump cleanly over each jump within an allotted time. Time faults are assessed for exceeding the time allowance, and jumping faults are incurred for knockdowns and refusals.
As with dressage and eventing, the competition includes men and women. There are five rounds, with the first two rounds deciding the team competition results and all five going towards the individual competition. Horses are not permitted on the circuit before the start of competition.
In short, everything must align perfectly to win gold. And there is an element of chance. We are dealing with precariously placed, nearly 6-foot-tall barriers, after all.
“Most of the time you make your own luck, but we jump over fences where the rails are very easy to fall down,” Madden says. “Mostly if you hit them they fall down, but sometimes if you hit them they stay up, and we always think, oh that was lucky.”
Money can’t buy luck. But it may help with everything else.
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