BY LAUREN MAULDIN
The first time I saw Kent Farrington ride, or really ever heard of him at all, was in the small indoor of the James B Hunt Horse Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was 2006 at the $30,000 Duke Children’s Benefit Grand Prix, the biggest show of the year in our area. At the time, I was trying to make it around 2’0” local hunter courses with my bought-from-the-newspaper Quarter Horse gelding, but I looked forward to the UNC & Duke benefit shows every year. That was my chance to see the best of our sport. To me at the time, I might as well have been watching show jumping at the Olympics.
I was a nobody who didn’t know anyone. The highlight for me was watching our local vet show his jumpers in that Grand Prix, because he treated my horse. But that year, Kent and this literal knees-to-nose chestnut horse dominated the entire class. That horse was Up Chiqui. I can still picture them soaring over the oxers against the hunter green backdrop of that unassuming indoor. Instantly, I was a fan.
Last week, I sat in the press room at the FEI World Cup Finals listening to Kent talk about how he used to watch VHS tapes of World Cup Finals. “I didn’t have access to high-level shows, but I had videotapes of the World Cup Final,” he shared. I would watch them over and over and study all the riders, and pretend that I could ride like them.”
Before I continue, let me be clear. I do not pretend I can ride like any Grand Prix rider. I’ve come a long way from the girl with the rubber tall boots and bred from spare parts Quarter Horse, but I’m lucky to find the distances on my adult amateur hunter courses. But I was also that kid who put VHS tapes in my cassette player at home to watch over and over again. My favorite was a Gem Twist documentary that I rented from the now sadly gone Triangle Horse Sports. I was obsessed with Gem Twist. I had his Breyer horse. Any time my parents came to get me because show jumping happened to be on TV (a rare but delightful occasion in the 90s), I listened carefully to the name of any gray horse to see if it was Gem.
This week at World Cup Finals, watching Ken and Greya, reminded me of that same feeling.
If you ask a kid today what their favorite show jumper is, I’m curious if many could name one. Our TV coverage has shifted to expensive live streams the average parent of a horse crazy American kid is never going to fork over the cash for. Riders have huge strings of horses now. You need so many to get to the top. They get sold, they break, their owners or riders (or both) get burned out and quit. There is high turnover in our sport. It’s not super often that me, a casual show jumping fan, has looked at a horse and rider combination and thought, Oh god. That’s amazing. I can’t wait to see them the next time they come out.
There have certainly been pairs. Laura Kraut and Cedric. Beezie and Cortes C. Richard Vogel and United Touch S. The magical combination of an amazing animal and a skilled rider will always take my breath away. This weekend, swept up in the magic of finals, I felt that way about Kent and Greya.
And it makes me wonder, is it pairs like them that can revive the sport of show jumping?
I am a casual show jumping fan. I don’t follow FEI rankings or live stream every qualifier. In all honesty, I’m an average competitor and horse lover who appreciates show jumping. But there are far more people like me than super fans, owners, or aspiring competitors. To the people in VIP, we’re nobodies. But we are the butts that need to be in the seats to fill the stands. And we are the people who are going to continue to support the sport, love it, and watch it grow. Or, we might be the people who see it slowly fade away as more and more time goes on.
There were so many amazing things about World Cup Finals last week. In Fort Worth, it was a short three-hour drive from me in Austin. I am so lucky to have the job that I do at The Plaid Horse and be able to be on the inside of things. As press, I’ve never been treated so well at a show. I heard countless compliments from riders and industry professionals on the footing, courses, and execution of this huge event.
But at the same time, I had multiple friends—people ranging from ones that show nationally on the circuit to pleasure riders who haven’t been judged in a decade—complain to me about the ticket situation. It doesn’t matter how much money you have; paying $800+ for ticket packages that were later released at $38 a seat is a slap in the face. Our crowd didn’t come close to filling up the impressive Dickee’s stadium for any event. Only Saturday night Dressage freestyles and the final round of Show Jumping on Sunday felt somewhat crowded.
And I hate that, because it was a magical week of horsemanship.
On Friday, when Ken galloped to the last single oxer in the jump off, watching Greya calculate the distance strides out and seemingly say to him, “Hell yeah. We’ve got this!” gave me chills.
Every time I saw Lillie Keenan or Mimi Gochman bend down to kiss their horses before starting their round, I thought about how I can’t wait to watch them grow and continue develop in this sport.
Eiken Sato, the Japanese rider who placed 2nd on Friday but sadly had to scratch the finals after a colic episode with his horse, was absolutely beaming from ear to ear every time I saw him. He was so appreciative of being there, and is such a soft, talented rider.
I rooted for Katie Dinan as she and her beloved mare, American-bred Out of the Blue SCF out of Spy Coast Farms in Lexington, kept leaving jump after jump untouched, and I was so thrilled to see her end up on the podium. I know she was sitting with some of her idols on the podium, and that is a special thing to witness.
I could go on. I’m never going to compete anywhere near this level, and I don’t want to, but I love horse shows. I am a fan. I want people to continue being fans of this sport.
We talk a lot about how to preserve and grow our sport, and it’s something that needs to be on our minds. Getting corporate sponsorships, working on expanding media coverage, and even breaking down the system and rebuilding it in a way that better serves riders. I support the discourse.
But also, it might be as simple as finding really good horses and taking care of them for the long term. Being patient, nurturing equestrians—not just riders. As trainers, media, sponsors, and simply fans, we need to foster these special pairs. The great horses of the past did not appear by themselves overnight in a silo. They were not plucked from Europe and imported overnight to magically start jumping 1.60 m. They were carefully curated and developed.
Most importantly, they were loved by riders, owners, grooms, and fans.
I won’t pretend to have any type of suggestions on how to save our sport. I know how to market things, but I don’t know how to fill every butt in the arena, although having fair and varied ticket prices would be a great start. But I know that, as an industry, if we don’t collectively start celebrating and highlighting the love of horses and riders, supporting their longevity in this sport, we’ve already lost.
Horses are not cars. They are not multi-million dollar football players dating celebrities. They are not gymnasts or skaters pushed to their limits, peaking in adolescence. They are special. No other sport has a partnership like this.
My name will never be on a perpetual trophy, but when I go to the barn and ride my beloved, quirky horse, I know how much I love him. I work hard to keep up my lifelong commitment to him. And I want to feel that way about every horse and rider I see come into the ring.
Because show jumpers come and go so often, I even get jaded as a fan. The best riders usually have not one, but stacks of “Ferraris” sitting in their barn, ready to prep for the next event.
But watching Kent and Greya this past week, and so many other great pairs, reminded me that the true joy of show jumping… or dressage or eventing or really any equestrian sport, is the love and partnership between horse and rider. I am grateful I got to watch what I believe will be one of the greatest pairs in our sport. I hope to see many more. And I hope that everyone takes notice and remembers how to be a fan of special horses in all shapes and sizes.
Lauren Mauldin holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of California Riverside, and is a lifelong rider and writer. Through her writing she explores the intersections of mental health, equestrian lifestyle, and healing. She lives in Austin, Texas with her wife and furbabies and shows in the Adult Amateur hunters with her horse, Crusero.
