These six registered thoroughbreds, Jet Host, Bien Venue, Lighting Magic, Caddymaster, and two whose names escape me, were among the ones I rode and competed about fifty years ago, and here`s my point--- We ALL competed on registered thoroughbreds, eventers, hunters, jumpers; any sport that involved jumping, in the USA, was an almost exclusively thoroughbred game. Warmbloods? There were none. When Mr Hoffman (Carol Thompson`s and Judy Richter`s father) imported the Holsteiner stallion, Hercules, in about 1962, he was the first warmblood I`d ever seen. So HOW did those thoroughbreds jump so high, be so athletic? I don`t totally buy into the Sure, but thoroughbreds were so different back then argument. Yes, there were more distance races, but that`s missing the main point. Which is: We FILTERED through thousands, as they came off the tracks. Unlike modern custom made jumping machine C line Holsteiners and other warmblood lines, virtually NO thoroughbred was custom bred for much other than racing, maybe Bonne Nuit excepted. How did the jumpers jump so well? Good riders jumped them higher and higher, and discarded the ones which couldn`t do it. It was THAT simple. We had a huge discovery system, starting with little dealers with a couple for sale, right up to Bernie and Tiff, Ben O`Meara, Hopper, Schulman, Dugan, barns with dozens, even hundreds. Could we do that in 2014? Sure----BUT----no emotion allowed, which modern riders can`t stomach. The ones that couldn`t do it went right back to the auctions. No lifetime homes under the old, stringent system, a simple reality most of you aren`t old enough to remember.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 10:28:22 +0000
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