​

PART 1

​

In preparing for the USEF hearing I attended in October of 2018, I spent quite a bit of time researching the breeding of international show jumping horses.  An international show jumper would be considered a horse capable of consistently competing in up to 1.60m FEI (Federal Equestrian International) level classes.  Not only is this horse campaigning at an international level (as the FEI regulates competitions such as the World Cup, Nations Cup, Olympics, World Equestrian Games, etc) but the horse is receiving virtually no medications that would facilitate successful competition (as the FEI has traditionally had much stricter policies on drug use in comparison to USEF). 

​

The reason I felt it was important to talk about the statistics even I was surprised to discover, is to explain what a potential anomaly my horses and I are in this country, and why we together might be considered a threat worthy of focus (unfortunately negative) by those currently in power. 

​

The tools I used for research are those anyone can find via the internet … the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses, www.wbfsh.org, and the FEI www.fei.org itself.  Although I did attempt to also research U.S. ranked Grand Prix horses and riders through USEF and the Rolex ranking list, it appears to be impossible to discover the horses actual ‘place of birth’ or breeder on this particular list. 

​

It is also important to note, the FEI doesn’t exactly make it easy to discover a horses ‘place of birth’ or breeder either.  The horses ‘Nationality’ is listed right next to its name on the main site open to the public, but this is simply (from what I can tell) the nation of the current owner of the horse, and has nothing to do with ‘by whom’ or ‘where’ it was bred.  To find the ‘place of birth’ and breeder in the FEI you must go the FEI Database, at https://data.fei.org/Default.aspx or sign up for FEI inside via email. 

​

Why it is so hard to determine this important fact when it comes to the original creation of these horses, I suspect is sadly due politics.  My first guess is there would surely be embarrassment regarding some countries incapability of producing their own horses, and my second is the potential financial implications of actually giving the breeders easily accessible credit and recognition. 

​

These statistics were found simply by spending a few weeks in my spare time looking up US (and some international) riders and their horses on the FEI ranking list.  Since there are many thousands of horses and riders ranked, it would take a very long time to study each horse in detail, but I think what I have to say here is 99% true, and I doubt you could find more than maybe a handful (if any, as I am aware of most of the known teams) of horses and riders I’ve missed.   

​

Of the US riders in the top 20 rankings of the FEI, there is not a single US bred horse, while this is definitely not the case regarding European riders.  Though it appears they certainly are happy to buy any good horse from any country, the major players such as Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, etc, all have top ranked riders on horses bred by their respective countries.

 

The only US bred horses I could find on the FEI ranking list (in the top 5000 horses), were 1 horse ridden by Nicole Shahinian-Simpson. ranked around 500th, 3 horses ridden by Lisa Goldman, who herself is ranked in the 800 range, and one horse ridden by Karen Cudmore, further down the list. 

​

In the World Breeding Federation/Rolex World Ranking list of breeders of show jumping horses, I could not find a single US breeder in the top 500 of the list of many thousands (or anywhere on the list for that matter, but I may have missed a name further down).  

​

Especially interesting to note, is none of these riders on US bred horses are riding a horse they specifically have bred.  I’m pretty sure a horseman would be making U.S. history (recent at least) if they were to accomplish such a feat, particularly on multiple horses ranked anywhere near the top thousand.  

​

By the way, if someone has the time to scour this list (in constant flux) or knows off the top of their head of a U.S. bred horse (ranked in say the first 5000 horses of the FEI show jumpers) or breeder, I would certainly appreciate being informed of them. 

​

Can you imagine how our nationalistic pride would be hindered towards a top football or basketball team, if say, half the players were born and predominantly raised, trained and coached in another country?  Because that’s what we are talking about here … half the team (of horse and rider) is coming from and being prepared for its job in a land far, far away. 

​

Assuming we can all agree that horsemanship is more than riding well and fine tuning an already very nice and accomplished horse, we have to ask ourselves what is going wrong? Why can the US produce some of the fastest thoroughbreds in the world (as thoroughbred racing and breeding is also a sport created in Europe), multiple breeds and disciplines of its own, yet not break into the international show jumping world as a breeder and producer of these amazing equine athletes?

 

It’s certainly not from lack of effort.  There are multiple large breeding farms in the U.S. working to specifically produce top show jumpers.  Spy Coast Farm, involved in the ownership of the Winter Equestrian Festival (probably the largest rated jumper show in the world), is one of them.

​

I can think of multiple professional peers who breed horses specifically for jumping, just off the top of my head.  We certainly don’t breed close to as many horses as in Europe or some other countries, but we are a large United States while countries the size of a small northeastern state (say Belgium and Holland for example) are repeatedly ranking as international top breeders. 

​

Though I don’t profess to know exactly what is going on keeping us from even breaking in to this realm in any real way, I have many theories as a result of several decades of experience and involvement.        

​

PART 2 … coming soon … :)