Olympian Kent Farrington (USA) and Eduardo Menezes (Brazil) Interview

“Because even when you’re on top of your game, you’re still doing a lot of losing.” Kent Farrington

USA’s Kent Farrington (left) came second in Sunday’s big Grand Prix: the CP International. Eduardo Menezes from Brazil also competed.

How did the track go for you?  

Kent: Big jumps, disappointing results – I had a foot in the water. My goal was to win, and it didn’t happen. My horse was fighting very hard - tough track. 

Why do you think the water in particular was hard today?  

Kent: It had a plank afterwards, very close distance, so a careful horse sees the plank behind and they’re setting up early so they drop their feet down in the water. 

How did it go for you Eduardo? 

Eduardo: Not as good as him today, my horse is an older horse. He was very good last week and today he was a bit off.  

Are you guys both here next week as well? 

Kent: We’re here next week. For revenge! 

What do you like about coming to Calgary? 

Kent: I think it’s a great place to produce young horses, they learn to be brave. It’s an amazing setting on a big field. Really unique to Spruce Meadows. It’s one of my favourite places to show.  

 I’m glad you guys are here. How long have you been coming Eduardo? 

Eduardo: The first time I came to Spruce Meadows was in 2000. So it’s been 21 years. I love this place, like Kent says the horses learn a lot so even in a bad day, you leave the ring with a lesson to your horse. I think it’s a great experience. 

Last question, I was curious - riders are so interesting to me. What does it take to be a top rider – it's such a hard sport.  

Kent: I think you can even see, just looking at the two of us (gesturing to himself and Eduardo), we are built totally different. I think a lot of it is mentality, compassion for horses, and resilience. Because even when you’re on top of your game, you’re still doing a lot of losing. Things go wrong all the time because there’s so many variables in this sport. It’s why I think that you enjoy the process of working with horses and you’re willing to try to keep coming back to try to be better. 

I love that. Thank you, Kent. That’s beautiful. What do you think (Eduardo)? 

Eduardo: I couldn’t say it any better. Resilience is the word. Because even if you are number one, you lose way more than you win. So in our minds, we are always big losers. So it’s very difficult to cope with that – that you lose way more often than you win. Either you are really strong with that or it must be hard for you.