The Joy and Pain of World Class Show Jumping
The richest purse in show jumping takes place every September at Spruce Meadows in Calgary: The 3-million-dollar CP International Grand Prix, presented by Rolex. While all other Rolex Majors take place in Europe, the epicenter of equestrian sport, Spruce Meadows is set amid the rolling foothills of the Albertan Rocky Mountains. It’s an area better known for cows and cowboys than warmblood horses and tall-booted riders.
This year, 2022, Germany’s Daniel Deusser won the Grand Prix with his spectacular Belgian Warmblood mare, Killer Queen VDM. Deusser credited his success to his horse.
“I know Killer Queen has a very big stride. She gave me a good feeling. I was a little bit deep to the last fence and she helped me there amazingly. I’m very, very proud of her.”
The victory was worth a million dollars for Deusser, who is now the live contender for the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping.
Daniel Deusser and Killer Queen VDM. Spruce Meadows Media/Mike Sturk.
Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat was looking to repeat his win in 2021 with his Selle Francais gelding Venard de Cerisy, but finished second. In this competition, it was a disappointing result.
“You have no idea how bad I’m feeling right now. It’s a mix of disappointment, and anger. I can’t stop thinking about the grand prix I just lost. I would have loved to win again today. Finishing second in any other Grand Prix and I'm happy, but there's a huge difference between being the winner and the first loser of a Rolex Major.”
“She’s given so much and just keeps giving. She’s a warrior. She’s a queen.”
McLain Ward and HH Azur. Spruce Meadows Media/Mike Sturk.
Forty-six year old McLain Ward was the top-placed American rider in the Grand Prix, finishing seventh with HH Azur, a relatively old mare at 16 years. The pair had won the Tourmaline Oil Cup two days prior. Pleased with her performance, Ward spoke tenderly of his partner of eight years.
“She’s given so much and just keeps giving. She’s a warrior. She’s a queen.”
“Hard business. Hard sport. It’s not so easy.”
Former German show jumper Lars Nieberg was at Spruce Meadows coaching his son. He captures the highs and lows of show jumping while remembering his last visit to Spruce Meadows nine years ago - and the accident that kept him from the Grand Prix.
“That year we won the Nation’s Cup and in the prizegiving ceremony I threw my flowers to the public. My horse spooked, I fell off and broke my collarbone. I can’t ride in the Grand Prix the next day,” he recollected with a laugh.
His son Gerrit Nieberg, who won the Rolex Aachen Grand Prix in July, would have earned a 500,000 Euro bonus had he won a second Rolex Major. He finished fifth with Ben 431, his impressive Westphalian gelding.
Asked if he had always dreamed his son would follow in his bootsteps, Nieberg’s answer was surprising, given his considerable success in the sport.
“Not really," he said, voice thick with emotion. He paused, gazing into the international ring where the Grand Prix is being staged. “It’s a hard life. Hard business. Hard sport. It’s not so easy.”
Perhaps he was thinking about his great horse For Pleasure, who had been given to another rider at the peak of their successes together in the late-nineties. An official at Spruce Meadows reflected on the painful realities of the sport, where the top riders seldom own their own horses: “They’re all just contractors.”
Gerrit Nieberg watching some rounds at Spruce Meadows. Julie Claire Ma.
Eric Lamaze, September 2022. Rolex/Ashley Neuhof.
Eric Lamaze, Olympic gold medalist and Canadian team chef d’equipe, has a seasoned approach to the sport’s rollercoaster.
“I always say to my students: when you win don’t go too high because when you lose you’re going to go too low. Be happy a little, celebrate, but don’t go too high - be humble. When the bad comes, it’s not so bad. I ask them to stay grounded.”
Briton Matthew Sampson was spotted wiping a tear as he rode out of the ring after being unable to complete his first round in the CP International. Just one day before he had been shedding tears of joy after placing first in the $75, 000 Suncor Winning Round.
World number one Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, who was favored to win the Grand Prix after winning the World Championships in Herning, Denmark a month prior, ended up in the 13th spot with gelding King Edward. Von Eckermann has a career total of 2768 starts, and 123 wins – such are the statistics of show jumping.
Team Sweden. Spruce Meadows Media/Mike Sturk.
Von Eckermann did not leave empty handed despite being eliminated for going off course during Saturday’s Nations Cup. With the combined efforts of teammates Jens and Peder Fredricson, and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson – who have been riding together at the same riding club since they were children - the Swedish team took the Nation’s Cup. Chef d’equipe Henrik Ankarcrona calls this moment “the golden age of showjumping in Sweden."
At the championship Grand Prix level, the sport feels pure: a small, intimate group of people who devote almost every waking hour of every day to horses - riding them, training them, thinking about them.
“You win together with your horse,” says Lamaze. “A top rider is a good horseman - understands horses, knows the management of horses, knows how to use his horse, how many shows to do in a year, what level every horse should jump, and when they should rest.”
“Resilience is the word. Because even if you are number one, you lose way more than you win.”
Kent Farrington (left) and Eduardo Menezes, September 2021. Julie Claire Ma.
Most top riders are in their thirties, forties and beyond, only hitting their peak after a few decades of experience.
American rider Kent Farrington explains, “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 if you enjoy the process of working with horses, you’re willing to keep coming back and try to be better.” Farrington and his speed horse Creedance won the $40,000 ATCO Cup on September 8 2022, the opening day of the tournament.
Eduardo Menezes, who rides for Brazil, elaborates further. “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.”
Steve Guerdat at his home and stable in Switzerland. Rolex/Ashley Neuhof.
“When you have one horse, you have one problem. When you have fifteen horses, fifteen problems.”
Guerdat, who gives each Rolex watch he wins to grooms, family, and friends, is realistic about a life with horses. “When you have one horse, you have one problem. When you have fifteen horses, fifteen problems.”
“But we are one big family - of course with my daughter and my wife, but also with our horses.”
Deusser concurs. “A life with horses is our passion, our love, our profession. We are very, very lucky we can work with animals like that.”
“I don’t think I’d be here today without horses,” says Lamaze, who retired from competitive show jumping this year due to brain cancer. “Everyone will have their own story with horses, but I know horses have helped many people.”
“Everyone will have their own story with horses, but I know horses have helped many people.”
“You really have to love it to do it because it’s all-encompassing,” says Amy Millar, daughter of Canadian Ian Millar and one of only two women competing in the Grand Prix.
Darry Lou behind the clock tower of the International Ring. Julie Claire Ma.
The great female American rider Beezie Madden won the Grand Prix in 2019 with Darry Lou, a fan favourite due to his “pony hunter” good looks. Darry Lou is now owned by Nayel Nassar and Jennifer Gates and placed eighth with Dutch rider Harrie Smolders. Madden was noticeably absent from the Master’s tournament.
As show jumping increases in popularity in Canada, Spruce Meadows has responded by increasing their price of admission to around twenty dollars a day. For years departed founder, Ron Southern, was famous for his generosity in capping admission at five dollars a day.
"It costs five bucks for as many people as you can cram into your station wagon," Southern once said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "And if you don't have five bucks, I'll look the other way and you can jump the fence."
The iconoclastic spirit of Spruce Meadows lives on in its generous approach to ticketing. It’s still mostly an honor system. Signs posted at the gates of Spruce Meadows ask fans to purchase tickets online, nobody is checking.
*Not for reproduction. This is not a press release.