Horse trainer Jimmy Wood
Thanksgiving
Grandchildren --
Papers Came Sunday
With the Milk.
-- C.A. MacConnell
Jimmy was my first horse trainer. There's a lot of waiting when you're a horse trainer. Ha, Jimmy was so incredibly chill.
Speaking of horse trainers, recently I saw the movie, Harry and Snowman, which was a film about Harry De Leyer, a famous horse rider who went down in the history books when he won Madison Square Gardens' National Horse Show two years in a row aboard Snowman (among many, many other victories, including the showjumping Triple Crown). Check out this article...it's amazing.
What was incredible about Snowman was that Harry bought him for 80 bucks at an auction. Now, for those of you who don't know, "auction" usually means it's the horse's last stop. Unless the horse is sold, they're often sent to the killers. So more than likely, Harry saved this horse's life.
And Snowman seemed to realize this.
So here's what happened. Well, Harry soon sold Snowman to a friend who had a farm six miles away, but then Snowman jumped out of his new owner's field...not one...not two...but three times and made the six mile trek back to Harry's farm. So Harry bought him back, vowed to never sell him again, and Snowman ended up turning into a star show jumper. This horse soon became one of the most amazing jumpers in equine history.
Now, the reason I'm telling this story is because while I was watching the film, I was listening to Harry's voice, and I thought, Man, that sounds familiar. It wasn't his face that struck me. It was his voice. And then when I saw some shots of his farm in Charlottesville, I realized that back in 1993, I took a trip to his farm, and I took a lesson from him. So it makes sense that I recognized his voice, because while I rode that day, Harry called out instructions. My buddy rode at his farm, and she had invited me along.
At the time, not knowing who he was, I thought, Wow, this trainer's kinda wild. He set the jumps really high, and it was so much fun, but also kind of scary. I was glad Harry gave me a good horse -- a chestnut, if I recall.
So while I was sitting there watching the movie, all of this dawned on me, and I thought, My god, I had a lesson with a legend, and I didn't even know it. They used to call him the "galloping grandpa" because he competed so late in life (and successfully, I might add). In his eighties now, he still rides every day.
Never know who you might run into in this life. We all have such incredible histories and stories.
C.A. MacConnell
