My Favorite Equestrians
- Monika L Haskell
- Sep 6, 2017
- 3 min read
Kent Farrington
Currently, Kent Farrington is the top jumper in the world.
When Kent was a young boy he saw an image of his mom riding a horse and decided to try it out for himself. He instantly loved it. He began taking weekly lessons at a carriage barn in downtown Chicago. He went from riding carriage horses to racing ponies to retraining ex-racehorses.
Kent then moved onto what is known as catch-riding. This is when you are hired to ride a horse in a show without any previous experience with that horse. You may only have a very limited amount of time right before the show to warm up and take a few practice jumps with the horse. For instance, at a show, some owners may hear via word of mouth that there is a catch rider that is well known for winning. The owner may proceed then to ask that rider to show their horse in hopes of a win. The catch rider may or may not be paid.
Through Kent’s catch riding he became a very accomplished young rider, winning the Washington International Equitation Medal as well as the coveted Eiser/Pessoa National Equitation Medal Finals. Kent solidified his presence int he sport when he claimed the gold medal at the 1999 North American Young Riders International Competition at the age of 18.
Kent turned professional in show jumping in 1999 when he accepted a job with the four-time British Olympian Tim Grubb and then two years later started working with two-time US Olympian Leslie Howard. In his first three years as a professional, Kent earned over $1 million in prize money and received the Maxine beard Award - presented to an individual American rider that best displays true potential to represent the US on the international stage.
Between May of 2011 and April of 2017 Kent has competed in 98 major jumping competitions (excluding qualifying rounds) placing first in 95 of the 98 competitions that he has competed in in that past 7 years. That is on average 14 major competitions per year. One of the times he did not place 1st was at the World Equestrian Games in 2014 where the US Jumping Team placed 3rd after France (2nd) and the Netherlands (1st).
What a freaking beast!
Kaley Cuoco
Many of you know her as Penny from The Big Bang Theory. However, when Kaley isn’t playing the fun-loving, hostess she is competing in the Jumper arena. She had been riding since she was 15 and has at least 5 of her own horses that she competes with. She mentioned in an Instagram post that by having so many horses she is able to give them (much deserved) months off at a time from the show ring. Kaley is an outstanding equestrienne, who has a huge heart for horses, dogs and other animals. She a is a proponent for the “Adopt Don’t Shop” campaign that asks future dog owners to consider adopting dogs that need to be re-homed versus paying top dollar for a dog from abusive and unsafe puppy mills.
Something that you may not know about Kaley is that during a riding lesson Kaley fell off her horse and got trampled under hoof when her horse panicked. Kaley was left lying on the ground in helpless agony, her ankle snapped and her foot literally hanging off. Kaley explains the accident, "At the end of the lesson, my horse spooked, and I wasn't really expecting it, and I fell off. I was laughing and my trainer was laughing. It was all very silly. I was getting up, and my horse was still kind of spooked... I think he was trying to get away from me and leaped over me and landed on my leg. I heard the crackling [and] I thought he landed on leaves—but that was my bones. "I'm not feeling anything, and then I looked. And I was like, 'Wow, my foot is facing me. That's not normal!' In 2010, on the Ellen Degeneres show, Kaley describes the hospital trip, 'I'm hysterical and the doctor comes in... and says, "OK, gotta go over your options; one (of) them is amputation." All I'm thinking is, "I'm gonna have to call work and tell them I only have one foot.” She prepared herself before surgery to come out of the operating room with only one foot, but fortunately the doctors were able to save her foot after two surgeries. She now has metal bars in place of the bones that were crushed under her horse’s hooves.
She didn’t ride again for four whole years.
Her boyfriend, Karl Cook, is a Grand Prix level jumper.
Happy Riding!
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