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Kilkenny | |
---|---|
Breed | Irish Sport Horse |
Dam | Laughter |
Maternal grandsire | Sandeman |
Sex | 17.0hh Gelding |
Foaled | 1957 in Ireland |
Country | United States and Ireland |
Colour | Bay with a small star |
Breeder | William Dempsey |
Owner | Dorothea B. Wofford |
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Equestrian | ||
Olympic Games | ||
1968 Mexico City | Team 3-Day Event | |
1972 Munich | Team 3-Day Event | |
World Championships | ||
1966 Burghley | Team eventing | |
1970 Punchtown | Team eventing | |
Pan American Games | ||
1967 Winnipeg | Team eventing |
Kilkenny was a horse that competed in the sport of eventing.
Kilkenny was named after the area in which he was bred – County Kilkenny, Ireland. His breeder was William Dempsey of Ballyhale. Kilkenny was first ridden by an Irish rider, Tommy Brennan, with whom he competed at the 1964 Badminton Horse Trials and in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In 1965, he turned briefly to show jumping, becoming a member of the Irish Show Jumping Team and competing at the Rotterdam CSI, jumping 6'7" in a puissance class. He was ridden again in the 1966 Badminton Horse Trials and then at the 1966 Eventing World Championship at Burghley, where he won team gold. Wofford saw the horse running at the World Championships and was impressed by his bravery. His mother purchased Kilkenny that winter, and gave Wofford the ride.
Under Wofford, Kilkenny continued to have great success, first winning the 1967 USET Nationals, before earning the team gold at the Pan-American Games and finishing 4th individually. In 1968, the pair competed at Badminton for a third time, placing 13th. A few months later they finished 8th at the Canadian Championships, before shipping off to the 1968 Olympics.
The Olympics was a success, earning a team silver medal for the Americans. However, a broken caulk in the show jumping resulted in a fall, and disappointedly dropped the pair from second individually down to sixth.
The pair continued finishing well, placing 3rd at the 1969 USET Championships, and winning the bronze medal at the 1970 World Championships in Puncheston. In 1971, Kilkenny finished third at the Canadian Championships, and finished his competitive career at the 1972 Olympic Games, with a team silver medal.
Following his third Olympics, Kilkenny was retired at Ledyard, and carried Wofford out fox hunting for 6 years.
Cian O'Connor is an Irish equestrian who competes in show jumping. He has competed at three Olympic Games, four World Championships and six European Championships, and has attained 133 senior caps for his country. He placed first at the 2004 Olympics, but his horse was later discovered to have a banned substance in its system, and O'Connor was stripped of the gold medal. He won an individual bronze medal at the London Olympic Games 2012 and was a member of the Irish team that took a gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2017. O’Connor also won a bronze individual medal at the latter event. At the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Cian and his Irish-bred mount Susan Magnier’s Irish bred Kilkenny finished seventh in the individual class.
Equestrian competitions at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico featured team and individual competitions in show jumping, eventing, and dressage. Mexico City proved a challenging site since it was 2,300 meters above sea level, resulting in 30% less oxygen in the air. The horses at the 1955 Pan American Games, which was also held in Mexico City, arrived a few weeks before the Games to adjust, but had difficulty in the competition. However, racehorses that competed at the same location and who were shipped in the day before, and left the day after the race, performed fine. It was discovered that although horses would adjust immediately to the high altitude during the first few days after arrival, they showed weakness and decreased performance around Day 10, which continued to Day 20. Therefore, nations were advised to ship in horses 3–4 weeks before the competition, which would allow them time to recover from the long travel, as well as adjust to the difference in altitude. Argentina, Ireland, and the USSR were the first to ship horses over, who arrived mid-September. France and Germany were the last countries to send their horses, who arrived 28 September 20 days before the competition was to start.
Winsome Andante was an English imported crossbred eventer who competed successfully to the highest levels of the sport of eventing. His rider, Kimberly Severson, rode him in many well-known events, and he won the Rolex CCI**** a record three times. He also competed at the Burghley Horse Trials, as well as in the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games.
Giltedge was a 17 hands Irish Sport Horse that was ridden by American David O'Connor at the international level in the sport of eventing.
JJ Babu was a Thoroughbred gelding that excelled in the sport of eventing, under American rider Bruce Davidson.
Priceless was a horse ridden by British rider Virginia Leng. She competed the gelding in the sport of eventing. Priceless won four team gold medals for Britain, as well as the Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley Horse Trials.
Custom Made was an Irish Sport Horse standing 17.1 hands who was ridden by American David O'Connor at the international level in the sport of eventing.
Bruce Oram Davidson is an American equestrian who competes in the sport of eventing. He grew up in a family uninterested in horses, but began to compete in Pony Club events after a family friend introduced him to riding. He began college at Iowa State University, but left in his third year to train full-time with the United States Equestrian Team. In 1974, he married, and his two children were born in 1976 and 1977. His son, Bruce Davidson Jr., has followed in his footsteps to become a top eventing rider.
The Grasshopper was a horse that competed in the sport of eventing, and is most notable for being one of only five horses to have competed in six or more CCIOs. He stood 15.1 hands high.
James Cunningham Wofford was an American equestrian who competed in many international competitions in the sport of eventing. He was most known as a trainer of both horses and riders, and as a retired president of the AHSA and vice-president of the USET.
Tamarillo was an Anglo-Arab gelding that excelled in the sport of eventing under rider William Fox-Pitt.
Nicholas David Skelton is a British former equestrian who competed in show jumping. He retired at the age of 59 years old, on 5 April 2017. He began riding at age 18 months and in 1975 took two team silvers and an individual gold at the Junior European Championships.
Royal Kaliber was a Dutch Warmblood stallion that competed at the Grand Prix level of show jumping, and was part of the United States Show Jumping Team at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Lucinda Fredericks is an equestrian athlete who competes in eventing. Having formerly competed for Great Britain, she now represents Australia. Riding Headley Britannia, she has won three CCI 4* events; winning Burghley in 2006, Badminton in 2007 and Rolex Kentucky in 2009. She won an Olympic silver medal in the team event at Beijing 2008, and also competed at the 2012 London Olympics.
Leslie Burr-Howard is an American equestrian and an Olympic champion in showjumping. She won team gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and team silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as team silver at the 1999 Winnipeg Pan American Games.
Jack Louis Joseph Marie Le Goff was a French equestrian, best known as the coach of the American three-day eventing team from 1970 to 1984. He coached the team to multiple international championships, winning 18 international medals, including several in the Olympics. Le Goff is known for having a large impact on the American eventing world, and the era in which he coached has been called the golden era for American equestrianism.
Jonathan "Jock" Paget is a New Zealand equestrian who won a bronze medal in Team eventing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2013 he became only the second rider to win the Badminton Horse Trials on debut after fellow New Zealander Mark Todd.
Michael Jung is a German equestrian who competes in eventing and show jumping. A three-time Olympic gold medallist, he won individual and team gold at the 2012 London Olympics, followed by individual gold and team silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was inducted into the Eventing Rider Association Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2016 he became only the second rider in history to win the Grand Slam of Eventing.
Thomas "Tommy" Brennan was an Irish equestrian who was successful both in jumping and eventing. He competed at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics in the mixed three-day event, individually and with the Irish team, with the best result of fourth place in the team competition in 1964. He was part of the Irish team that won the gold medal at the 1966 Eventing World Championship. Between 1964 and 1966 Brennan rode Kilkenny, who was later sold to James C. Wofford and won two silver Olympic medals. Brennan also worked with Ambassador, who was sold to Graziano Mancinelli and won an Olympic gold.
HH Azur is a horse ridden by McLain Ward. The duo competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016 and earned 9th place individually as well as earning a team silver medal. The pair also went on to win the 2017 Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final and have won many other notable classes.