Breed | Irish Sport Horse |
---|---|
Sex | Gelding |
Foaled | 2004 |
Owner | HND Group |
Trainer | Phillip Dutton |
Major wins | |
Individual bronze in eventing in 2016 Olympic Games |
Mighty Nice is an Irish Sport Horse gelding ridden in the sport of eventing by Phillip Dutton. Dutton and Mighty Nice won a bronze medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Irish Sport Horse is an Irish breed of warmblood sporting horse, used mostly for dressage, eventing and show-jumping. It was bred from 1923 by cross-breeding of Irish Draught and Thoroughbred stock. There was some limited intromission of Hanoverian, Selle Français and Trakehner blood in the 1990s. It is a recognised true breed – foals may only be registered in the main section of the stud-book if both parents are registered in that section.
Eventing is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other combinations across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test that required mastery of several types of riding. The competition may be run as a one-day event (ODE), where all three events are completed in one day or a three-day event (3DE), which is more commonly now run over four days, with dressage on the first two days, followed by cross-country the next day and then show jumping in reverse order on the final day. Eventing was previously known as Combined Training, and the name persists in many smaller organizations. The term "Combined Training" is sometimes confused with the term "Combined Test", which refers to a combination of just two of the phases, most commonly dressage and show jumping.
Phillip Peter Dutton, OAM is an Australian-born Olympic-level equestrian rider competing in eventing for the United States of America. He is a dual Olympic gold medalist who formerly competed for his country of birth but now competes for the USA.
Mighty Nice is an Irish Sport Horse gelding foaled in 2004. [1] [2] He is owned by HND Group and ridden by Australian-born equestrian Phillip Dutton, who competes for the United States. Dutton and Mighty Nice won a bronze individual medal in eventing during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [1]
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine, such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally-driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday working animal. The gerund and participle "gelding" and the infinitive "to geld" refer to the castration procedure itself.
A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is nursing from its dam (mother), it may also be called a "suckling". After it has been weaned from its dam, it may be called a "weanling". When a mare is pregnant, she is said to be "in foal". When the mare gives birth, she is "foaling", and the impending birth is usually stated as "to foal". A newborn horse is "foaled".
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.
Karen Lende O'Connor is an American equestrian who competes in three day eventing. Although she did not come from a family of equestrians, her interest in horses started at an early age, and she received her first horse for her 11th birthday. O'Connor began competing internationally in the late 1970s, and in 1986 began riding for the US national eventing team. Since then, she had ridden in five Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games and two Pan-American Games, winning multiple medals, including a team silver at the 1996 Olympic Games and a team bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games. She has also posted numerous wins and top-10 finishes at other international events. As of 2013, O'Connor is not competing, having suffered fractures to two thoracic vertebrae during a fall at a competition in October 2012.
Rodrigo Pessoa is a Brazilian equestrian and show jumper. An Olympic gold-medalist in individual jumping, he is an accomplished rider backed by his 70 Grand Prix wins. He has represented Brazil at six Olympic Games. Rodrigo has just been announced by Horse Sport Ireland as the new Irish showjumping team manager.
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.
Isabell Werth is a German equestrian and world champion in dressage who competed in the Olympics five times winning ten medals, six of them gold. She holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by any equestrian athlete.
Marco Kutscher is a German equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping.
Kristina "Tina" Cook, is a British three-day eventing rider. She is the 2009 European Champion and a three-time Olympic medallist, winning individual and team bronze medals in 2008 and team silver in 2012. She has also won two World team golds and four European team golds.
Frank Ostholt is a German eventing rider. With his horse Mr. Medicott, he won a gold medal in team eventing at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is married to Swedish equestrian Sara Algotsson Ostholt.
Steve Guerdat is a Swiss Olympic-level equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping.
Carl Hester, is a British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 8 August 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) rank him 12th in the world riding Uthopia.
Nicola Wilson is a British equestrian rider specialising in three-day eventing. Riding Opposition Buzz, she won a team gold at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games and team silver at the 2012 Olympic Games. She is also a five-time medallist at the European Championships, including team golds in 2009 and 2017, and individual bronze in 2017.
Sam Griffiths is an Australian Eventing rider from Pearcedale in Victoria. 2017 saw him as the Ambassador to the Mitsubishi Motors Adelaide International Horse Trials. 4th individually at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and part of the Bronze medal winning team. He won the 2014 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials riding Paulank Brockagh who he later went on to ride in the FEI World Equestrian Games. Winner of the 2014 Event Rider of the Year L'Année Hippique Awards. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the Individual and Team eventing, but fell during the cross-country event and did not finish. He was originally selected as the second reserve rider, but entered the team when two other Australian horses were unable to compete. Now based in the UK competing himself and training other riders
Jonelle Price is a New Zealand equestrian. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she won the bronze medal in Team eventing. In 2018, she won the Badminton Horse Trials in England. and also won the Luhmuhlen Horse Trials on Maggie in 2018.
Caroline Powell is a New Zealand equestrian. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she won the bronze medal in Team eventing. She was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand and lives in Suffolk, East Anglia.
Sandra Auffarth is a German equestrian.
Michael Jung is a German equestrian who competes in eventing. 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.
Valegro is a gelding ridden by the British equestrian Charlotte Dujardin in the sport of dressage. He stands 16.2hh and has the stable name of Blueberry. He is a double World Champion in Dressage, he won Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle at the World Equestrian Games in 2014.
McKinlaigh is an Irish Sport Horse who competes internationally in the sport of eventing for the United States. With rider Gina Miles, he won team gold in the 2007 Pan American Games, and individual silver in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Astier Nicolas is a French equestrian. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he won the gold medal in the team eventing and the silver in the individual eventing.