Was in a conversation earlier today and I couldn’t for the life of me remember the name of one of the big eq horses from the early 90s. I THINK Allison Firestone rode a paint horse in the '94 finals - I remember Lauren Hough swapped onto the horse for the test at Harrisburg that year. Was that Scout?
If so, does anyone know his breeding?
Thanks!
Probably Scout. He was a good horse. His USEF record lists him as an Irish bred with sire and dam unknown.
Scout and Leslie (Burr) Howard also won the special event equitation class held in Wellington in that era for past finals winners, after she won the Maclay finals in her youth on a pinto.
And she wore the same pair of brown boots both times!
I wasn’t part of the horse world during this era, but how cool that a pinto of unknown breeding could be a winning Big Eq horse and that riders could actually wear brown boots in competition!
I didn’t know he was Irish-bred. That was a great horse.
@soloudinhere Yes, it was Scout- I was certain it was from the year but I double-checked bigeq.com because they have the 1994 results.
I’m not sure if his breeding was actually “unknown” to the people who had him. They may have just not bothered to submit it when they recorded him with USEF, especially in that era. And especially for an equitation horse. But either way, it certainly did not stop him from being a superstar.
Technically, you can still wear brown boots to this day. But not many people do it. I can think of one person off the top my head in the last 10 years or so.
After a very successful career with multiple riders, I believe Scout ended up with the Lindners, who eventually retired him. I think I remember seeing him turned out in their paddocks near the horse show in Wellington.
And in more recent times, there’s been Sunman, another lovely, flashy equitation horse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3RbZw9yBNY
Lord knows I hate an armchair quarterback, but what is going on with that rider’s position that their legs are ending up on the horse’s shoulders after the jump? The 1994 video shows a much more stable lower leg for at least the first rider, am watching further now.
O. M. G. What a fun, fantastic flashback. Many familiar faces, both horses and riders. Thanks for posting it!
I do feel as if it would be a nice thing for the record books to designate when they changed horses for the test. That way the horses who won for a different rider would get the credit. 
It’s interesting how much longer the riders’ legs appear in those less padded, more minimalist saddles (and it also appears the riders were riding with a slightly longer stirrup than seems common today). Also interesting to see the different appearance of all of the horses. Scout is very cute!
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