The Legendary Strapless

[Dewey]

I’m kind of surprised that no one has started a thread on this since the “throwback” article has been out for several days…or maybe someone did, and I missed it. If so, I apologize.

I had heard of Strapless, of course, but was never able to see her go. I enjoyed reading about her and seeing a good video of one of her big wins. Her jump is just as spectacular as legend would have it. I was very surprised by the amount of pace she carried…very different from what one typically sees in the top hunter classes today. But she sure is gorgeous and a pleasure to watch.

Throwback Thursday: When Strapless Galloped

[findeight]

She wasn’t the size of what you see today either, showed as a Small Junior, 15.3 and change. Before the days of monster horses crawling the lines…

[Sing_Mia_Song]

I remember seeing her for the first time with T Whitehead on her and being blown away.

[midstride]

I remember reading about her in the Chron (hardcopy!) and wanting to see in person. It was good to see the videos. beautiful mare. would love to see her foals.

I also remember everyone loving the name. It seemed like the start of the one word name trend.

[Hej]

What a gorgeous round.

Strapless is so engaged and uphill throughout that her rider doesn’t have to ‘catch’ herself upon landing after each fence to prevent falling on the neck, as is often seen these days. She carries her rider to the fence, over the fence, and away from the fence in perfect balance.

And, watch the opening circle and the turns! Again, softly uphill, round and fluidly bending between the jumps.

Lovely ride, lovely mare.

[vxf111]

She really had such a special canter. I have to remember that next time someone asks about a really good mover at the canter-- she was a beautiful mover all around but OMG that canter! You could jump the moon out of it!

[lmlacross]

I watched the junior hunters go at Lamplight the week before last and was stunned by how little pace they carried. Certainly, this crawling forces the horse into a spectacularly exaggerated jumping effort, but I just don’t get it. It looked thoroughly un-fun to me, and so very unlike the field hunters from which the show hunter divisions descended. I know this is old news to many, but it had been a solid decade since I’d watched 3’6" hunters go at an A show, and the pace has slowed considerably since last I watched.

Beautiful horses and riders to be sure, but the rounds lacked that brightness and energy that would have made them enjoyable to watch.

[greysfordays]

I found her jump to be absolutely dazzling. you really got the sense of her athleticism from the second you picked up her canter. And of course, I really love her pace too, it REALLY makes it clear that her rider is super accurate and not manage, manage, managing every tiny stride. It’s so bold and beautiful…

[BAC]

I made a special trip to the Metropolitan Horse Show in NYC on my lunch hour the first year it was held, in the hopes of getting to see her for the first time and it was memorable, she just amazed me with that jump. I hate the way today’s hunters crawl around the ring.

[Happyhooves]

Must have been fun to see her go. If everyone hates the ways hunters are so slow today, I wonder why judges keep rewarding it. Also wondering why judges keep rewarding perch-y riders in equitation. If pace in hunters and solid riders not perchers in equitation were rewarded, seems like things would change in a heartbeat.

[Capall]

I remember ‘back in the day’ when we’d talk about her here on COTH. I think I remember some people thinking her tail flip was a bit much, but I always saw it as her jumping with her whole self, nose to tippy tail! It was a bit of a shock to hear it’s been 10 years and we’re talking about her now like we talked about Rox Dene back then :lol:

[Dinah-do]

I am sure I read an article about her foals being ridden by Mandy Porter a few years ago. Only doing Baby green now? Or was I completely mixed up with some other mare.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I love her name! It’s so cheeky and it sounds like it fit her personality perfectly!

[babecakes]

[QUOTE=Happyhooves;8256502]
Must have been fun to see her go. If everyone hates the ways hunters are so slow today, I wonder why judges keep rewarding it. Also wondering why judges keep rewarding perch-y riders in equitation. If pace in hunters and solid riders not perchers in equitation were rewarded, seems like things would change in a heartbeat.[/QUOTE]

May…be because it’s like western pleasure and requires a trainer to keep the pros in business. And doesn’t require much rider talent, to win.

I sure wish some good people would just go out there and do it right and keep on doing it right. Someone needs to start the parade banging the drum.

Hard to believe that Strapless was only 15.3h and moved and jumped like that. Sure wish that’s the way they would breed them!

[vagabondrider]

What was her breeding? I couldn’t find it mentioned in any of the old articles posted. I remember watching her in the handy at Devon- and she was very handy!

[Dewey]

According to the All-Breed pedigree database (I don’t know how accurate that is), she was a Danish warmblood sired by Leandro. There’s no info about her dam.

[supershorty628]

[QUOTE=babecakes;8256798]
May…be because it’s like western pleasure and requires a trainer to keep the pros in business. And doesn’t require much rider talent, to win.

I sure wish some good people would just go out there and do it right and keep on doing it right. Someone needs to start the parade banging the drum.

Hard to believe that Strapless was only 15.3h and moved and jumped like that. Sure wish that’s the way they would breed them![/QUOTE]

Sigh… is it completely impossible to appreciate the past without bashing the present? :rolleyes:

I’ll be curious to see how Boundless does in coming years.

[Nickelodian]

FWIW 13 years ago this board was lamenting the exact same thing. The death of the open gallop, handy horses that had a PACE. The argument was just as tiring then as it is now.

There were horses that crawled in 2002, there are horses that crawl now. There were horses that carried an handy pace in 2002, and there is such a thing now as well.

[REH]

Strapless was awesome. She would be rewarded today the same as she was in her day.

I also think anyone commenting on the hunters crawling around today is comparing their average back yard rated shows against the “best in class” from yesteryear and that’s not a fair comparison. Kelley Farmer has won more hunter derbies than anyone else and that girl gallops at the jumps. You watch a good International Derby at a competitive show and there are plenty of horses on loose open strides, taking risks and flowing forward. Since the inception of the hunter derbies, many of the horses Larry and Kelley get for their derby mounts aren’t particularly big–they’re on the more average side and she gallops around on them and looks brilliant when it works…and that’s why she’s won so much. A WCHR hunter spectacular trip should be compared against Derby-type trips, not against your run of the mill hunter trips at your local A show. Because even for that time, that WCHR trip was going to be more open and more fluid, then Strapless’s trips in her average 3’6" division with her owner. You always get more pace and brilliance on the special courses.

[Darkwave]

[QUOTE=REH;8257410]
Kelley Farmer has won more hunter derbies than anyone else and that girl gallops at the jumps.[/QUOTE]

Beat me to it - was about to make this point. Not everyone crawls.

The one thing that I HAVEN’T seen recently (granted, most of my watching is via live feeds now) is the “slow/go/slow/go” of the 1990s - where you’d slow down for the turns and then pick up the pace (sometimes substantially) coming out of each turn. Pace seems a lot more consistent now.