What is your favorite "Woffordism?"

I wish there was a like button for some of these :). Here’s mine; “Your first horse? Fantastic. Second horse? Monday morning. My ring. 7am.” Jimmy had my back :).

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Paraphrasing…

You had two chances, Slim and None, and Slim just left the building.

Your horse stopped like a fat lady at a doughnut shop. (The subject of some angry letter writing to PH, but I thought it was funny.)

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With Video even!

I have been blessed to have worked with Jimmy off and on for a long time. But this moment was a rarity. In March 2008 I finally got one in on Woff…

See video… http://www.youtube.com/user/Xctrygirl?feature=mhum#p/u/13/Dp-hrLNjjpc

Go to time code: 2:30

Watch as I jump the in and out… Jimmy walks over to the second fence and swaps out a red hankerchief that he had laid on the rail to get my eyes back down from the rafters. He swaps it out as I am cantering away with a tube of chap stick.

And so he asks me… You saw the chapstick that time, right?"

I say yep.

He says “Chapstick or Hankerchief?”

And I say

"Well it was a hankerchief, but you replaced it with the chapstick afterwards. I saw it in the (arena) mirrors… But yes, I saw both. :slight_smile: "

He laughs and says

“You’ve done too many clinics you’ve got to go to somebody else.”

Thats gonna be a fond memory for a while!!!

But of his oft quoted expressions…

“Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.”

~Emily

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oh so many to choose from!

“I knew you weren’t going to be perfect today when I got in my car to come here.”

“Ride the horse you have today.”

“I saw that. Don’t think I didn’t see that just because I’m standing behind you with my back turned.”

“Amazing. You accidentally put your leg on at just the right moment and your horse didn’t barf over the jump.”

“Gerbil brain.”

“Oh, I could have a party all day long because you jumped that so well, but you just missed your next fence!”

Tagging along on his Fair Hill 3* course walk several years ago, we arrive at the coffin, and Jim says to the riders… “Now, here you have options: Jump it or die.”

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After making a stupid mistake… twice.
“Even white rats learn”.

“It’s simple, but not easy.”

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He came for a clinic at one of the desert-like areas in the province, and all the horses and riders were dealing reasonably with the heat - we did not feel we could dare complain about it in front of the great Wofford! On a break I heard him say into his cell-phone, “it’s hotter than Hades here…” Made me feel better anyway!

“Even a cow can jump 4 feet.”

Gets me over any worry I have about any xc jump. Well at least for now, I just moved up to novice. lol

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I can’t believe no one has mentioned this one yet!

“You can’t fix stupid.”

Lucky you. And thank you for posting the video. Another one that wants a nice pat for a job well done. Like him, would love to ride with him!

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Jimmy’s great!! Always says it like it is! I had the pleasure of meeting him years ago at Bealieu.

I remember he said something at one of the Rolex’s talking about grease-something to the extent of -if you’re greasing your horse up in hopes that if he leaves a leg he’ll slide over, than you might as well leave him at home as he’s probably not a good jumper (can’t remember the exact quote but something along those lines.)
Might eat my words but would love to work with him in the future :wink:

My favourite quote is from his book, something to the effect of, ‘Pick a horse whose head you will enjoy seeing over the stall door every morning. That is the kind of horse you won’t mind making excuses for.’

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I have two after riding with him in a clinic this fall.

On stadium day, for once in my life when I got to a fence funny, I managed to keep my shoulders back, put my leg on and wait. It all worked out and my horse, the saint that he is, did a little footwork and put in a super nice back cracking jump. After I stopped, Jim told me that his work for the day was done and for me to go home because he couldn’t teach me anything else. That is a pretty proud moment. Especially since I struggle with nerves riding in front of someone new in stadium.

The second day, several people in my group were having a problem with a ditch and brush fence. Jim finally got tired and told everyone that down by the jump at the bottom was a “No Whine Zone” and to hush and ride. I about fell off my horse laughing at that one!!!

Bobbi

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Bumping this up in light of Jimmy Wofford’s recent passing.

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“I’m not laughing with you. I am laughing at you.”

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