To get a glimpse at the future of eventing, look toward Le Lion d’Angers, France, each October. The FEI World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) Eventing World Championship for Young Horses was established in 2000 to spotlight the connection between good breeding and achievement in the sport. Qualified entries at the CCI2* level for 6-year-old horses and CCI3* for 7-year-old horses represent their countries and provide a preview of the next generation of high-performance equine athletes.
For the 2024 championship, the U.S. was represented by a total of six combinations—three in each of the two divisions. Hallie Coon (Ocala, Fla.) brought two of the American 6-year-old horses: Boleybawn Oliva (Jorado x C-Jumps), her own 2018 Irish Sport Horse mare, and Lux Like Love (Je T’Aime Flamenco x Lux San), a 2018 Irish Sport Horse mare she co-owns with Jessica O’Driscoll.
“I bought Boleybawn Oliva about 11 months ago. She was bred and produced up to that point in Ireland, and is just a really big, bold sort of galloping machine of a horse,” said Coon. “She was a bit weak in her jumping and dressage when I got her, so I’ve just sort of given her the time to grow and be a horse for a little bit, and she’s really come into her own. She’s got all the pieces, and we’re mega excited about her for next year.”
Boleybawn Oliva, nicknamed “Apple,” completed with an impressive result at Le Lion. With a dressage score of 30.5 and only 3.2 cross-country time penalties added to it, the pair finished in fifth place out of 45 starters. Coon is based at Katherine Coleman’s yard in the UK, and she has been able to build Apple’s experience during their time together by traveling to events in Europe.
“Apple was able to travel to Kronenberg (NED) in the spring, which she won [the CCI2*-S], and then Arville (BEL) again in August, which she did very well at,” said Coon. “She had those travel experiences under her belt. It’s funny how they grow up. At Arville, the cross-country was before the show jumping, so we show jumped on the last day. And she came out exhausted on the final day—she still jumped to clear around, but she was clearly a baby coping with all this stuff. It was all very new to her. So that was the horse that I expected on the final day at Lion but she came out fresh as a daisy and just so full of herself and jumped the best she ever has on the final day there. I think having those experiences and learning how to cope with that is such a huge part of their education.”
Lux Like Love picked up 20 jumping penalties and some time on cross-country, but had a good dressage test and a double-clear jumping round to complete the event in 27th place. Coon was encouraged by her performance in the big atmosphere at Le Lion.
“Lux Like Love belongs to a good friend of mine who sources a lot of my horses,” said Coon. “She’s a little bit less experienced than [Apple] and has seen a little bit less of the world. For what she’s done, we were very excited. She feels like a proper one for next year. I haven’t had her as long, and I haven’t been able to have the same experience with her, but she still managed to come out on the last day and jump a super clear round.”
Bringing along young horses is a rewarding part of the sport for Coon.
“I’ve never really had it any other way. I’ve produced most of my horses from the very start and built that partnership with them,” she said. “I really do enjoy the educational process of developing a horse and showing them the ropes and just bringing them along in a really stress-free way. Going to the young horse world championships might seem like a lot on their plate, but there is a way to do it in a very educational way and still be competitive. If you balance the education with the experience, then you’ve got it right, but it’s a very hard balance. You have to treat every single horse as an individual and recognize how much they can take and when you need to step back and give them a week in the pasture. It’s just about reading them, and it’s something that I really enjoy doing. I think it really benefits you later on in a horse’s career if you’ve known them since the very beginning.”
Coon intends to keep both of these young mares in her string with an eye toward the 7-year-old championship next year. For now, they will enjoy some well deserved downtime.
“They’re out in the field and very muddy and enjoying being horses. They’ll have a solid month off,” said Coon. “Next year I think both of them will be aimed at the 7-year-old championship. They’ve already gotten their two-star qualification through Le Lion this year, so they’ll go out and do a couple CCI3*-S and just get that experience under their belt and make sure they’re well prepared. The 7-year-old track at Le Lion is nearly a four-star track; it’s no joke. I really want these horses to be well prepared but still fresh in their minds and not over-competed. It’s a very fine line with them in terms of longevity and keeping their mental sanity and having them want to do the job.”
Fellow U.S. competitor Tommy Greengard (Malibu, Calif.) had his first Le Lion experience this year as he contested the 7-year-old division with That’s Me Z (Take a Chance on Me Z x Veneita), a 2017 Zangersheide gelding that he owns with Andrea Pfeiffer and has been working with since 2022.
“We jokingly say we bought him off a Facebook photo,” said Greengard. “Andrea and I both saw a photo of him independently, and then we were chatting the next morning and were like, ‘Did you see that horse? We have to have him!’ One thing led to another, and we pretty much bought him off that photo. We only got videos of him after he was well on his way towards coming to us.”
Greengard, who was named to the US Equestrian Eventing Emerging Program List for 2024, had never competed overseas before qualifying for this year’s young horse championships. Thanks in part to his good results with “Z” in the U.S., Greengard received the USET Foundation’s Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant for 2024 and the USEA Holekamp/Turner Grant, which includes The Dutta Corp. prize to assist with horse transportation from the U.S. to Europe.
“He did what would have been his second or third show ever at the West Coast Young Event Horse Finals where he really showcased himself quite well and became the frontrunner for the grant,” said Greengard. “At that point, Andrea and I, just quietly in the back of our heads, decided we would work toward that. He’s come along super well and kept ticking all the boxes. We thought that he was a horse that was suited to Le lion from everything we had been told about the show, and we were very much pleased that as a 7-year-old, he looked to be the right kind of horse to take. And he very much was.”
Greengard spent several months ahead of the championships overseas to gain international experience, operating out of Tim and Jonelle Price’s (NZL) yard in the United Kingdom.
“It was incredible,” Greengard said of his experience at the championship. “People from all walks of life over here in England had said what a lovely event it was, so we had pretty high expectations. When I was younger, I worked for Robin Fisher out in California, and she had a horse go to Le Lion, so I had some familiarity with the event from way back. It was kind of always a goal in the back of my head. And it completely exceeded every expectation. It’s beautifully put on and really well run.”
With an impressive 29.4 in the dressage and only some time from the cross-country and jumping phases, Greengard and Z finished in 16th place out of more than 60 starters.
“I think the thing that stood out to both Andrea and myself the most is that it’s such a well designed track for 7-year-olds,” said Greengard. “It’s very fair. It’s definitely hard enough, but they do such a good job making sure that it’s rideable. It’s there to be jumped, and it really does reward the horses that should be there. They come off that course feeling very confident.”
Greengard prepared Z for the electric atmosphere of Le Lion by taking him to big events in the States, including the American Eventing Championships in 2023 and the Galway Downs Preliminary Challenge in the spring of 2024.
“One of the highlights for us was just having this horse step into the ring and be so confident and sure of himself. He felt prepared to be there,” said Greengard. “We felt super good about the preparation he did, both in the states and in England. And it was really nice that what we expected in terms of how he would react to the horse show was what we got.”
For now, Z is “happily on holiday,” and Greengard is looking toward taking the step up to the Advanced level next season.
See all results from the 2024 FEI WBFSH Eventing World Championships for Young Horses