The 11-year-old Westphalian gelding was produced through the USEF Young Horse and Developing Horse Program by Jason Canton. He was the 2007 6-year-old Champion at the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Championships and was then third in 2009 at the Developing Horse Championships. Now ridden by Cesar Parra, who until 2010 represented his native Colombia, is making his first U.S. Team appearance.

Jenny Mandracia has worked for Cesar since 2002 but she is also making her first U.S. Team appearance. She loves her job and the horses she gets to look after. She took some time out yesterday to talk about Grandioso… or ‘Grandi’ as he is known to his friends.

“He’s a very big kid,” said Mandracia. “He doesn’t change at all when he comes to a competition. I don’t ride him, I just groom him but we do a lot of hand walking and grazing in the afternoons. We spend a lot of time together. He’s like a big gentle giant. He’s really, really sweet. I am thankful that he doesn’t know his strength.”

He arrived at Piaffe Performance two years ago and has coninued to come into his own after all of his success as a young horse.

“I think his personality has come out a lot,” said Mandracia. “In the beginning we didn’t know him that well and he was quite big and quite intimidating. But after working with him and getting to know him, his personality started coming out.”

Grandi and Jenny 

Grandioso likes carrots and peppermints just fine but his first love is Gatorade.

“He loves his Gatorade,” said Mandracia. “After he rides he has to have his Gatorade. When we first got him he was on Tropical Punch Gatorade but it makes his mouth pink so we switched him over to Lemon Lime, but he has to have it. He insists on it after he’s done being ridden. He wants to go back to the barn, when you’re walking him around, he knows where the exit is and the first thing he wants is his Gatorade.”

He came with his affinity for the drink, which began as a replacement for electrolytes in his feed.

“When we got him from Jason, he wouldn’t eat any supplements in his grain so they started him on Gatorade to give him electrolytes and since I’ve had him he’s started eating electrolytes but it’s a little quirk,” said Mandracia. “I’ve decided if it makes him happy why stop it - it’s good for him. Sometimes he doesn’t know his size or how big he is but I am pretty small. Other than that there’s nothing bad about him. They all have their good days and their bad days.”
 
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