Sneak preview of tomorrow’s story on 18-year-old Reed Kessler, the youngest member ever of the U.S. Equestrian Team and the youngest to ever compete in the Olympics in show jumping. And I do have a horse-racing reference with Michael Matz, the three-time Olympian now known as the trainer of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags.
Reed Kessler and Cylana at the Olympic observation trials at the Kentucky Horse Park this spring. Shawn McMillen Photography/USEF
Reed Kessler was approaching trying to make the U.S. Olympic team as a show jumper mainly as a good experience. After all, a few months before the trials in March, Kessler wasn’t old enough to attempt the 5-foot, 3-inch Olympic height, and her new horse was too fat to try.
But now both are on the U.S. Olympic team, headed to London and the show-jumping competition Aug. 4-8. At 10, the Belgium warmblood mare Cylana is at the age where jumpers start their prime, which can go well into their mid-teens. But Kessler is the youngest rider ever on the U.S. Equestrian Team, which also includes eventing and dressage, as well as the youngest Olympic show-jumper ever, according to the organization that oversees international equestrian sports.
“That’s the magic in this story, that the two of them would come together like that,” said Teri Kessler, Reed’s mom and who along with her husband Murray is an accomplished amateur show jumper.
Reed Kessler, who turned 18 on July 9, has been competing against older riders for most of her career. But on Jan. 1, she finally was eligible under equestrian sport regulations to show over jumps at the Olympic height. About the same time, Cylana – purchased last July in Switzerland – had gotten into shape. That shaped turned out to be what Reed Kessler calls “a monster.”
Katie Prudent – a world-class competitor who now coaches world-class competitors, including her god-daughter Reed – said the teen has all the right ingredients, being extremely focused and motivated as well as talented, and with parents who understand the sport and its demands intimately.
“Obviously she’s a very special girl… We talked about London four years ago; we’ve always talked about it,” Prudent said by phone from France. “She wanted to be an Olympian from the time she could ride, practically. And I always encouraged her to think big and said, ‘When you’re 18, London is your first Olympics and you can make it if you really work hard.’ And she did.
“… It is remarkable. But the horse also is remarkable. We were lucky to find the horse, and as she got into better and better physical shape, she became an Olympic mount that has the rare quality of being extremely easy to ride. Most Olympic horses have character and are strong in the mouth, different qualities that make them a little difficult to ride. This horse has not all the Olympic great qualities, but she’s as easy to ride as a small pony.”
Reed only competed once over the Olympic-size jumps with Cylana and once with her gelding Mika before the U.S. show-jumping trials, said her father, Murray Kessler, who this spring bought a farm in Lexington near the Kentucky Horse Park. Yet Reed and Cylana won the U.S. Olympic Selection Trials in late March in Wellington, Fla., with Reed also finishing third on Mika, the third reserve horse on the Olympic team.
“I went into it pretty humble, thinking, ‘This is going to be way bigger than anything do my best,’” Kessler, also speaking from France, said of the Olympic trials. “By the end of it, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I need to start planning.’
“They looked for the best four, and they chose us. I know that now and I’m going into it with the confidence that I’m on an amazing squad of horses and riders, and I earned my spot. And now that I’ve been chosen, we need to go and deliver a medal. I think we have a great chance.”
The next-youngest show jumper on the U.S. team is 36-year-old McLain Ward. The other team members are Beezie Madden, 48, and Rich Fellers, 52, with Ward and Madden the only riders on both of the U.S. Olympic gold-medal show jumping teams in 2004 and 2008.
To put Kessler’s age in perspective:
Michael Matz – now best known as the trainer of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and 2012 Belmont winner Union Rags – was 44 when leading the United States to the team silver in 1996, his final of three Olympics. Canadian star Ian Millar, who will set a world record by competing in his 10th Olympiad next month, made his Olympic debut in 1972 at age 25, medaling for the first time four years ago in Beijing at age 61 with the team silver.
“You don’t want to miss this, because it’s going to be great,” Karen O’Connor, who will compete in her fifth Olympics in eventing and at 54 is the entire U.S. delegation’s oldest athlete, said of Kessler competing. “This kid is going somewhere.”
Making Kessler’s ascent all the more stunning is the fact that she’d had Cylana only about eight months when the Olympic qualifying process started. When bought last July, Cylana was “really obese,” Teri Kessler said. “(But) the dealer is quite knowledgeable and smart. He said, ‘I see more in this horse.’”
Their first show together, Cyana’s weight left her exhausted and Reed said they hit rails every day.
“We were like, ‘Hmm. Not so sure about this,’” she said. “Then we took it slow the rest of the summer and fall. We didn’t show her much, just really worked on fitness. When we went to Florida (for the winter), she was a monster, completely different.
“… You tell her something one time and she knows it. All she wants to do is be in the ring. She hates being in the barn. She knows she’s a talent, and she wants to show everyone. She’s a businesswoman and doesn’t want to sit on the couch.”
The Kesslers and Prudent originally approached trying out for the Olympics as an excellent experience that would serve the young rider well down the road. But the mission quickly changed as Reed and Cylana were on top after the first day.
The Olympic trials also served as the $100,000 USEF National Show Jumping Championships, with Reed tying 53-year-old Margie Engle for the championship. Reed was the overall winner of the Olympic trials by virtue of having more clean rounds – a result that Chronicle of the Horse called one of the biggest upsets in show jumping history.
Even though they did so well in the Olympic trials and subsequent observation trials, it was not automatic that Reed and Cylana would be chosen. Upon getting the call earlier this month from U.S. Olympic show-jumping chef d’equipe George Morris that she’d made the team, Reed immediately tweeted the news and called it “without a doubt the greatest day of my life!!!!”
Matz, a six-time U.S. national champion who was 21 when he competed for the first time in the Olympics, said making the team at 18 is “a pretty amazing accomplishment.”
He believes it’s a great benefit to Kessler that she’s been teamed with such veterans, saying that even with extensive showing in Europe, “It’s still not the same thing as going into the Olympic stadium representing your country.”
He said his hope is that veteran influence will keep Kessler calm and not so susceptible to the overwhelming pressure.
“She’s got a great team,” agreed Prudent. “Rich, Beezie and McLain have nerves of steel, and I think she will feed off of them and be as good as she can be. I’m totally confident that she will not crack under pressure in any way. And I’m very confident in the horse, also. She’s turned out to be this miracle horse that also has nerves of steel and walks in, any day or night, any condition, and just does her job without looking left or right, without trying to put a foot out of place.”
Prudent said the top international riders “usually have a lot of ups and downs, good experiences and bad experiences,” adding, “Reed has never had a bad experience. That’s still in her future – and I hope it comes after the Olympic Games. But she’s very confident and everything is just going up, up, up. Sometimes you have those magic moments in your life where everything is just going right.”
Reed hasn't yet experienced the downs of the sport. Photo courtesy Murray Kessler
Said John Long, president of the United States Equestrian Federation: “Reed rode consistently well through the selection process and given her competition, you can see that this is a remarkable talented young woman. With Beezie, McLain and Rich she adds so much to our team effort. She is incredibly mature, thoughtful and articulate. I think you can say she is just as impressive on the ground as she is in the saddle.”
Murray Kessler, who commutes from Lexington to Greensboro, N.C., for the work week as head of Lorillard Inc., calls the realization that his daughter is London-bound surreal.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “Teri and I look at each other and say, ‘Can you believe this?’”
But actually they can, sort of.
Murray Kessler said his family is wired for high expectations.
“We don’t say, ‘You better do this.’ Or, ‘you have to do this,’” he said. “But we don’t sit down and say, ‘It doesn’t matter. Just go out there and give it your best effort, and whatever happens, happens.’ That’s not in our family. I look at Reed and say, ‘You’re the best in the world. Even though you’re only now 17 years old, you will be the No. 1 world-ranked rider and you’re well on your way to doing that.’… From the time she was a little kid, Reed has always every time she steps into the ring expects to win.”
Reed was only months old when she was on her first pony, riding before she was walking, Teri said. Before her daughter was 2, Teri would put her stuffed animals hanging from tree branches to get Reed to learn to steer her horse in an effort to secure her toys. Reed can’t even remember when she went over her first jump, it was so long ago, but says never wanted to do anything else.
“When I started with the jumpers, I just had a real hunger to go fast,” she said. “The adrenaline of jumping big and going fast is amazing, and I live off that.
This is a photo of Reed competing - I think on Mika - that was sent to me by her parents.
“I’ve always been a few divisions ahead of most people my age, so it’s always been a little bit like that. So the age thing doesn’t shock me anymore. But yeah, obviously the Olympics is a whole ‘nother skill. I’m just honored to be in the same breath as Beezie and McLain and Rich. They’re veterans and so talented and decorated. To be on the same team as them is a huge honor, and I hope one day I’ll be as decorated as they are.”
Teri Kessler says she has never focused on what Reed was doing for her age. Here’s why:
“When you’re big claim to fame is that you’re known for being very young and doing something – kind of like being beautiful – it’s guaranteed to end,” she said. “You’re not going to be very young, because everybody ages… We talk more about the quality of the riding and the horsemanship experience and gaining knowledge and skill for its own value. So right now with the Olympics, with her being the youngest, it’s very interesting to the media and it’s brought a lot of attention to show jumping, which is fantastic. But as a family that was never really a value for us: to be the first, to be the youngest, to be precocious.”
Reed on Cylana. Photo courtesy Teri and Murray Kessler
The value, she said, is to be the best “regardless of how old you are.
“And the same thing for my husband and me, when we achieve a level of mastery with the horses, we always try to then make it more complicated … add complexity in many different ways.”
So if Reed wins an Olympic gold medal at age 18, where does she go from there?
“The same thing we’ve done all along,” Teri said. “Add complexity to it. If she wins an Olympic gold medal, now you try to bring other horses to that level. That’s the amazing thing about horse sports. It’s a life challenge. You never really master the whole thing all the way.”
Indeed, the youngest member ever of the U.S. Equestrian Team hopes this is merely the beginning. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I’d love to be like Ian (Millar) and go through 10 Olympics.”
Jumping at making a difference
Kessler is considered a boon to the sport not only because of her talent but her willingness to use social media to connect with a young audience.
“It’s been really special all the young people reaching out and saying like, ‘Oh, you’re like so inspiring. You teach me I can do anything. You’re so young,’” she said. “That’s a part that’s been really important to me that I never saw as a possibility. Growing up, you make certain goals for yourself, like ‘I want to go to the Games. I want to win a medal.’ But you never really say, ‘Hey, I want to be a role model.’ Or, ‘Hey, I want to be an inspiration to young riders.’”
Said Kessler: “I’m happy to play any small part I can to make the sport more popular and well-known.”
Twitter feed: @ReedCat5000
Facebook fan page: Reed Kessler
Webpage: Kesslershowstables.com
First-person reports at chronofhorse.com and equisearch.com
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