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U.S. Show Jumping is being dummied down says Katie Prudent

For more than two decades, Katie was one of the sport’s most successful riders.In the first-ever FEI World Cup Final, in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1979, she finished second, and went on to ride in five more finals in the 1980s. She dominated that decade and was selected to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was denied the chance to compete because of the U.S. boycott.Katie was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 1986 World Championships inn Aachen. She was named the American Grandprix Association Rider of the Year three times and awarded the Whitney Stone Cup for her superior record in international competition.   For many years Katie has been a sought after trainer who tells it like it is. With her strong foundation in horsemanship she now laments how the sport has changed in the US and why the future looks bleak for the U.S. Team. 

“The sport has become for the fearful, talentless amateur, that’s what the sport has been dummied down to and unfortunately because of money, the fearful, talentless amateur can rise to a certain level. How far can the amateur go by buying the greatest horse in the world?!  I think in five to ten years we’re going to have a really hard time to put together a good team.”

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
For more than two decades, Katie was one of the sport’s most successful riders.In the first-ever FEI World Cup Final, in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1979, she finished second, and went on to ride in five more finals in the 1980s. She dominated that decade and was selected to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was denied the chance to compete because of the U.S. boycott.Katie was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 1986 World Championships inn Aachen. She was named the American Grandprix Association Rider of the Year three times and awarded the Whitney Stone Cup for her superior record in international competition.   For many years Katie has been a sought after trainer who tells it like it is. With her strong foundation in horsemanship she now laments how the sport has changed in the US and why the future looks bleak for the U.S. Team. 

“The sport has become for the fearful, talentless amateur, that’s what the sport has been dummied down to and unfortunately because of money, the fearful, talentless amateur can rise to a certain level. How far can the amateur go by buying the greatest horse in the world?!  I think in five to ten years we’re going to have a really hard time to put together a good team.”

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
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