Galentine’s Day: Mare Crush Edition
Haven’t heard of Galentine’s Day? You’re really missing out!
Galentine’s Day was born in 2010 thanks to the television series Parks & Rec. The amazing Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) invented a day to celebrate her female friendships which happens to fall on the day before Valentine’s… Feb. 13.
Heels Down is putting our own spin on this fun and new tradition. We’re celebrating the beauty and power of mares everywhere with our top five favorite mare crushes. Read on, and happy Galentine’s Day!
Danielle Waldman’s Lizziemary
She’s a big red powerhouse and she knows it. So much so that Show Jumper Danielle Waldman sometimes competes with a red ribbon tied in her tail – a warning to everyone else to take a step back, as they are in the presence of the one and only, Queen Lizziemary.
The big scopey mare was sired by Cabri d’Elle and bred by Scott Smith and M. Dawson. Interestingly enough, she was an embryo transfer, which means she was carried to term by a mare other than her genetic mother.
“Her natural energy is her best quality. She really has her own jumping technique as she doesn’t always use her body but she has so much push from the ground when you take off,” Danielle described.
Why we love her: She’s a jumping machine, and will clear a FEI Grand Prix level fence at pretty much any distance. She was out primetime for a some time while recovering from an injury, and Danielle announced Lizziemary’s retirement last year. But we’re hopeful to see Lizziemary produce more exceptional jumper talent in the future.
Kent Farrington’s Kaprice
Caprice literally means “a sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior.” Could there be a better name for a chestnut mare?
Farrington took over the ride from Lorenzo de Luca in fall 2017, but he didn’t start competing Kaprice right away.
“She had a lot of blood and energy, so I spent almost a year playing with her on the flat and jumping really small fences to get her more manageable,” says the U.S. Olympic team silver medalist.
A red mare with attitude? Shocking. But as he always does, Kent has tamed the dragon and put her to work. With Grand Prix wins in 2020 and 2021, we’ll be watching this little speed racer in 2022.
Why we love her: She’s small, fast, nimble. And while we’re not sure we’d actually want or be able to to ride her, we admire her tenacity around the bigger courses.
Danash’s Northern Tempest
She’s certainly hard to miss in the hunter ring. This lovely, spotted lady has captured the hearts of all of us on Instagram. She recently made her debut as a Breyer model, too! Dani the Wonder Horse, as she’s more commonly known, is a 17-hand Leopard Appaloosa Friesian cross mare who lives full time in Wellington with her amateur owner, Laura Reece.
“Dani is just a fun, willing horse,” Laura said. “If you chip something or land awkwardly, she doesn’t care. She just keeps going. She’s got a really great demeanor about her.”
Why we love her: Dani is the perfect amateur horse. She packs around beginner riders in the hunters and then steps it up to compete – and win – the derbies and other divisions at WEF. It’s always exciting to see a horse “of a different color” shine in the sometimes stuffy hunter arena.
Lauren Nicholson’s Veronica
We like sassy, badass women who get stuff done. So it should be no surprise that Veronica is on our list on mare crushes.
After two USEF National Champion finishes at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event and 23 other FEI starts throughout her career, Veronica may be a plain bay mare, but her color is the only plain thing about her. Her boss mare attitude could possibly be viewed as grouchy (her nicknames are ‘The Troll’ or ‘Piranhica’), but hey, some overachievers just like their space.
Veronica does like baby dolls, though.
“When I first started riding her, if she was really friendly and in a good mood, [U.S. Eventing Team Chef d’Equipe David O’Connor] would joke to her, ‘Did you kill a baby today?’ because she’s so mean all the time,” says her rider, Lauren Nicholson.
“Maybe someone will fess up now, but at The Fork last year, I came in the barn in the morning, and someone had that baby hanging from a noose from her halter outside the stall. Someone had heard the joke. Joke’s on them—she loved it and played with it all weekend, and she went well that weekend, so the dead baby goes with her.”
Or maybe she does have some sadistic tendencies. Either way, this 20-year-old war horse has aged like a fine wine.
Why we love her: She proves that age is just a number. And we can’t help but admire her go-getter, take no prisoners attitude that has served her so well on the cross-country course.
Mount St. John Freestyle
It was hard to watch the ever magnificent Charlotte Dujardin step into the dressage arena on a horse other than the famed Valegro. The duo were quite literally the best in the world, winning gold across the board at the Olympic Games and shattering records with eye-popping scores. It was a joy to witness.
But before there was the Pumpkin, next in line was “Mrs. Valegro.”
Charlotte took over the ride on the striking Hanoverian mare Mount St. John Freestyle in 2015. The mare made her World Equestrian Games debut in 2018 as just a 9-year-old. There, Charlotte and Freestyle helped clinch the Bronze Medal for Great Britain.
“She’s perfect in pretty much every way,” Charlotte said. “She’s lovely in the stable, and to handle — she loves cuddles. And I know that whatever arena I take her into she’ll always perform — she’s not spooky or silly, and she’s such a trier.”
Why we love her: With consistent scores in the high 80s (nearly topping 90 in Amsterdam in 2019) the future is quite bright for this flashy, lovely mare. It was sad to see her miss the cut for the Tokyo Games due to fitness concens. But we know she’ll be back – especially under the expert tutelage of some of the best riders in world, Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester.