PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 119 RIDE LIKE THE WIND When choosing his favorite moment of three-day eventing, Steve breaks into a grin. “It’s the finish!” Eileen Morgenthaler, fellow eventer and president of the board of governors, chimes in: “Because that means you’re alive!” The two share an all-tooknowing laugh. “You need to understand: three-day eventing is an extreme sport,” Eileen continues. The competition has its roots in cavalry training. And riders wear inflatable crash vests—the same kind worn for motocross. “People who engage in the sport are a little crazy, but incredibly passionate about the horse and the ride and the relationship.” The sport is electric, she describes: “When you get in the start box where you’re gonna run over 20 to 35 fences at up to 25 miles an hour on a being that’s 1,200 pounds with a brain the size of a walnut, you’re firing on all cylinders. If you’re still in the saddle by the end of it, that’s pretty darn exciting!” “He’s trusting me not to put him into a situation that we can’t handle—and I’m trusting him to handle it,” Steve says, adding that his job to set the right speed and trajectory is complete five or six strides before the jump. “Then it’s up to him to deal with it,” he explains. “You can feel the horse going, ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ And I’ll communicate, ‘Yeah, you’re fine. We’re fine. You got this.’ And then suddenly his ears will lock on it and he’ll accel and we’re going come hell or highwater!” He assures that horses aren’t doing anything they don’t want to do. “They have so many tools to disagree with us,” he chuckles. CLAIMS TO FAME Drawn to the hilly terrain and expansive offerings, many big names have made the Park their stomping grounds. Olympians such as Hawley Bennett, David O’Connor, Derek di Grazia, Gina Miles, Lauren Billys Shady, Tamie Smith, Ian Stark and James Wofford have all come to train, compete or design courses here. William Shatner (AKA Star Trek’s Captain Kirk) also made an appearance at The Horse Park, riding into the arena on Cee My Smokin Pistol for last year’s Reining by the Bay event. At the age of 91, no less. But perhaps The Horse Park’s most intriguing claim to fame is the recent commercial shot here. “We got a call out of the blue from this Hollywood producer,” Steve recalls. They were vetting locations for an ad promoting Jordan Peele’s satiric film Nope, which
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