1999
In the Pages of Horse Illustrated 1999 was a mixed bag for American show jumper McLain Ward. In the June issue, we included a news brief announcing that Ward, then 23, was the youngest rider to reach $1 million in Grand Prix show jumping earnings. The tides changed in the November issue, when we reported that Ward had been disqualified from the Aachen International Horse Show in Germany after his horse was allegedly found to have plastic pins in his tendon boots. Such pins would cause the horse pain if he hit a rail, constituting “illegal manipulation” under Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) rules. To this day, Ward denies any knowledge of the pins and has competed mostly without incident ever since, becoming one of America’s best international Grand Prix riders. Was Ward cheating, or was he framed by someone angry with his father, Barney, due to his involvement in the horse murders that had rocked the show jumping world? We’ll never know.
Was the last nail finally in the coffin of rust breeches? We thought so in our June 1999 issue, stating, “…you might see a scant number of stalwarts wearing rust breeches on the stock hunter circuit, these are way out.” We also suggested English riders ditch their lucky green coats, velvet collars and canary breeches. Fashion may seem a frivolous concern for the hunter ring, but the fickle trends are a glowing endorsement for the always-acceptable beige breeches and navy coat.
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