About Leo

Leo is my partner in crime (pardon the pun) and we are currently competing at Preliminary level. Leo, competition & race name Crime Wave, was bred by Vicky Schowe in Maryland. He raced until he was 6 and was then retrained as a sport horse by Carrie Butler. She competed him through Novice in 2009 and I purchased him in the summer of 2010. At that point, Leo had been out to pasture for some time and was mostly just being trail ridden.

Leo is bold, forward and opinionated - unlike any horse I have owned before. Training and riding him has been quite an experience! He does not like rider input and it took several years before he was confirmed on the flat. He still gets very tense in the dressage phase at events, so it's rare to see our scores in the 30s, yet. Leo shines in the jumping. He's joyful and exuberant when he's jumping and his enthusiasm often makes people laugh. He is very forward to his fences and jumping him required me to expand my comfort zone significantly.

Overall our progress together has been slow. I don't think I truly appreciated him until 2 years into our relationship. I always knew he was talented, but everything was so difficult with him! During the first 2 years, Leo would have scary meltdowns at competitions where he would stop moving forward and start imploding. At one event, he ran backwards into 4 different cars. Everything on the flat was met with resistance and we would argue on a daily basis. When jumping, Leo was super confident when I was just along for the ride. When I did have something to say, my aides would confuse him and then he'd lose confidence resulting in tears and refusals. There were plenty of times when we didn't trust each other and didn't understand each other's role in the relationship. But after 3 years together, I finally transitioned into a stronger rider and his antics no longer made me nervous.

Leo is very independent. He doesn't request a lot of attention, but he's personable and has great ground manners so he's a nice horse to be around. He seems to like trailer rides like a dog likes car rides - he pretty much drags me towards the trailer and then loads himself. Sometimes you might catch him running laps around his pasture just for fun. He's very inquisitive; he always needs to inspect everything - particularly if you are doing something at his side.  Or if he finds a new pile of poop. He does not like to be groomed and hates having his main pulled, but he loves having his face rubbed with a towel.

What others have said about Leo:

• Phoebe DeVoe: He's like an iPhone touchscreen. His controls are all packed close together so it's easy to hit the wrong button.  
• Sally Cousins: He's really good off the ground. Quick on his feet.
• Stephen Bradley: He's a little sports car - great acceleration. 
• Lucinda Green: Quite a nice horse but a difficult ride. 
• Boyd Martin: You're sitting on an intermediate, possibly advanced level, event horse; he'll take you anywhere you want to go.

Leo's Stats:

• 2003 Gelding
• 16.1 hands (maybe)
• Sire: Judge TC
• Dam: Toppenish
• Maryland bred
• Years raced: 2006, 2007, 2008
• 28 starts 
• Earnings: $33,603
• Full Pedigree
• Competition Record