How did you come to own him?
I was looking for a competition horse to take to
FEI levels and really be competitive with. I was
most certainly NOT looking for a stallion. I lived
in Texas at the time and my trainer there, Lyndon
Rife, was helping me look. We tried a few in the
U.S. and then he called me one day - I remember
the call, I was walking into the gym - and said
Carol Grant had called him about a nice stallion
in Europe. My first thoughts were, “I don’t want
a stallion,” and, “If he’s a stallion and he’s in my
price range, something is wrong with him.”
Well, we got the video and I couldn’t believe him.
He was gorgeous, and a super mover, and only
8. So we made plans to go try him. I still did
not want a stallion, necessarily, so Lyndon and I
talked about options — geld him in Europe before
shipping him home to avoid the quarantine, geld
him when he gets here, or wait and see. But his
character and readability were so amazing, and
his KWPN bloodlines so solid, I’m glad we didn’t!
Now Parcival was bred and born in Holland (I
have since connected with his breeder as well
as the owner of his sire Lancelot, who stands
in Ireland), but he was purchased as a colt by
Spanish trainer Carlos Torrell, so we were going to Barcelona to see this horse. I remember
riding in a clinic with Heike Kemmer sometime
later, and she really liked him and asked where
I got him. When I told her Spain, she this
skeptical look and said “What were you doing
looking at horses in Spain?” Well, it is not typically where you go to find Dutch horses, is it?
where he was stabled was too wet. But Carlos
said one of his clients had just built a new facility
with a nice indoor, so they loaded Parcival into a
Brenderup hooked up to a BMW SUV and hauled
20 minutes up and down hills and curves and we
pulled into this lovely barn built into a hillside.
There were fields full of horses running around ,
and it was late and getting dark. They unloaded
this freshly body-clipped stallion onto the asphalt
lot and tied him to the back wall of this huge
building and it was blowing and horses were running, and a pallet of shavings covered in plastic
was snapping right behind us and a guy was going back and forth on a forklift. And Parcival was
looking around a little, but being perfectly quiet.
I thought “Wow, Scooby (my Hanoverian I had
been showing at the time) would be in France by
now.”
And that is the kind of horse Parcival is. He
has tons of spark and personality, but he is the
steadiest, most reliable horse I’ve ever owned.
I know exactly what I will have whether I’m at
home or a clinic or a show.
When I got to Barcelona I saw Parcival in his
stall and fell in love right there. I remember saying, “I hope I like riding you, because
you’re coming home with me.”
How did you decide he was the right horse for
you?
Percival was beautiful, but more than that he
was super sweet and steady. The first day I
saw him in Barcelona it was rainy and windy
and cold. It was in December. And the arena
5