You might not even know you were looking at Ballynoe Castle RM if you saw him walk past you at an event, but the plain bay Irish Sport Horse gelding (Ramiro B—Ballyvaldon Natalie, Blue Laser) has an impressive resume with his longtime rider, Buck Davidson.

Bought as a 6-year-old from Ireland by Davidson’s supporters Carl and Cassie Segal, “Reggie” has earned his place in Davidson’s heart as a reliable partner. Together, they’ve completed the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** three times, as well as the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (England) and the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (England) once each.

They also represented the U.S. at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010 in Kentucky and in 2014 in France.

Buck knows Reggie like the back of his hand, but his longtime barn manager and groom Kathleen Murray, is the one who cares for Reggie on a day-to-day basis and he’s become her favorite due to his easygoing nature. She was there the day he got off the truck from Ireland and has been there ever since, traveling with him around the world.

“She has three kids—Riley and Cara are her human kids, and then Reggie,” said Davidson. “She’s taken great care of him for his whole life. The two of them love each other. It’s cute to see them walking around together. I don’t know how many miles they’ve probably walked—probably a couple times around this planet just walking around at horse shows.”

Reggie and Murray hanging out. 

Davidson admits that while competing and winning with Reggie is fun, he’s more appreciative of the bond that the 15-year-old gelding has created between himself, Murray and the Segals.

“What he’s done as far as bringing people together, I don’t know of an animal that could be more loved than him,” he said. “The success on the field of play is obviously there, but the success in life is even bigger. We’re so lucky to be a part of it.” 

Here’s what you might not know about Reggie: 

• Murray rode him down the aisle at her wedding last May. “He didn’t care about anything. Nothing fazed him. It was pretty amazing,” she said. Reggie’s so docile, her 4-year-old daughter, Riley, can sit on him or lead him around the barn. 

• He’s a picky treat eater. “He actually doesn’t like a lot of treats,” said Murray. “He only likes carrots for the most part. He doesn’t like store-bought treats or apples.” 

Reggie’s had this halter for about as long as he’s been in Davidson’s barn, according to Murray.

• At events, he’s a cool customer, preferring to stand at the back of his stall until it’s game time. “They have such a good partnership and he’s been with him for so long, it’s almost like he gets on him and it’s his pony,” said Murray about Reggie and Davidson. “He loves him. He kind of looks like a pony in his stall, but as soon as Buck gets on him and walks out there, he knows when he’s at a big show or a little show. He has a different presence about him when he gets out there.”

• He eats his meals on the ground. Reggie had wind surgery in 2012 to correct a breathing problem and now he eats his feed and steamed hay on the ground. He also has his own box stall in the trailer so he can put his head down.

• He’s not a fan of baths, having his head washed or dogs, according to Murray.

Reggie’s just a simple, good guy.

• He’s fickle. “He’s a funny horse to catch in the field,” said Davidson. “Some days he’s like, ‘No problem!’ and other days it’s just a big game to him.” Reggie goes out all night when he’s at Davidson’s Ocala, Fla., farm and gets more time out during his winter break and when he’s living at his summer home in Riegelsville, Pa. When he’s turned out, it’s usually on his own.

This is what Reggie thinks of a morning photo shoot!

• Davidson names many of his horses after basketball players, and Reggie is named after Reggie Miller, who played for the Indiana Pacers. Davidson got the idea from Jan Smith, who owned his first top horse, Mystic Mike, who took him to his first national championship at Rolex in 2003.

“Jan Smith, who owns Mikey named him after Michael Jordan,” he explained. “She’s a big basketball fan and was my first owner and one of my best friends. She bred him. She said, ‘If he can jump like Mike, we’ll be fine.’ I thought, ‘Well Mikey was pretty good, so we better name this one after a basketball player.’ With the RM, I thought, Reggie Miller. I think he’s outplayed Reggie Miller at this point!”

• He knows he’s king of the barn. In the barn, Reggie gets the center stall, across from the feed room, and doesn’t put up with his neighbors’ antics. “He is living the life of luxury, but he deserves it,” said Davidson. “In a funny way, even though he goes out and tries so hard, he knows it and he loves it. Park Trader is right next to him and Copper Beech is on the other side, and if you go say hi to either one of those guys before Reggie, he gives you a look like, ‘That was a bad idea.’

“He’s almost too mature and too smart for everybody else, especially the two next to him. They’re like, ‘Hey!’ and he’s just concentrating all the time while they’re screwing off,” he joked.

• He has to have his bridle on before dressage at the last minute. Davidson rides so many horses at each event that he’s learned to do a 10-minute warm-up with Reggie, not only because he knows his job at this point, but because he can have the occasional cough due to his wind surgery.

“The reason we don’t put the bridle on early is that once he starts to salivate and breathe, he doesn’t have that flap anymore, so half of it goes down and he just coughs it up,” he said. “It’s keeping himself healthy, it’s not a big deal. But when he coughs, sometimes he does it at the wrong time, which breaks our rhythm. You can’t get mad at him for it—at the big events we just acupuncture him. You can feel it coming so you try to slow down and get it so he does it before a movement.”