When a significant portion of the equestrian world migrates to warmer climes (or, God forbid, stays home in the snow) for a few months to show, there are bound to be some good stories. These horsemen across the country share their favorite memories.

John French, Redwood City, Calif.

“I moved to California when I was 25 and did the winter circuit then for the first time. At the time, you went to Arizona: Scottsdale, Tucson and Goodyear. It’s really built up now, but then it was really in the middle of nowhere. I’d never been in the desert or mountains before, and I remember thinking as we were driving out there how pretty it was.

“So, one day I decided to go hiking and to walk to the mountains, but I didn’t realize how far away it was. It started to get dark, and I couldn’t see to get back, and the bats started coming down and swooping over me.

“All of a sudden, I realized that my legs were cut up and bloody. I knew I wasn’t hitting any cacti, but somehow there were needles sticking me in the legs. I didn’t realize it was a jumping cactus: cactus that shoots needles into you when you get too close to it. Needless to say, I haven’t been back out there since then.”

Richard Spooner, Agua Dulce, Calif.

“The most exciting day I ever had at a winter circuit was with Robinson [in 2001.] I’d broken my leg and jumped in the [$150,000 Ford Grand Prix CSI-W]. He could tell I wasn’t 100 percent, and he just took care of me, jumped phenomenally and went clean. It was one of those moments when I felt that horse do something that he shouldn’t have done. It was incredible.”

Danielle Torano, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“My daughter [Natalia] was born on Dec. 8, 2006, right before circuit. I went to Palm Beach with a newborn and having not ridden in six months. I had never not done anything for that amount of time in my life. I was really gung ho: three weeks later I was riding, which, looking back on it, was a little bit crazy. I rode for about two days on the flat, but I was so nervous that maybe I’d forgotten how to jump that I’d sneak in little x’s when no one was looking.

“I showed the first week, around Jan. 15, right in the grand prix. But within two days of jumping, everything felt perfect. I had Vancouver D’Auvray, and [my husband] Jimmy had been riding him a little bit, so he was really ready. It was a great circuit: the last week we ended up third in the [$399,230 CN Worldwide Florida Open Grand Prix]. Looking back on it, it was a great experience. When days weren’t so great it was so nice to have something nice to come home to.”

Jeff Gogul, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

“I’m a huge 70s music fan, so the year of the 1999 USET Denim ‘N Diamonds fundraiser was fantastic. It was a circus theme, and [organizer] Mason Phelps did a great job with it. All of these grand prix riders came out riding an elephant.

“We were stabling at the show at the time, and our stalls were near where the party was being held. Donna Summer, who was performing, practiced all day, so we got to hear her during the day and at night at the party, and she’s one of my 70s favorites.”

Chuck Mayer, North Smithfield, R.I.

“The best thing about the winter circuit is the camaraderie. You spend so much time with the same people that you only get to see for a few months of the year. Everyone is living in the same place for three months, and you’re seeing each other day in, day out.

”There’s so much bonding that goes on in the ring and outside it: they become your backbone and your support system. Come April, everyone scatters to their own places, and from April to December you don’t get to see many of them, but during circuit it’s your winter family.”

Fred Bauer, Westlake Village, Calif.

“Winter circuits were never really a part of my life until the past 10 years. When I was showing as a junior and young amateur, going to Florida wasn’t like now—we did the ‘Icicle Circuit’ in Connecticut. I was with Ronnie Mutch at Nimrod, and we’d go to one-day shows at places like Ox Ridge and Fairfield all winter.

“When I got back into riding with [wife] Karen [Healey] after 15 years off, my first show back was during the [HITS Indio circuit (Calif.)]. I’d only been riding a couple of months, and we’d just bought Marble Arch, and Mike Endicott showed him the first week. The second weekend I was getting ready to head to Indio, and I said, ‘Karen, what will I show in?’ She had me do him one weekend in the modifieds before I moved up to the low amateur-owner jumpers. I spent that first circuit in the lows, then we moved him up to the highs that spring.

“I remember my first class back we had a bit of bad luck because it kept getting later and later. We ended up going well after dark, not in the main jumper ring, and the lights out there weren’t so good. But we survived, and he turned out to be a super horse. He won a bunch of high classics at Indio and other places for me.”

Rob Bielefeld, Wellington, Fla.

“When I used to live in upstate New York, we stayed there in the wintertime and used to go to horse shows
in Buffalo and Cleveland. No matter what the weather conditions, we would continue on. There could be a foot of snow, sometimes it was below zero: we showed. Miss a horse show? Never!

“I remember being in Buffalo and waking up and not being able to open my hotel door because of all the snow. But we got to the show, got the horses shown and taught the kids.”

David Q. Wright, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

“In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, when Palm Beach just started, I had a horse named Charter Flight. He was a little Quarter Horse, very careful and very fast. Over four weeks he won seven of the eight open speed classes that we entered. It was amazing to me because I didn’t think that we belonged there.

“In the 1990s, I was showing down in Ocala when a bunch of tornados hit all over the Southeast. A tornado ripped the roof off my hotel and exposed the room to the night. I’ve been in three tornadoes, and that was the only one that really sounded like a freight train coming, like they say. It took us four hours to drive the 20 minutes to the horse show because we kept having to stop to drag trees out of the way and clear a path. Luckily, other than the tents being a little damaged, everything was fine. No horses or horsemen that I knew of were hurt, just a lot of property damage.

“Then a day and a half later a cold wave hit the area and froze everything. The footing was concrete, and everything was a mess. Finally they gave up and sent everyone home.”

Terry Brown, Canton, Ga.

“When I was 13, in 1973, we went down to do the Florida circuit for the first time with Frank Gombolay. Back then, it was two weeks in Jacksonville, two in Ocala and then two in Tampa. I had a $1,300, bad-stopping, off-the-track Thoroughbred—who was named Illusion—and we had no business showing in the junior hunters. You can imagine how well that went! It took me all day Friday and all day Saturday to finally get around on Sunday and win a green ribbon, which I absolutely cherished.

“Back then my parents believed in my education as a horsewoman, so I got to stay down there and watch legends like Bernie Traurig, Rodney Jenkins, Charlie Weaver and Hank Hulick. I took care of my own horse, bathed him and braided his mane in the colors of my shirt and jacket. It was a much different experience than now, and I loved every minute of it.”

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like it, consider subscribing. “Elephants, Cacti And Newborns, Oh My!” ran in the January 22, 2010 issue. Check out the table of contents to see what great stories are in the magazine this week.