Ray Texel’s name is etched on the trophies for both the AHSA Medal and ASPCA Maclay Final—in 1989 he won both titles on a black Thoroughbred gelding, Meet The Press.

But what many people didn’t know at the time was that Texel’s joy at the accomplishments was tinged with quite a bit of grief as well. “Part of my story is that in March of ’89 my father died,” Texel said.

“I learned so much from that horse and from that time in my life. Moving away from a loss of a parent, I had a wonderful support network around me with a very positive work ethic,” Texel recalled. “I probably should have taken more time to grieve and come to more of an understanding and resolution about losing my father but at 15, it was better to have poured my heart into riding than anything else. Horses really more than anything got me through so many of the difficult times in my life.”

After his father’s death in the spring, Texel didn’t ride for a while. When he got back into the saddle, the equitation finals were fast approaching, but Texel wasn’t quite qualified yet. “I needed some more points. I believe we went to the last qualifying show, and I won the USET, the Medal, and the Maclay and qualified for all the finals,” he said. At the time, Texel lived in Ashbury, Park, N.J., and trained with Mike Henaghan and Gary Zook at Huntover.

Already experienced in medal finals, with a win the pony equitation finals in 1987 on Lucky Charm and solid rounds in the big equitation finals the year prior, Texel felt prepared for the classes that year with “Norman,” even though he had just turned 16.

Meet The Press, or “Norman,” Ray Texel’s mount for his ASPCA Maclay and AHSA Medal finals wins.

“Norman was in the stable already, with another rider before I ended up with him,” said Texel. “At the end of 1988, I started having lessons with George Morris at Hunterdon, and Mike would go with me. Most horses I was riding at the time were Thoroughbreds—occasionally some warmbloods at George’s stable but most were Thoroughbreds.

“Norman was more like a mare to ride. I think that served me well. I’ve always gotten along with mares. My first pony was a very difficult, rogue mare so I learned a lot about empathy and sensitivity from her. Norman was very sensitive, had a bad back, and was moderately hot to ride,” Texel remembered.

“I approached Norman like I do most hot horses: as long as you don’t try to contain them and work with their hotness, allow them to exist in a way they felt they were leading, they will do anything for you. Norman and I had an excellent connection.

“I feel very fortunate to have existed during a time when equitation, in my opinion, still served the rider as not only an end point but as part of a longer process. If you think about some of the names that have continued, Beezie [Madden], McLain [Ward], Lauren [Hough], to name a few—our equitation classes at that time were very technical. Questions were asked of the riders, there was an element of risk involved to take a shot, stand out, show your skill. It wasn’t a leave-out game, it wasn’t a beauty contest. You had to ride. The USET [Show Jumping Talent Search] was out on the grand prix grass fields with difficult, challenging courses with water elements, banks, liver pools—all the things that are inconvenient nowadays.

The year that Texel won the Maclay final was the first year the National Horse Show was held at The Meadowlands arena in New Jersey rather than Madison Square Garden in New York City. “My Maclay final was the last where you dismounted and mounted on the flat. It was judged by Michael Page and Anne Kursinski,” he said. Texel remembers a course with counter-canter, rollbacks, a halt and a trot fence. “I remember the round quite clearly,” he said.

“I remember switching horses. I switched with Lauren Kay, an excellent rider, and her horse was Gulliver. While I am so grateful to have swapped onto that horse, I think something that Lauren did that trumps my win was to go on to win [the Maclay final] the next year, which I always thought that was an excellent display of horsemanship, work and time. Gulliver was a really lovely horse, a warmblood, and scopey with a beautiful easy stride and a beautiful mouth. With my horse, you couldn’t touch his back or his mouth. So Lauren had a difficult test. She did the best she could, but Norman did not make it any easier on her.

“All of the Thoroughbreds I rode at that time, and very much Norman, taught me so much of what George would say: ‘Be the eye of the hurricane; the rider is the stillness. With a hot, sensitive horse that tends to bounce around in a trigger state, your job is not to trigger it; don’t add to that.’ ”

Ray Texel on Meet The Press, winning the 1989 ASPCA Maclay Final. 

“I learned so much about my balance from that time. I had good balance, but I found the true center of the horse in motion. And I learned something that I still work toward, the real art of what we do, which is riding this really fine line between making a horse do something and allowing the horse to do something,” Texel continued.

“I learned about that line really early on in my riding. It’s something you see really evident at the highest level and the lowest level—that lesson of the gray in between. It isn’t just a riding lesson, it’s a life lesson. It’s between the American ‘Do or Die’ and the Buddhist ‘Allow to Unfold.’ You have to have the ability to view all of the sides of the situation.

“I am fortunate, maybe through my life experiences, maybe through my genetics, or a good combination of the two, that I don’t often experience ‘nerves’ if you’re speaking of ‘nerves’ meaning impacting or impeding the ability to function with clarity and precision. I haven’t ever really suffered too much from that.

“Anything can be overwhelming if you allow it to, and I do my best to exist in the here and now. I’ve always been that way. Of course, I’ve fallen to the lures of the world like over-riding or feeling like an idea is real when it really isn’t.

“Horses have always helped me to be in the here and now because that’s where they exist. And I believe that a good horseman listens to the horse, without imposing human issues onto a horse. So I never bring the nerves to my horse. If I yielded to those pressures, then I’d be bringing those evils to my horse.”

Texel considers his time in the equitation division to be an essential building block for his subsequent grand prix career. “The precision, the time in the saddle, the questions asked of the rider, all of that prepared all of us from that time period fairly well. Everyone has his or her own path, and I feel very fortunate that my path was very full with that base of experience that added up through the years. You can’t chip away at such a base and experience,” he said.

Following his medal finals success that year, Texel moved to ride full-time with Morris while Norman was sold to Henaghan’s client, Alison Firestone.

These days, Texel is based out of Alder Lane Farm in Cotati, Calif., with a select group of clients and horses. He recently won a 1.45-meter CSI** class at the Longines Masters of Los Angeles aboard 10-year-old chestnut mare Baldira (Baloubet du Rouet—Gwendira, Carthago). And in addition to training his students and traveling with them to shows, he’s lightly campaigning the young mare and a young gelding Coupis (Coupe De Coeur—Canatti Z, Canabis) in the FEI World Cup Qualifier classes.

“I try to be very mindful of how much I take on these days,” Texel said. “Being a father is very important to me. But I would like to help anyone who would like to realize a goal or dream. I find a great amount of pleasure seeing riders I’ve helped find a healthy balance in their lives and in the sport.”

Make sure to stay tuned to www.coth.com and the Chronicle’s Facebook page to stay informed about this year’s Pessoa/USEF Medal Final on Oct. 11 and the ASPCA Maclay Final on Oct. 31-Nov. 1. We’ll have reporters on the scene to bring you all the action.