Patty Heuckeroth saw last week’s Throwback Thursday post about George H. Morris and Triplicate and went digging through her old photos.

She sent us this fantastic image of herself riding the chestnut mare in the hunter division.

Patty Heuckeroth on Triplicate. Photo by Gloria Axt

“I think the first time I ever rode her, George still owned her,” Heuckeroth recalled. “He asked me to ride her in the ladies class at Devon. I’d never been to Devon before. I didn’t realize that everyone was called into the ring at one time. Then when your number was called, you would leave the line-up and start jumping the course. We jumped out of the ring, over several other jumps, and then back into the ring. Not knowing that, I’m not sure I even jumped any warm-up jumps before entering the ring—which didn’t leave Triplicate loosened up and ready to perform at her best. I don’t remember it being a stellar performance! That was the first time I ever sat on her.”

Heuckeroth’s father, Otto, was the legendary manager of the Ox Ridge Hunt Club (Conn.), where Morris first started riding. “I ended up riding and exercising a lot of the horses there, which gave me great experience. The Farrells, Mr. and Mrs. John J. Farrell, were members there. They ended up buying Triplicate. I was riding their horses for them at that time, so I was lucky enough to have the ride on her,” Heuckeroth said.

“Triplicate was a wonderful jumper and very careful. She was very nice to ride, and she was very successful.”

I then asked Heuckeroth about another photo I’d seen of her—one of her showing a lovely gray Thoroughbred mare, Wind Chimes.

Patty Heuckeroth on Wind Chimes. Photo by Pennington

Heuckeroth recalled that Wind Chimes came from California with her owner, Pam Hall Mahoney. She hadn’t raced but had shown a bit. “I think Joe Fargis even tried her as a jumper prospect. She was so careful that I think it was a hindrance to her in that ring,” she said.

“She was sent to me to show, but I had just hired John French to help me ride, so I accepted Wind Chimes with the understanding that John would have her as his project to ride and show. He showed her successfully for about a year. I then ended up buying her for some of my own customers, Mrs. Braga, and her daughter, Pam Ohrstrom,” said Heuckeroth.

“She was always a very careful and scopey jumper. Pam and her mother had another horse at the time who wasn’t going to go on to be a four-foot horse, so we decided to sell that one and buy Wind Chimes, because we wanted a regular working horse.”

So, Heukeroth and Wind Chimes became consistent winners on the East Coast circuit in the late ‘80s. “We showed her in the regular working and the regular conformation. I remember the first year we took her to indoors, her previous owned said, ‘Good luck with all those banners and things!’ She could be a bit spooky. But she was great and was champion,” Heuckeroth said.

Wind Chimes retired to be a broodmare and produced quite a few nice foals. Heuckeroth still has her last offspring, Windward, another gray mare in the barn. “She showed as a 3- and 4-year-old in the International Hunter Futurity and she was second both times in the finals. We showed her for the next few years, she was champion or reserve almost every time out. She’s gray like her mom and very careful, like Wind Chimes,” she said.

“She showed in pre-green and as a first year horse and she did well. At that point, Mrs. Braga had some young horses coming along that needed to get some show experience, which meant Windward was put on the back burner for a while since she was seasoned by then. I still have her and she’s shown occasionally with one of my adult riders and I’ve shown her a few times in the Thoroughbred division,” Heuckeroth said.

Heuckeroth is a fan of the Thoroughbred and still has quite a few in her barn in Southern Pines, N.C. “I grew up riding Thoroughbreds, and I still like them the best! They’re so agile and light on their feet. You can hardly hear them land from a jump. Those warmbloods have the power for sure, but the Thoroughbreds have that wonderful elegance that sets them apart in the hunters,” she said.