George Morris has seen his share of legendary horses, and his evaluation of Royal Kaliber is succinct: “He’s just a grand horse. It’s an old-fashioned expression, but it fits. I don’t say that about many horses.”

Royal Kaliber and Chris Kappler had the kind of year that most people only dream of. They helped the U.S. team secure a spot at the 2004 Olympics by claiming the team gold medal at the Pan Am Games and then added the individual silver medal. They galloped into fourth place at the prestigious $264,971 Grand Prix of Aachen (Germany). And they were virtually unbeatable on American soil, winning four major grand prix events.

“Obviously, he had a year we would all like to have. He not only dominated show jumping in our country, but he also was among the top two or three in the world, in my opinion,” said McLain Ward, Chris’ good friend and frequent competitor.

“I wish we could do the year all over again,” said Jenny Kappler, Chris’ wife and an integral part of his career. “It was so much fun to watch Chris and ‘Royal’ do all that they did and to be a part of it. I’ve never experienced so much adrenaline as I did last year. We were either celebrating a class or pushing toward the next one.”

To Kathy Kamine, Royal Kaliber’s co-owner, “Last year was like a fairy tale, but it wasn’t just a fantasy. It was due to a lot of hard work and the talent level of the horse and rider.”

Oddly, though, Chris began 2003 without the Pan Am Games on his schedule. “I started the year with the goal of the World Cup Finals [in Las Vegas, Nev., in April] and then showing in Europe for the summer,” he said. But in February, USET Chef d’Equipe Frank Chapot discussed the schedule with Chris and convinced him to aim for the Pan Am Games.

“He explained to me the importance of the competition [at which the U.S. team needed to be first or second to qualify for the Olympics]. And I thought that to not try and help and be part of the team that had the task of qualifying us for the Olympics’and then turning around and saying that I wanted to be on that Olympic team’wouldn’t be right,” said Chris.

Based on their performances in 2002 and their American Invitational and AGA Championship victories in Florida, Royal and Chris were granted a subjectively selected spot on the Pan Am team and were able to skip the selection trials. They were the first subjectively chosen team members since the objective trials process began in 1991. But there was a drawback to getting to skip the grueling trials.

“I felt like there were a lot of eyes on me, but I tried not to think of the pressure,” said Chris. “I just basically continued what I was doing, which was really trying to do my best on every horse, in every class. I had a very complete show program for Royal worked out with Frank and George [Morris, with whom Chris has worked for 18 years]. We did just enough to have him in peak performance for the games.”

Jenny knew that “Chris was given a really big opportunity with the bye, and with that came the dread of not producing. It felt like being under a microscope all summer. Chris doesn’t really verbalize anything, so he never voiced it, but I can’t imagine that it wasn’t difficult.”

They didn’t crack in the crucible of pressure, though. Instead they jumped to double-clear rounds in the Pan Am Nations Cup in Santo Domingo, a crucial performance in the gold-medal effort. But the individual medal rounds didn’t go as well, as Royal dropped a rail in each, leaving them in silver position.

While it was an excellent result, Chris wasn’t entirely happy. “Everyone will tell you that there’s no one more competitive than me, so of course I really had my mind set on going in and trying to win first place in the final day,” he recalled. “So, I realize that I have a lot more to do and work on before next time. It kept me hungry.”

Every Step Of The Way

Chris’ hunger for gold has been building throughout the more than 15 years he’s been competing at the grand prix level. And Royal Kaliber seems to be the horse who can deliver it.

“It all comes down to the luck of the day and if everything goes well, but I definitely think he’s a horse for the Olympic team,” said Morris. “And if the sun and moon and stars are aligned, which they have to be for a championship, he’s definitely a horse for an individual medal.”

It helps that Chris has complete faith in Royal. “He’s done everything I’ve ever asked of him’indoors, outdoors, day, under the lights, anything. And he’s always done it to 100 percent of his ability. He wants to give you his very best, and you can’t ask for any more,” he said.

Kamine considers herself privileged to have watched the developing partnership between Chris and Royal. “I adore horses, but a horse like Royal is so special. To see him improve over the years, and to see the bond that’s grown between him and Chris, is unlike any other thing,” she said. “It’s like watching your child grow up. You watch them work hard and practice, and then go in and succeed.”

Jenny believes the key is “that horse loves to win. Every time he goes in the ring, you have confidence that he can win, and I’ve never been around an animal like that. Chris has had some great horses in his life, but Royal just amazes us every step of the way.”

But that faith brings with it the downside of trepidation. “You’re very nervous when you have a horse like that, because you know you have the winner and all that can happen is disaster,” said Morris. “It’s not as if you’re trying to make an average horse the winner and if he doesn’t win, it’s OK. This horse, you can only make him the loser.”

Jenny and Chris try hard to treat Royal just like any other horse in the barn, but they admit it’s sometimes hard. “We don’t want to ruin his quality of life by being neurotic, but it’s hard when he’s made of gold to us,” Jenny said. “Chris said to me once, ‘I would feel so much better if he could just live in a room in our house.’ But he’s got to be a horse.”

Royal makes life a bit easier by being a joy to work with. He’s a very easy stallion to handle. And he tops off this gentlemanly demeanor with a healthy dose of personality. “He’s just a clown,” Jenny said. “He loves to be groomed, and if you ignore him for a second, and then look back at him, he’ll be sticking his tongue out, trying to get your attention. He’ll cock his head, paw, anything to get your attention.”

But once Royal reaches the ring, he’s all business.

“If I’m at all apprehensive about the course, it immediately goes away when I see him canter in with that bold look. He comes into the ring looking like he can do anything,” Jenny said.

That confidence is the result of Chris’ careful nurturing of Royal’s innate talent. He planned Royal’s career very carefully, with long-term goals in mind. But such phenomenal success wasn’t a foregone conclusion, since Royal was a bit of an unknown entity when Chris found him in the spring of 2000.

Taking A Chance

Royal, then 8, caught Chris’ eye while he was horse-shopping at Henk Nooren’s in the Netherlands. “Trying him, we just felt like a good match. He was very well bred’and a handsome horse. He had so many qualities that I really liked,” Chris recalled. He called Morris, who flew over to assess the horse.

Royal impressed Morris too, but he wasn’t without a flaw. “Jumping, he was very scopey and careful. But he did twist and hang sometimes, which I think threw off some of the European riders,” said Morris. “His knees would sometimes twist to the side, and he didn’t always have the most meticulous form. It was lucky for us, because he was just jumping a meter-30 [4’10”], and I think that the Europeans who looked at him were suspicious that he couldn’t jump bigger fences because of the twist.”

But Chris and Morris were willing to take a chance. They saw genuine ability masked by poor technique. “I said, ‘Heck, I don’t care if a horse twists as long as he’s scopey and careful,’ ” said Morris. “We tried him over two days, and anything I set, he did without problem. I set a scope test of big fences’vertical to oxer to oxer’and that horse just cantered it.”

After returning home, Chris and Jenny got on the phone and worked to find owners willing to take a chance with them. They succeeded with the Kamines. “He was a bit of a risk,” said Morris. “But it’s always risky when you buy horses. You don’t really know what you’ve got until the fat lady has sung and after they’ve been going for several years.”

Royal arrived in April 2000, and Chris started him in the preliminary and intermediate divisions. Royal developed quickly, and Chris entered him in the $75,000 American Jumping Classic (Ky.) on July 29. It was a big class, at night, under lights and on an expansive, grass field. It would be a formidable challenge for the young horse.

“I don’t quite know what I was thinking, entering him in that class, but he had dealt with his first grand prix so easily that I thought he could do it,” recalled Chris. “But he went around and was clean. For an 8-year-old, on that impressive field, with that atmosphere, that was unbelievable. That’s when I got the first glimpse of what I thought he might be.”

Royal began 2001 with three red grand prix ribbons’one in the prestigious $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational (Fla.). He gained more mileage at Spruce Meadows (Alta.) in the summer, but in August, they encountered a setback. Royal reared up over the stall wall and hooked a knee over the door. He strained his fetlock, and Chris decided to give him the rest of the year off to recover.

After Royal won his first grand prix in 2002’the $50,000 Bayer/USET Wellington Cup (Fla.) in February’Chris’ eyes were pointed toward the World Equestrian Games selection trials. But while warming up for the third round of the WEG trials in Del Mar, Calif., a shoe shifted and a nail went into Royal’s foot. The injury took them out of the trials, but Royal bounced back quickly, and a week later won the $175,000 Cargill Grand Prix of the United States (Calif.). The class doubled as the last two rounds of the trials, so Royal bested not only defending World Champions Rodrigo Pessoa and Gandini Lianos, but also those who qualified for the U.S. WEG team.

“Maybe it was just somebody’s way of saying that he wasn’t ready for the World Games yet,” Chris mused. “I was disappointed, and it was very hard to take at the time, but for whatever reason it worked out that way.” They also learned a bit about Royal through the experience in California. “I think that’s when we got his program really sorted out. We figured out how to keep him happy and sound. He’s a little bit tricky to shoe’his left front turns out a little bit,” said Chris. Royal finished the year by winning the $60,000 American Gold Cup (Pa.) in September.

Cementing The Partnership

Because Chris was able to skip the Pan Am Games selection trials in May, he flew to Europe and competed at the Wiesbaden CSI (Germany) and then Aachen, where Royal took fourth in one of the biggest grand prix classes in the world.

“Those shows in Europe really cemented my relationship with my horse. I felt I could compete with some of the top riders in the world, and I felt very confident in my horse going into the Pan Am Games. I felt I got a lot more out of getting that mileage than I might have gotten out of doing the selection trials,” said Chris.

Morris agreed that showing against Europe’s greats at Aachen was a learning experience for both Chris and Royal. “I think that the Grand Prix of Aachen was a bit of a new experience for Chris. He had to go last in the jump-off, after Ludger [Beerbaum] and all the other big guns,” Morris recalled. Chris and Royal finished with 8 faults in the jump-off, less than a second slower than the winner, Beerbaum on Goldfever.

“I think that lack of experience bobbled Chris. He changed his game plan, and he lost the Grand Prix of Aachen. I would have done the same thing in his situation, though. It was just not having been in that position enough. I think that if Chris had been in that situation three or four times before, he probably would have won,” said Morris.

But Royal and Chris were faultless in the Nations Cup at Aachen, helping their U.S. team tie for third. They jumped two clean rounds that day’one of only two double-clean performances over the tough course.

“He was so super there. He loved the crowds and the big field,” said Chris. “The more atmosphere, the better, for him. When there are big crowds, he puffs up and starts to buck and play a little bit before the first fence.”

After their double-medal performances at the Pan Am Games, Chris and Royal Kaliber showed at the Spruce Meadows Masters, helping the U.S. team to third in the Nations Cup. Chris was a bit disappointed with their results there, so he decided to finish the year at the American Gold Cup, where they redeemed themselves with first and second in the two grand prix classes.

And now the Olympics are first and foremost in his mind.

“I feel like I have a short window now with a very good horse to try and compete at my very best. He’s one of the best horses I’ve ever had, and I will absolutely be working my very hardest every day to make sure he and I and all of my people are at our best form to do our very best,” said Chris.

“It’s a sport of years, and every year I feel like I’m learning how to ride a little bit better. I’m hoping that Royal came along at the right time, and that I’m at my physical best and able to draw on my experience to benefit him in difficult situations.”