Unusual isn’t one of the legendary Kathy Kusner’s more famous rides and her time with him was brief, but he’s one of her favorite memories. And, 53 years ago, the two of them won the President’s Cup at the Washington International Horse Show.

Kathy Kusner and Unusual at the 1962 National Horse Show

From the 2010 article “Kathy Kusner And Three Thoroughbreds Challenged Tradition” in The Chronicle of the Horse: 

In the summer of 1962, Kusner had just returned from her first European tour with the U.S. Equestrian Team. “Unusual was a horse that had shown a little as a green jumper but hadn’t had any career. I had never seen him, but a friend, Frances Rowe, had him in her barn,” Kusner recalled.

Rowe wrote Kusner a letter, saying that this horse had very interesting breeding. He was out of the same mare as the famous jumpers Circus Rose, also known as Miss Budweiser, and Riviera Wonder.

“When I got back from Europe, I went to a horse show in Richmond, Va., met the horse, and got to ride him in the stake in the open division, which he won. I loved him from the first moment. I didn’t have a special horse in my life. It was the beginning of my time with the team, and I was barely on it by the skin of my teeth.

“Unusual was unusually wonderful,” Kusner said. “He was a real quality Thoroughbred horse. His greenness manifested itself in the best way possible. At each jump, he would spend some minutes in the air, so it seemed, as he got very high with his huge leap. It was just the nicest ride, and each jump felt as if you were sitting on a cloud.”

Kusner found the key to riding Unusual, who was sensitive and had a soft mouth. She rode him in the softest bit that was made at the time, a straight, soft rubber bit.

“I asked him to have nice RPMs in his work, so the engine had a lot of energy. He responded to that beautifully. He wasn’t a hot horse that had a lot of natural impulsion,” said Kusner.

“I also had the front door wide open, so he could do whatever he wanted with his head and neck. He didn’t use his head and neck and back a lot. But when I rode him like that, he turned into this soft cloud that went in the air and just stayed. He was a loose-legged jumper, but he was extremely high over every fence. He was the easiest ride—he’d just float.”

Kusner showed Unusual in the green jumpers at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in the fall, where they were champion. Then, she and Unusual competed for the USET at the Washington (D.C.) International Horse Show and won the President’s Cup.

The Chronicle’s coverage of the President’s Cup included this paragraph about their performances: “Unusual, whose tremendous ability was apparent during the entire show, was at his most sparkling for this featured event and looked like a horse who knew exactly what was at stake—and in complete harmony with his rider, who seems to suit any horse, but is exceptional on this one.”

There wasn’t a spot available on the USET team for the National Horse Show (N.Y.) at Madison Square Garden, so Kusner and Unusual competed in the open jumper division, and Unusual was champion. “He just was a joy. He was absolutely the sensation of the fall circuit,” Kusner said. “It was wonderful. I couldn’t believe my lucky stars that I was riding him. But then he was sold, and my lucky stars weren’t quite as aligned anymore,” she continued.

Kusner still rode Unusual in the 1963 Pan American Games (Brazil), where they helped win team gold, but, “I wasn’t the one who organized his life anymore, and he wasn’t the horse he had been. It wasn’t the real Unusual in Sao Paulo,” Kusner said.

Then, in 1965, Unusual reappeared into her life. That was in the midst of Untouchable’s career, but he’d been injured at the beginning of the fall indoor circuit. “Untouchable was hurt, and I was supposed to ride on the team at the Garden. So, I was told there were two horses in the barn at Gladstone, and I could choose one to ride at New York, and one of them was Unusual,” Kusner recalled.

“I said, ‘I would love to ride Unusual.’ I just went back to riding him the same as I did before, and he was the same wonderful horse he’d been in the past,” she said.

He won several classes at the Garden in the international division.

“Billy [Steinkraus] had Snowbound there, and Unusual was winning the grand prix until Billy went after me. Billy was brilliant. Snowbound slipped on a turn in the jump-off, but Billy and Snowbound salvaged the round and still were faster than Unusual. They were the headliners. If Billy hadn’t been so very, very good, and Snowbound hadn’t been so very, very good, Unusual would have won the class and been king of the hill. But Billy’s round was beautiful, and it was thrilling to watch.

“At the Garden, Unusual was the same horse again, and I loved riding him again. Later that fall, he twisted his intestine and very sadly had to be put to sleep. It wasn’t a long career together, but that horse was just wonderful. He, again, was a standout horse of the moment at Madison Square Garden. It was a nice moment in time.”

In a post on a historical hunter/jumper Facebook group, Marianne Taylor noted that an article about Unusual appeared in the Nov. 26, 1962 issue of Sports Illustrated. In it, the legendary trainer Frances Rowe, the agent for Unusual’s owner, had this to say about Unusual: “He was bred by Mrs. Liz [Whitney] Tippett and her Llangollen Farm in Upperville, Va. His sire is Endeavour II [also the sire of the outstanding Thoroughbred, Prove It], and his dam is Winter Rose, the dam of the superb jumper Riviera Wonder, who four times won the New York national championship. We started Unusual at the Devon Horse Show in May, but he didn’t finish anywhere. Once Kathy started riding him he began to win. First on the Virginia circuit…Then he won the green jumper title at the Penn National Horse Show. In my mind I feel that, without Kathy Kusner, Unusual is just another nickel horse.” 

Junior Johnson, who worked for Rowe at the time, recalled Unusual as a hot horse. “When he came off the track, he was sent to be a foxhunter, given to whip Johnny Buswell with Deep Run Hunt [Va.],” Johnson remembered.

“When Frances first saw him, it was at Deep Run Hunter Trials, while they paraded the hounds. Johnny had had a few stirrup cups and decided to jump the horse over a 4’ aluminum gate. He spun him around, and with no more than a stride, he jumped it and cleared it by a lot. The whole Little Hawk crew watched this. Before long, he was in the barn and Kathy got the ride.”