KENTUCKY PREVIEW ISSUE

90 HORSE OF A LIFETIME: Treaty A “Charles Town special” makes it to the top of the country’s biggest three-day event.

By Lindsay Berreth

any legendary riders have galloped across the bluegrass into the winner’s circle at the Kentucky Three-Day Event, and their Mnames are etched into the silver trophy awarded each year— Bruce Davidson, Karen and David O’Connor, Jimmy Wofford, Torrance Watkins, Kim Severson, William Fox-Pitt and Michael Jung to name a few. There can only be one winner, but every April dozens of riders contest the toughest event in the United States, and often an unknown name will emerge from the pack into the top 10 as they experience the weekend of a lifetime on their special partner. “There’s always someone who comes out of the field at Kentucky, and you suddenly notice them,” said Wofford. “Well, they’ve been there all along. They’ve just finally caught lightning in a bottle. It’s not a total surprise if you’ve been watching them the whole time. It’s just nice when the numbers work out.” In 1994, it was Julie Gomena’s weekend to best those big names, and she did it aboard Treaty, a small, plain bay, off-track Thoroughbred who took her career to new heights. “When I look at Rolex I kind of think of the Maryland Hunt Cup,” said Gomena, who transitioned to the steeplechasing world after her eventing career. “There’s so much luck involved, and when things work out, it’s a great thing. I felt that way about Rolex that year. Everything fell in line for me.”

Julie Gomena kept kicking through the Head of the Lake to win the 1994 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event aboard Treaty. BRANT GAMMA PHOTO

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Julie Gomena and Treaty led the field at the final horse inspection at the 1994 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. JOHN STRASSBURGER PHOTO

“He was a Charles Town special—no account as a flat horse,” said Gomena, referring to the track in West Virginia where Treaty had raced. “I think they’d been doing some hunting and had been out hilltopping. I went over and rode him and quite liked him and purchased him very inexpensively.” Gomena had an eye for Thoroughbreds and galloped race horses throughout her career before becoming a jockey herself. She thought Treaty would make a nice eventer up to about training level, but she never expected him to become what he did. “He was a cute little bay horse, a cute mover and a cute jumper—nothing special, but as the months and eventually years went along, all of a sudden this horse developed,” she said. “For whatever reason, he was a different horse at competitions. I’d be riding him on a daily basis, and he’d look like nothing special, and when I went to the competitions all of a sudden this horse had this extravagant way of moving. I couldn’t cross-country school him. He would run out and stop; it was terrible. But at the competitions, he was 100 percent a good guy AN EYE FOR A THOROUGHBRED and would do whatever I asked of him. He never moved Gomena grew up in Oregon and picked up eventing at like he did at home on a daily basis. I don’t know how he the Lake Oswego Hunt Club. When she was 18, she drove knew!” east with little more than her horse, Ashton Parke, and Davidson remembered Gomena’s talent for forming big dreams to work for Bruce Davidson in Unionville, partnerships with her horses and admired Treaty as a Pennsylvania. classic event horse. “He was an athlete,” Davidson said. “The way I learned best was to watch him and “He was a Thoroughbred horse. He could gallop. He was replicate him,” she said. brave; he was clever; he was honest. All the things you In 1990, Gomena was on the hunt for a project horse want. He wasn’t too strong. That’s why he won.” to flip when she came across Treaty (Hawkin’s Special— Once in Virginia, Gomena started training with Sign Of Agreement, Cyane). She’d moved to Middleburg, Wofford, then Wash Bishop. Virginia, after three years with Davidson and set up She and Treaty moved up to advanced in 1993 and shop on her own. placed 10th in that division at Kentucky before heading to Foaled on March 6, 1985, the Pennsylvania-bred the Fair Hill International Three-Day Event (Maryland) gelding raced nine times and earned $30. He’d made his in the fall and finishing 18th. way to James L. Young, Jt.-MFH of the Orange County “He didn’t have the biggest step in the world,” said Hounds (Virginia), and his wife Sally. The Youngs were Wofford of the 15.3-hand gelding. “Julie understands Gomena’s neighbors, and their daughter-in-law Melissa horses. That’s why she’s been successful at more than Young had known Treaty as a race horse. one branch of the horse business, because she’s such a

92 good horsewoman. Some people are born with that. Julie didn’t have to ask anybody how to teach her how to think like a horse. I had to teach her about strides and the proper angle of the shoulder-in, but I didn’t have to teach her to listen to her horse. He was not the scopiest horse in the world, and she did a really SPRING HORSE TRIALS good job with him. She presented ST RD him everywhere exactly the way he JUNE 21 -23 needed to be presented.” TH TH OPENING DATE: CLOSING DATE: Heading into Kentucky in 1994, MAY 7 JUNE 4 Gomena’s attention was divided. She Intermediate - Beginner Novice and Young Event Horse Classes was earning a degree in English at AN EXCEPTIONAL George Mason University (Virginia), COMPETITION FOR ALL HORSES, taking evening classes. She also had RIDERS AND SPECTATORS! a part-time job with the Washington Post writing a bi-monthly column about horses. Despite the additional BOARDING responsibilities, Gomena was on a roll that spring with Treaty. They finished second in the advanced at TRAINING Morven Park (Virginia) and fourth at Fair Hill. “He did well in the horse trials and went to Kentucky ready to face the SALES world,” she remembered. “He needed confidence building. He was not the bravest horse by any means. I think COMPETITIONS he liked eventing because anything was better than racing. He did not like to race at all. He was such a good guy; that’s why he was a good event horse.”

KICK ON But no matter how thoroughly you prepare, anything can happen once you drive into the Kentucky Horse Park on the last week of April. A 50.2 in dressage put them in a tie INTERNATIONAL 5-STAR for sixth heading into cross-country. and US TEAM RIDER As it often can be at Kentucky, JAN BYYNY rain was a factor on cross-country STUDENTS OF ALL LEVELS WELCOME day, with thunderstorms and even 20490 St. Louis Road | Purcellville, VA 20132 tornadoes in the forecast. After a [email protected] | 540.729.3977

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Once on cross-country, Gomena gave it her all, and Treaty stepped up. “Treaty was a chicken and did not have the biggest galloping stride anyway, so when there I think all three of was an option I would always have to add,” she said. “It worked out very well because he was not a big galloping horse. I remember walking down to the water, and you us were holding our had to get the striding right. There was no way around it. I couldn’t add anything. I remember watching the video breaths as I jumped of it, and to this day, you see him jump in and see my legs come off his side and kick him as hard as I can up over the first element of the water, and then same thing as I’m around the course.” landing into the water. It’s not very pretty, but it was the —Julie Gomena correct thing to do!” With a loop in her reins around the whole course, Gomena kicked Treaty on and moved into the lead when wet second day of dressage, the ground was soggy. When others ahead of her faltered. the first rider, Michael Godfrey, went out on course, his The gelding sailed through the jog and moved on to horse Glendevlin sunk into the brand new Lexington Bank show jumping, where rails were falling. complex and became momentarily stuck on top. The ground jury removed the obstacle from Mike Etherington-Smith’s track, but the rest of the challenging course and the deep going only allowed four pairs to finish clean and inside the time. Gomena and Treaty were one of those pairs. Gomena said she tended to retreat into herself on cross-country day at a big competition, and Treaty would do the same. “I would get nervous in a good way,” she said. “I’m a generally chatty kind of person, and I would get very quiet. He would lie down in the back of the stall on a big day. He knew something was coming up. If anything he would be hiding in the back of the stall. He was a very social horse, but I believe he knew in that way that something was coming up.” Gomena admitted she wasn’t always overly positive about herself as a rider, but after walking the cross- country course, she felt ready to tackle it. Treaty was a careful jumper, which didn’t make for an ideal steeplechase round on Phase B of the old long- format event. “He was such a good jumper and over- jumped and landed extremely steep,” Gomena recalled. “You have to slip your reins because they’re landing so steep, and you feel like their rear end is going to come up over your head and do a somersault. That’s the way he did it, and it didn’t matter. He’d jump bigger and land Julie Gomena finished ahead of her former trainer even steeper. It was not good! He would not have been a Bruce Davidson on Regent Lion when she and good hurdle horse. He would have been more of a timber Treaty won at Rolex Kentucky in 1994. CORA CUSHNY PHOTO horse.”

94 Treaty’s excellent form over fences made him a successful hunter after his eventing career ended. CHRISTINE TCHIR/SPORT HORSE STUDIO PHOTO

Julie Gomena and Treaty ended their 1994 summer in England with a disappointing elimination in the final horse inspection at Blenheim. KENTUCKY PREVIEW ISSUE

Treaty, now 33, is living out his retirement at Julie Gomena’s Over Creek Farm in Middleburg, Virginia. LINDSAY BERRETH PHOTO

Gomena had competed assuming she was in contention for that year’s FEI World Equestrian Games (the Netherlands), but when she jogged Treaty on Monday morning, she was informed that her check and declaration of intent never made it. Disappointed, Gomena accepted a $10,000 grant from Jacqueline Mars to train with Mark Phillips and compete in England for three months. She stayed with Ann Hardaway Taylor and jumped some of the biggest courses she’d ever seen at events like Thirlestane Castle (Scotland) and Gatcombe (England). But England was not to Treaty, or Gomena’s, liking. That summer was hot and dry, and the hard ground aggravated the gelding, who had navicular syndrome. “He did not like it there,” she said. “He’d jump out of the paddocks all the time. I would go to the local pub and ask for a salad, and they had no idea what a salad was. Culture shock for both of us and some big courses.” Their stay culminated with the CCI3* at Blenheim Palace. With Phillips busy getting the course ready Wofford reminded her she could afford a little bit of for the 1995 Pan American Games (Argentina), Gomena time, so if she needed she could take a tug, but they had looked to Davidson to help her. Treaty was a little sticky to jump clean. on cross-country but made it around. She received a “I had never been in that position to be the last to go in yellow card for her use of the stick, and they were spun at show jumping,” she said. “I remember warming up, and the second horse inspection. all of a sudden there was no one around! I had never even “I looked at Treaty, and he looked at me like, ‘Let’s go thought about that. Talk about pressure. home!’ I couldn’t wait to get out of there,” she said. “He was a very good, very careful jumper, so I couldn’t Gomena started the 1995 season in contention for have been on a better ride,” she continued. “Both of the Pan Am team, but she finished near the bottom of my parents were also there. I think all three of us were the pack with 20 penalties on cross-country in the final holding our breaths as I jumped around the course. I selection trial at Pine Top (Georgia). Treaty had some really wanted to do it. I was just hoping it would work soundness issues pop up, so Gomena decided it was time out.” to give him an easier job.

96 After his eventing career, Treaty, pictured with Terri Wheeler, went on to become a successful show hunter. TERESA RAMSAY PHOTO

“The horse had been too good to me,” she said. “I knew he would be a good show horse.” Gomena sent Treaty to hunter trainer Denice DeRisio Perry, who leased him out to some of her junior and amateur clients, including Sarah Hart and Sarah Perkins Hess. Jessica Garchik and Terri Wheeler also showed him. He was successful locally and on the Florida circuit for five years before retiring to Gomena’s Over Creek Farm in Middleburg. “He was beautifully schooled, beautifully broken, but he had so much height to his jump, and he Treaty’s last U.S. Equestrian Federation competition was slow about it, and that’s unusual for a big-time was in 2001 with Wheeler before he retired. event horse to want to stay that slow in the air,” said Gomena, 56, gave up eventing in the early 2000s, and Perry. “They teach them to jump across the jumps—it’s she’s been riding and training steeplechasers ever since, a different game. He just wanted to go that way. Julie is working out of her farm with husband Robert Bonnie. the most amazing rider in the world and believed Treaty Treaty is 33 and still trots around his field sound at could do that at Kentucky, but when I put a junior on him, Over Creek Farm with his best friend, Gomena’s retired and he did 3'6" jumps, I think he thought it was a walk in timber horse Double Redouble, who gave her her first the park.” sanctioned win. Although her barn is bustling with race Wheeler competed in the adult amateur division with horses and foxhunters, Gomena will often stop by to say the gelding, first trained by Perry and then Kitty Barker. hi and give him some attention. She wasn’t aware of his extensive eventing background at “He was by far the best [I ever had],” she said. “I am a the time; he was just a nice hunter. Thoroughbred fan, and more and more warmbloods were “He was just amazing to ride,” she said. “He could starting to show up in eventing. When they changed to shorten; he could lengthen. He could do all that fun the short format, that’s basically when I made my way dressage stuff. He was so adjustable. You could always get out. I loved the fitness of the horses and the courses and a hack ribbon on him because he was such a good mover. the steeplechase. I loved the long format. He could be a little quirky. That horse would jump fire “Of course my goal was always to win Rolex,” she when they were eventing, but try to get him over a coop, continued. “You always dream that. I was lucky, and forget it!” certain things worked out really well.”

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