Bareback over 5 foot wall, trust a TB

Gutsy—Godsoe and Judge Beautiful go bareback

Gripping her mare’s warm sides without saddle and stirrups, Priscilla Godsoe sent her Thoroughbred galloping toward the five-foot jump.

As the horse’s pace quickened in the moments before takeoff, Godsoe knew this: her ex-racer was the best horse to take her safely, bareback, over a high jump.

“I don’t think I trusted any other horse to go down and jump that wall,” she says.

Surrounded by elite equestrian competitors last month, Godsoe and her 13-year-old mare Judge Beautiful bounded over the bright red jump in the center of Plantation Field grand prix field, demonstrating, she says, the innate instinct the breed has for bravery and trustworthiness. A talent often overlooked in the show jumping world that prefers Warmbloods, she adds.

Race name: Judge Beautiful
Sire: Judge Smells
Dam: Waulkmill
Foal date: April 11, 1998
“I would love to prove to the whole world that Thoroughbreds have so much to offer,” says Godsoe, 24. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I always go to these horse shows with the Thoroughbreds, and I beat the people with the Warmbloods. People who often (dismiss) Thoroughbreds because they think they’ve raced too hard and have too many injuries.”

The nationally ranked equestrian who has been showing since age 3 is as passionate for Thoroughbreds as she is for show jumping. Although she has owned and ridden many breeds, and is enthusiastic about her Warmbloods, Godsoe has found time and time again that the Thoroughbred is undervalued.

“Back in the day, they dominated. We had retired racehorses show in the Olympics,” Godsoe says.

Godsoe should know. Growing up in a family with deep equestrian ties, she learned skill and equestrian history at her family farm, Greenfields Family Stable. Godsoe’s grandmother Marilyn Mitchell founded the facility 48 years ago in Nottingham, Penn., and since then, they have trained many champion- and national-level riders.

And much of that success can be attributed to ex-racehorse. The family equestrian center is currently working with several award-winning Thoroughbreds.

No Distractions—Godsoe and Judge Beautiful focus

Her work has not only caught the eye of numerous Grand Prix judges, but will be featured in a book chapter about Barbaro, the racehorse who suffered a catastrophic injury during the nationally televised Preakness Stakes in 2006.

Alex Brown, an exercise rider and internationally known horse-welfare advocate, has been commissioned by Barbaro’s owners, the Jackson family, to write “Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and his Legacy.” The book is due spring, 2011.

When Godsoe first met Judge Beautiful fresh off the track 13 years ago, she was not thinking of the mare’s future prospects as a hunter or jumper. “It was really just compassion that led me to choose her,” Godsoe says. “When people tell you the next step might be to the auction house, and you know that fate happens to so many, I just had to take her.”

After giving the mare over a year off, Godsoe set about trainer her as a hunter. But she was too quick, and refused to cross water while fox hunting. “She just didn’t want any part of it. She’d jump over water, but she didn’t want to go through it. Maybe she didn’t want to get her feet wet.”

Under Saddle—Judge Beautiful gets it done

Later on, Godsoe discovered Judge Beautiful’s talent was with jumpers. “When I first took her out we literally jumped the top of the standards,” Godsoe says. “The greatest thing about her is that she has no stop in her.”

And there has been no stopping the pair. In 2009, Judge Beautiful was ranked sixth by the United States Equestrian Federation, and reserve champion by the United States Hunter Jumper Association.

So used to winning ribbons, Judge Beautiful often tries to re-enter the show ring as soon as she hears the announcer speak after a competition. “She’s such a competitive horse and I don’t think she knows when we’re done. But she tries to get in the ring to get her ribbon,” Godsoe says. “She’s had a lot of victory gallops.”

Judge Beautiful just gets better and better.

At the Sept. 19th Plantation Fields high jump, the pair made it to the fourth round of competition and won third place.

What Goes Up—Judge Beautiful clears it

“It was an adrenaline rush. There were a lot people there that day,” Godsoe says. “People came to see if you could make it over … (but) I knew Judge Beautiful was jumping it, no matter how big.

“It was a little surreal as she left the ground, and it was a really great feeling to share with a horse partner.”