Beezie Madden
As Beezie Madden and Judgement raced to the last jump, the crowd cheered!
Beezie Madden, who is a national hero, is an Olympic Show Jumper. There are three important things about Beezie: her career, her horses, and growing up. Being the first woman and the first American rider to reach the Top Three in the Show Jumping World-Ranking list, she is very successful with her work. Beezie was born on November 20, 1963, in Mequon, WI. Currently, she lives in Cazennovia, NY. She is now one of the top-notch riders in the world! Since Madden began riding at just three years of age, she has had plenty of experience with horses. She rides, teaches, and trains with her husband, John Madden. Beezie worked for John for eleven years, and finally they got married! Beezie Madden is AWESOME!
Madden made her Grand Prix debut in 1989, and just four years later was named United States Olympic Committee’s Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year. Amazingly, Beezie led the United States Equestrian Team (USET) to back-to-back Nations’ Cup. Becoming the first woman and U.S. rider to reach the Top Three in the Show Jumping World Ranking List in 2004, Beezie made a huge breakthrough. She won the $1 million CN International at Spruce Meadows on the horse Judgement, and the $200,000 American Invitational in Tampa, FL, on horse Authentic--surprisingly all in one year. Beezie has galloped up the charts and is keeping her spot, which is hard to do. As every day passes, she gets better and better. She is an experienced competitor!
Beezie rides two main horses. They are Judgement and Authentic. Judgement is a 1991 Dutch Warmblood stallion. He is a dark bay and stands at 17 hands, which is very tall. Judgement was bred to jump and that’s what he’s been doing successfully for most of his life. Amazingly, Beezie Madden and Judgement are one of the most successful pairings in Show Jumping history. In his career, Judgement has won over 1.5 million dollars. Judgement is the first American-bred stallion to achieve this level of international exposure. Authentic is a 1996 Dutch Warmblood gelding. “A once in a life time horse” is what Beezie calls Authentic. She first met the beautiful gelding when he was four years old, and bought him when he was seven years old. Ending her long search, Beezie finally found the right horse.
Because of her experience with horses from a very young age, Beezie became a USET rider. When she was six years old, she got her first pony for Christmas. She named her pony Flicka. As Beezie grew up, she became more serious about riding. Amazingly, she spent part of her junior year in high school on the Florida Show Jumping Circuit, juggling horse shows and classes. After attending Southern Seminary, a junior college in Virginia, she turned down an acceptance to the University of Virginia, and went to work for Katie Monahan Prudent on her Plain Bay Farm in Virginia. She worked there until she met John Madden.
Beezie is living the dream. She has awesome horses, an amazing career, and a great childhood. Thankfully, Beezie is still riding and jumping happily at forty-five years of age. Beezie, who is an equine hero, is continuing to win in the show ring. To her credit, Beezie shows no signs of slowing down. When Beezie does decide to retire, she will have shattered not only international records, but will also do so at the pinnacle of all-time wins for a woman.
Bibliography
http://www.nbcoltmpics.com/
http://www.regardinghorses.
http://www.savvyequestrian.