This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Spalding Labs, is with Olympic eventer and World Championship team silver medalist Will Coleman.
Coleman and Twizzel represented the United States at the 2012 London Olympics. Coleman was part of the U.S. Eventing Team again at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina, with Tight Lines. A career highlight came when Coleman and Off The Record won the prestigious CCIO4*-S in Aachen, Germany, in 2021. Continued success a year later led to Off the Record’s selection for the FEI Eventing World Championship in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. There Coleman helped secure a team silver medal and finished as the highest-placed American in seventh.
For these efforts, U.S. Equestrian named Coleman a 2022 U. S. Equestrian of Honor, and he received the William C. Steinkraus Trophy. Similarly, U.S. Equestrian named Off The Record as a 2022 Horse of Honor.
Additionally, Coleman and Off The Record placed seventh in the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI5*. He and his five-star rookie Chin Tonic finished 11th. He is aiming Dondante for the Defender Burghley Horse Trials later this year.
Living a “lifelong dream” that began when he was 6 years old on a Shetland pony in Charlottesville, Virginia, Coleman now operates Will Coleman Equestrian with his wife, Katie, based in Gordonsville, Virginia, and Ocala, Florida.
During the conversation, Coleman talks about Off the Record and Dondante, with whom he placed seventh at the 2022 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event and sixth at the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill. He shares what they’re like to ride and train and what their personalities are like. He also talks about his overall training program, what makes a good horseperson, how he channels nervous energy and why he loves eventing.
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