![]() Show Jumping Team at that time was Bertalan de Némethy, who was a Hungarian cavalry officer. The same emphasis was continued by his Olympic-team coach, Le Goff, who was the youngest rider to head the elite Cadre Noir at the French National Riding School. In teaching Coffin, de Leon emphasized the classical principles of riding and training. His first coach, de Leon, learned the sport in the riding club in Cuba among former officers of the German cavalry. ![]() Coffin credited his good understanding of the importance of the saddle to the classical training he received from his coaches who were masters of the sport. He believed the saddle is an integral part of the sport, the element that unites the horse and rider to become a single moving entity. Since his days with the Olympic team, Coffin had been interested in improving the saddle. In 1984, de Leon and Coffin were invited to run the International Equestrian Institute at Morvan Park in Leesburg, Virginia, where for five years they trained riders to be riding instructors and coaches. In 1976, the team again won gold in the Olympics at Montreal and Coffin again won an individual gold medal. Two years later, under Le Goff’s guidance, the team won gold in the Pan American Games, and Coffin also won an individual gold medal. The coach of the team was the renowned French horseman, Jack Le Goff. In those six years, Coffin competed successfully in many equestrian events, including the Pony Club Invitational Championships in South Africa.įresh out of high school, Coffin qualified for the U.S. He took a job as a horse trainer and riding instructor and coached Coffin from the age of 12 until he graduated from high school at 18. De Leon was a 21-year-old Cuban foreign student who found himself in exile when Castro overthrew the Cuban government. On the wall behind him is a framed quotation from his grandfather: “To be truly great, a man must have beautiful dreams of how to make the world a better place and then work hard every day to make his beautiful dreams come true.” On the kitchen island are two of his innovations that he hopes will make a difference in this world.īorn and raised in Long Island, New York, Coffin started riding at the age of 10 under the direction of Raul de Leon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |