Ridecamp: [RC] Actors Who Can Ride

Angie rides2far@xxxxxxxx said:

>Richard Farnsworth used to be a stunt man, (I've seen
>photos of him Roman riding 2 horses at a gallop,...

Mentioning Richard Farnsworth reminded me of
another actor who can ride, an international film
star, that I talked to once; although when I was
speaking with him I didn't know who he was.

The French classical dressage expert Jean-Philipe
Giacomini gave a clinic to the San Diego County
Morgan Horse club at a farm in Rancho Santa
Fe in 1996.  I got there early.  Pulling in behind
me was a elderly (looked 60's or so) gent in a big
blue pickup.  When he got out I noticed he
was very tall--a good 6 feet--but exceptionally trim
and well-proportioned for a man his age.  He
had a build and carriage any 30 year old would
envy.

We exchanged pleasantries.  His voice did not
match his physique:  it was a thin, soft, high
voice with a soft western accent like Richard
Farnsworth's.

We chatted off-and-on throughout the morning
as we watched Giacomini work.  It developed
that he had a ranch in Rancho Santa Fe.  I
immediately thought "$$," then decided that
he must be retired businessman to be able to
afford some of the most expensive acerage
in the world.  He was raising Flyhawk Morgans.
He was pleased with the results he was getting.

It slowly became clear that he already knew
Giacomini.  I asked him where they had met, and he
replied that he knew him from *way* back:  they
had both been students of the great dressage master
Nuno d'Oliviera at his academy in Portugal in the
early 1960's.

This gave me a stop.  *Nobody* was studying
dressage in Europe in the 1960s!  Dressage had
not yet penetrated the American riding scene and
the now-common practise of taking a year to
study with a riding master in Europe was unheard
of back then.

"Were you in the service?" I asked him, figuring
that maybe he had been stationed over there and
d'Oliviera's academy was simply the closest place
he could conveniently get a horse to ride.

He looked down at me strangely for about five
seconds, and then softly said, "No...I just had the
chance to do alot of travelling around when I was
younger."

I revised my assessment:  Must have been the child
of rich parents, not the self-made businessman I
had pegged him as.  But the western accent and
demeanor didn't fit...

The clinic broke for lunch.  Before the afternoon
session got started, he made his apologies to the
group that he had to leave to get back to his ranch.
He and Giacomini exchanged the warm "See you"s
of old friends and he left.

Sometime during the afternoon I found out who he
was.  Turns out he was active and well-known in
the local Morgan community.  They told me who
I had been talking to.

It was Steve Reeves.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@xxxxxxxxx
Massachusetts, USA
(Hint:  aka "Hercules")




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