Quotes from James Wofford

My excursions into "horse politics" and "the alphabets" were to pay my debt to society by serving in the political trenches of the equestrian world, but horse politics never defined me. It took horses to do that.

Ad hoc committees can be a sign of a prescient leadership structure, proactively dealing with serious topics of concern, or they can be a sign of ineptitude at the board level, which then shove off issues to some subsidiary group to deal with, rather than facing unpleasant truths.

However, eventing was still a small, disorganized group of people who wanted to gallop at speed over solid obstacles and then party like hell that night.

It was a wet summer, even for Ireland. The sun was out the morning I landed in Dublin and shone again the day I left-and it rained every day in between. When I mentioned this, I was told, "Yes, but it's a dry rain." The Irish have a subtle conception of the truth.

While General Humberto Mariles of Mexico was winning the gold medal in show jumping on Arete, I snuck into the enclosure at the base of the Olympic flame tower in Wembly Stadium to do what little boys do. A horrified English bobby, helmet and all, chased me over the fence, calling me a "horrid little boy." He did not know how right he was.

On the second day of a Classic at Olympic and World Championship level, the "speed and endurance" test length totaled 22 miles, which included a 2-mile steeplechase, and a 5-mile cross-country phase.

Daddy tolerated this, but her exploded on Sunday night after the last competitor had left: "Goddamnit, Dot, horse show people are crazy, but dog show people are the lunatic fringe of humanity." We never hosted the Specialty Show again.