Team #527 Robert Henselwood and Special Ed

Team #527: Robert Henselwood and Special Ed
Ages: 73 & 27
Combined Age: 100

I began riding in Germany at the age of 12 and was given a solid base in dressage riding. My dressage career was short lived, and I went on to ride jumpers through my teens. However, dressage was always the foundation of everything I did and taught.

I have been a riding instructor for the past 50 years. My wife, Jill Henselwood, was my most successful student. Through her career she became the most successful female Grand Prix show jumping rider in Canadian history. She won both the individual gold medal at the Pan American Games (the only woman to ever do that) and a team silver medal at the Hong Kong Olympics. (Also, the only woman in Canada to ever win an Olympic show jumping medal.)

Both incredible achievements were done on my Century Club partner, Special Ed.

Special Ed’s original name was Ademus. He is a 1994 bay Oldenburg gelding by Argentinus out of a Grannus mare named Rappe. He was purchased at an auction in Germany by a lady in Texas who sent him to train with a good friend of mine, Suzanne Dutt-Roth, in Canada to become a dressage horse.

Ed is a very spooky horse and would not go down the centerline if it was rolled. Suzanne worked with him for a year before she came to me to see if he could jump. At first, he was ridiculously spooky about everything, and we just about gave up on him.

The lady in Texas was a big fan of Ed’s and really wanted to see him develop. She never gave up on him. After two years of training, Ed started to settle into his job and began to really enjoy it. Once the jumps got big enough, he learned to focus on his job and just got better and better.

The lady in Texas got pregnant and agreed that we could buy Ed if we were going to continue to develop him.

The rest is history. He went on to win the Grand Prix of Madrid, a number of Grand Prix’s in North America, and of course the Pan American games and silver medal at the Olympics.

I told Ed at the Olympics, after he won the medal, that I would never sell him, and that I would look after him for the rest of his life. Well, he is now 27 years old and as you can see, he is still in very good health.

When he comes in from the paddock, he puffs himself up and prances like a five-year-old.

I thought it was fitting that since he and I both started our careers in dressage, and that we finish it up in dressage as well.

Thank you for this opportunity to do this special ride on my Special Ed!!

Bob and Special Ed completed Training Level, Test 1, on October 20, 2021, to join the Century Club.