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Frank Chapot has the magic touch when it comes to coaching horse and rider teams.
By CHRISTINA K. COSDON
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2001
TAMPA -- World-class show jumping, like the kind at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Tampa through April 1, isn't a soft, comfortable game. The sport has its history in the cavalry, and it's dangerous.
Against the clock, a grand prix horse and its rider have to be confident, relaxed and in sync as they maneuver around tricky courses and over high jumps. If something goes wrong, both could be injured or killed.
Frank Chapot, long-time coach of the U.S. Equestrian Team's show-jumping unit, works to help those horse and rider partnerships work safely and effectively.
For more than 40 years, Chapot has been a principal figure with the equestrian team -- first as a six-time Olympic rider and a medalist, then as a course designer, a judge and, for almost 20 years, a coach of the successful grand prix and Olympic show jumping teams, working alone for a dozen years until he was joined in 1996 by George Morris, a former Olympic teammate.
Chapot will be with the team in Tampa, where spectators will be able to see Olympic-quality competition. The $3-million, 10-week festival began in January in West Palm Beach and concludes there next month with the American Grandprix Association National Championships, where The Rider of the Year and Horse of the Year are named.
Chapot, with his signature dark sunglasses, baseball cap and no-nonsense visage, has earned a solid reputation as a winner.
"The first USET show jumping team he coached in 1984 won the Olympic team gold for the first time ever," said Marty Bauman, president of Classic Communications public relations and advertising firm in Foxboro, Mass., and a friend of Chapot's for 23 years. "Then, two years later, he coached his first world championship team, and again we won the team gold. He's a team player to the ultimate degree. Whatever it takes to help his team win, he is there to do it."
Sally Ike, the U.S. Equestrian Team's director of show jumping activities said Chapot "has a historical perspective on the sport that very few have. I and others would never want to go to a championship without him because of his knowledge of the sport and the enormous respect he holds internationally."
As a coach, "he's on a par with the greatest in the world," said Clearwater businesswoman Gina Johnson, a board member of Stadium Jumping, the organization that presents the equestrian festival. "He's a genius at understanding the nuances to bring out a horse's talent and make him a team player."
Chapot, 67, grew up around horses.
His family had a farm and horses and he learned to ride at an early age. He tried other sports, he said, but always returned to horses.
"You follow the thing you're good at," he said. "I had a pony when I was a kid, it was a natural thing. When you're successful at something and it's not a pain in the neck to keep doing, you do it."
He competed through high school and college and had his share of falls and broken bones along the way.
Chapot graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and was serving a stint in the Air Force when he became the youngest member on the 1956 Olympic show jumping team. He competed on two silver-medal winning teams, in Rome in 1960 and Munich in 1972.
"Rome was a big deal," Chapot recalled. "I rode a 20-year-old remount horse and we got a silver medal -- that was exciting."
What makes a horse great, Chapot said, is "desire. They're careful, they don't get careless, they try hard and they get into the game a little big."
The current U.S. team is strong in numbers, and the riders are very good, Chapot said. "We have a lot of nice horses, and we can be competitive, but it's not a cinch."
WHAT: Winter Equestrian Festival
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Wed.-Sun. through April 1, rain or shine. Bob Thomas Equestrian Center at Florida State Fairgrounds, U.S. 301 at I-4, Tampa.
ADMISSION: Wed.-Fri., $3-$5; Sat.-Sun. $4-$6 adults; ages 12 and younger free. The $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at 7 p.m. March 31, Raymond James Stadium. $15-$25 advance, $20-$30 at gate. Family four-pack $50 advance, $60 at gate. Call Ticketmaster (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.
EVENTS: Adults, teenagers and children in hunter, jumper and equitation competitions. The $75,000 Grand Prix of Tampa, the final qualifier for the Invitational, is 2 p.m. Sunday. The $30,000 Ariat WEF Challenge Cup, the final qualifier for the World Cup next month in Sweden, is March 29. For starting times, call (813) 253-2782. Budweiser American Invitational Centro Ybor "Survivor" party, with music, prizes, Olympic and grand prix athletes and the Budweiser Clydesdales, 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. March 29. Free.
TOP COMPETITORS TO WATCH FOR: Members of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, including Florida native Margie Goldstein-Engle, Nona Garson, Laura Kraut, and Lauren Hough; and former Riders of the Year Katie Prudent, McLain Ward, Beezie Madden and Todd Minikus.