Sunday, Apr. 21, 2024
On Wednesday, April 17, the first round of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final starts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and among the U.S. entries is Chromatic BF, who was bred and owned by KC Branscomb of Branscomb Farm in Half Moon Bay, California.
The 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Connor—Sonnengirl BF, Concept) ridden by Jill Humphrey joins a short list of U.S.-bred horses that have competed in a final, including superstars like Lisa Jacquin’s For The Moment and Beezie Madden’s Judgement ISF.
We caught up with Branscomb ahead of Riyadh to learn more about the early life of “Chromatic.“
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In more than 30 years of breeding, KC Branscomb has become well-acquainted with the antics of young foals venturing out into the world for the first time. Though they’ve only known their stall for a night or two, many are hesitant to leave the safe confines of the barn, so most require a halter and butt rope while their dam is led ahead of them to take those careful steps out into the outside world.
Not Chromatic BF.
“This little bugger, when I opened the stall door, [Porfirio “Pepe” Rodriguez, his groom] and I were both there, he just bowled us over and took off,” Branscomb recalled. “He didn’t care about the mare; he wanted to gallop around the farm and see what was going on, and I said, ‘Well, that one’s got a lot of charisma,’ and he just always had that self-confidence [and] playfulness.”
That confidence is a trait the flashy dark bay with four white socks and a blaze has retained throughout his lifetime.
“He was a lot of horse as a baby, and a lot of horse to start, but never mean,” she said. “He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body; he just has a lot of self-esteem. He thinks he is too sexy for his shirt.
“He loves the sport; he loves to jump,” she added. “We haven’t seen the fence yet that intimidates him. He’ll study them, but if you watch him go around in the classes, especially the ones he wins or does really well in, he bucks in between the fences, but in a playful way. But as soon as he sights up, his ears are up, he’s focused, he’s all about the business of getting to the other side.”
Chromatic is out of Sonnengirl BF (Concept—Korisak II, Lordship) via embryo transfer. Sonnengirl, another of Branscomb’s homebreds, competed up to 1.30-meter under Branscomb’s ownership before selling in late 2010, after which she competed up to 1.45-meters in the amateur-owner jumpers. His sire, Connor (Casall ASK—Korrada S, Cor De La Bryere), showed through 1.45-meters in Europe and is known for throwing the traits Branscomb was looking for: shorter back, taller with a longer front leg.
“I knew what Cor De La Bryere threw; I knew what Casall produced, and the combination in Connor, even though the horse had not gone on in sport in a huge way, I could see by his scores, by his technique, by his conformation that he was going to support my mare with the kind of characteristics that I wanted,” she said.
Branscomb, 68, once competed in the amateur jumpers and hunters, and started breeding because she “always felt that if somebody could take the best of the European bloodlines and focus on developing a specific type that was really well suited to the U.S. hunter/jumper market, that could be a commercially successful breeding effort.”
It’s that principle that has helped guide her efforts over the past three decades.
“What I said is, what’s different about the horse we want in the United States than what [Europeans are] breeding? They breed for a horse with huge power and scope; they ride very deep-seated, so they don’t mind a horse they need to be balanced up in the bridle by the rider with hand and leg, and they breed for a horse that can carry a 180- to 200-pound man over a 1.60-meter oxer,” she said. “In the United States, we want a lighter, uphill, shorter-backed, more refined horse that can gallop the 1.60-meter fence on its own balance and has enough of a flat movement and front-end technique that, if it doesn’t make it as an FEI horse, it’s a wonderful hunter or equitation prospect, so it has to be good-minded.”
As with all of Branscomb’s young stock, Chromatic grew up in a field with other colts his age, as she doesn’t geld her colts until they’re old enough to evaluate for their potential as a breeding stallion. She and her staff start all young horses in a round pen, teaching them voice commands before introducing them to tack at 2. They’re introduced to riders at 3 and after a couple rides, they hit the trails with a lead horse.
“We try and do everything naturally, and we use the herd mentality,” she said. “If we have a horse with a lot of personality and is very alpha, sometimes we’ll put them in with a group that’s a little older or with some grumpy old mares so they kind of learn self-discipline. We want the horse to have the ability to manage their own emotions and kind of reactiveness. I think a lot of people isolate the horses too early. We try to make sure they have a social group that’s supportive of the training stage they’re in.”
Branscomb described Chromatic as a “rambunctious young stud” who jumped out of the field a few times and wasn’t afraid of the varied wildlife seen around the farm, including coyotes, juvenile mountain lions, bobcats and birds. Though her fencing typically dissuades wildlife from entering the pastures, she recalled seeing a coyote get over the fence into his field, frightening the young horse’s pasturemates.
“Chromatic started to go with the others and turned around,” Branscomb recalled of the incident that happened when Chromatic was about 2. “He took a look at that thing, and he just started trotting, and then he picked up a canter, and then he gallops straight at the coyote, and the coyote just turned tail and took off right over the fence, including the electricity, and disappeared.
“Chromatic was very proud of himself and just trotted around the field in a big victory lap, like, ‘I protected my herd,’ ” she added. “Clearly in his own mind, he thinks he’s the big deal.”
Chromatic started competing at age 5, trained by Linda Allen and ridden by Daniel Zilla, who worked at Branscomb Farm for 13 years. The gelding started in the young jumper divisions before graduating to regional and American standard grand prix classes. When Zilla left to start his own business, Branscomb’s manager and principal rider Ivy Creahan took over the reins for a couple of shows in early 2023.
But Creahan’s dance card was full with training the young horses and giving lessons, so they began exploring other options.
“We knew he had the talent, and I wanted to see how far he could go, and serendipity was that I was getting a lot of good advice and support and sales help from Rudy Leone, and he said, you know, I think Jill [Humphrey] would be a good fit for that horse, and I said, well, let’s give it a try,” she said.
Humphrey showed him for the first time last April, winning two out of the three classes they entered and finishing third in the grand prix.
“Jill was the perfect fit,” Branscomb said. “She’s very light rider; she rides with that light kind of hand. He goes in a plain snaffle, no martingale, barely any spur at all, and she just sits up there and lets him do his thing and guides him carefully with the right angles and distances, and they trust each other. That makes for a good team.”
Though Humphrey has come to Branscomb Farm a few times to ride Chromatic, Creahan does the lion’s share of the daily riding, and Chromatic is kind enough that anyone can take him for a hack.
“Pretty much anybody can ride him when they’re just hacking around,” Branscomb said. “He loves to go on trail rides. Pepe rides him out on the trails all the time. He’s just a happy horse. He doesn’t have a bad day.”
Chromatic stepped into Fédération Equestre Internationale classes in August and won the $78,000 Premier Air Welcome at Sacramento International (California) in October. He competed in three World Cup qualifiers, finishing third at The Las Vegas National and Fort Worth International (Texas) and eighth in Sacramento, making Humphrey the highest-ranked U.S. rider in the North American League and fifth overall for the league.
On April 8, Chromatic began his World Cup Final journey with Rodriguez by his side, who was on hand when they bred him and has seen him through foaling out, starting under saddle, and now representing the United States.
“The people that have done the real work are Jill; Pepe; Rudy; Ivy; the shoer, “Bub” Whiting; the veterinarians, Phil Bellamy and Jack Snyder,” said Branscomb. “It takes a village to produce a horse like that, and so I’m just one small part of a very big team that made it possible for that horse to be who he is.
“Every member of that team—and that’s true for people who are no longer with me, like Daniel—they always put that horse first,” she continued. “Nobody cut any corners with this horse. He’s never had a bad experience, and he’s never been asked to do something that he couldn’t do.”
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