10/09/2026
🐎✨ 𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗚: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗖𝗬 ✨🐎
Bernie Traurig’s career is a story of remarkable horses, changing disciplines and true partnership. From equitation to eventing, showjumping and dressage, the horses tell the full tale. 💙
𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗥 & 𝗘𝗡𝗩𝗢𝗬 — 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦
At 16, Bernie won both the AHSA Medal Finals and the ASPCA Maclay Medal Finals aboard 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿. Those victories showed the position, precision and poise that would define his riding. 🌟
Then came 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗼𝘆, the eventer who carried Bernie to second in the 1964 Olympic Trials. A tendon injury shortly before Tokyo ended that dream. The disappointment became a profound lesson: horses are fragile, and their welfare must come before every ambition. 🤍
𝗝𝗘𝗧 𝗥𝗨𝗡, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 & 𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗘 — 𝗝𝗨𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦
Bernie’s partnership with 𝗝𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝘂𝗻 was brief but unforgettable. In 1974, they won the Big Jump at the Pennsylvania National, were second in the President’s Cup Grand Prix at Washington International, then took the National Horse Show Grand Prix at Madison Square Garden. 🏆
The record books also list Bernie and 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 as winners of the 1976 National Horse Show Open Jumper Grand Prix, while 𝗘𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗲 carried him to the same show’s Grand Prix win in 1979. Every result was shared. ✨
Across his showjumping career, Bernie won more than 60 Grand Prix classes, rode in eight World Cup Finals and won the United States League four times. His mounts included Springdale, Springer, Dreamy Sam, The Senator, Singapore, Fair Warning, Southside, Gucci, Don Carlos, Maybe Forever, Flying Scott, Eastern Sunrise, Corsair, Bonneville and It’s Cruising. 🐴
𝗔𝗭𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧 — 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥
With 𝗔𝘇𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁, Bernie finished a close second at Coto de Caza during the 1988 Olympic dressage selection process. It captured his rare range: the same horseman who could fly round a grand prix could also develop cadence, balance and harmony at the highest level. 💫
Bernie Traurig’s horses leave us with a simple lesson: results matter, but partnership matters more. Great riders listen, adapt and help every horse believe it can try. Here’s to the horses that carried the dream — and to the horseman who never stopped learning from them. 🌿
