Probably the saddest news of this week is that George Morris will be retiring in 2013, relinquishing his title as the Show Jumping Chef D'Equipe. Turnover in leadership is an inevitable process, and certainly one that has good and bad aspects. Go ask five-or-so typical 'armchair quarterbacks' about George Morris. I guarantee you will get vibrant feedback from either side of the spectrum. Some really like him, others really dislike him. George has a sharp personality, he's never been one to 'go with the grain' so-to-speak. He's a stickler for correctness, correct horsemanship, correct riding, correct everything. Also, he's brave enough to say what everyone else is thinking. A few weeks ago, I was watching the broadcast of the high-performance training session George was conducting. At one point he said, "This session is about horsemanship, not just a pretty girl and her hobby." It made me smile as that is such a classic line of his.

I had no idea he was retiring! I agree he does have some die hard fans and others that don;t like him. He's been around for so long, knows his stuff and I think is a great asset to the H/J world. Sometimes we all need to hear things that are quite blunt, in order to improve our riding. I do like that he is strict, but he seems especially so with his grooming/attire expectations.