Winning a competitive speed class generally requires a good gallop and some slick turns. For Lindsay Archer and Jarpur, however, it takes some strong shuffling and powerful “poofs.”
“[Jarpur]’s a quirky horse,” said Archer of the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding. “He kind of shuffles. He doesn’t have a big gallop. It’s really fast, and it’s not a short stride, but it’s also not a big, rangy stride. We joke in the barn that he ‘poofs’ over the jumps. He shuffles and then he poofs. He has own style.”
Jarpur’s unique style also means that Archer generally needs a unique course plan for the gelding, and on Friday afternoon, that plan paid off as the duo bested a field of 41 entries to win the $37,000 Talus 1.50m Speed CSI3* at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA.