Introduction (by Carol Alonso)
Luzifer
Our East Bay Chapter was saddened and shocked on August 6 to learn that chapter member Carla Hayes’s former Grand Prix superstar Luzifer, who was competed to the Brentina Cup by Greenville trainer Kelly Casey, had suddenly died in Florida from laminitis just before he was to compete in the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Less than a year ago, Carla sold Luzifer to the Dominican Republic’s international Grand Prix rider Yvonne Losos de Muniz, who competed him very successfully on the East Coast and qualified him for the WEG. The 16-year old chestnut gelding, now called Optimus Prime, developed a hoof inflammation in Florida, where he was being rested before Yvonne, who was away competing in the Central American Games, would start his final training for the WEG. “The inflammation in his front hooves eventually deteriorated into laminitis,” said Yvonne’s husband Eduardo Muniz. “Despite all the care we provided, which included flying in his vet Dr. Jack Snyder from UC Davis to assist Dr. Ben Schachter, the rotation got worse and at the end there was nothing humane to do but to let him rest.” This tragic and untimely end to Luzifer, one of the most successful horses produced by our East Bay Chapter, saddened all of us. Carla and Kelly, unable to bring themselves to attend WEG, kindly donated their top-of-the-line WEG tickets to the chapter for bidding. Using the proceeds we will create with Carla and Kelly a special perpetual trophy in memory of Luzifer. To share his story, Carla sent us the lovely eulogy below:
Luzifer–barn name Luzi, Louie, Lou –1994-2010
Luzifer, son of Lux, walked into our barn as a fully trained Grand Prix horse. Without the help of a professional trainer, his first owner, Gudrun Niklas, started him at 4 and brought him to Grand Prix, with all five gaits perfected. Having gone all the way with Luzi in Austria, Gudrun chose us to purchase and import this 17.2 hand magnificent, muscled up chestnut as a safe and sane schoolmaster.
What we didn’t know at the time was that Luzi had other plans. “Schoolmaster” just never figured in his book. He knew he could continue to excel at Grand Prix, and he proceeded to do just that.
He embodied the perfect work ethic for dressage. When corrected, his response always included a few perfect piaffe steps, as if he were saying “and look, I’m great at this move!” When asked for anything, he always offered more.
With the heart and will of a champion, he just went better and better with a professional rider, taking Kelly Casey to Region 7 championship wins just three months after he walked off the trailer under a vast harvest moon in July. Then he took her to Brentina Cup Reserve Champion the following year, with more Grand Prix victories along the way. His freestyle music was mostly Amadeus–as befits a classic Austrian horse.
Then Luzi rose to even greater challenges with Yvonne Losos de Muniz, a truly elegant rider who qualified him for the WEG within four months of her purchasing him. Given a new name–Optimus Prime–he made more conquests. Only a rider as perfect for him as Yvonne would have convinced me to let him go. I had purposely not marketed smartly or well, and then Yvonne appeared. They clicked, and Luzi kept on going even better.
Do horses have some magical essence beyond our visible world? Luzifer may have. During our dawn workouts, I would watch Kelly ride daily, monitoring his progress, his fitness, his soundness with a mixture of awe at his strength and sheer terror at something going amiss. As the sun angled through the open end of the covered arena one frosty and brilliant autumn day, with the golden hills and red-gold vineyards behind, the steam rising around Luzi at C seemed to levitate horse and rider above the track.
Luzi’s sheer physical presence made him such a powerful competitor. He looked like one of those Roman statues of the mount for some imperial warrior, with his huge arched neck and massive shoulders, with his front hoof poised to move off on command. He lived to enter battle, unafraid and calm, except for an unfortunate and inexplicable shyness of anything differently colored lurking on the ground.
We miss him–his courage, his character, his performance, his power–and we know such a horse graced our world all too briefly.
Carla Hayes would like to thank Gudrun for her perfect love and training, Kelly for taking Luzifer to Grand Prix CDI levels, Yvonne and Eduardo for their love and care while developing Luzi into an international competitor. Also, thanks to all the East Bay CDS chapter for your wonderful support and heartfelt sympathy.
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