Jonathan Sheppard: The Greatest Conditioner of All Time!
Author’s Preface
Many of us owe our success to having enjoyed the privilege of being under the tutelage of Great Conditioner, Master Horseman, Jonathan Sheppard!
Jonathan’s spirit lives on within us and through us! Our great horsemanship skills are the legacy of Mr. Sheppard’s dedication to teaching us, schooling us and keeping us under the shadow of his wings!
It is With Anticipation I share the following:
Jonathan was a Shepherd of men and women. There never was before, nor will there ever be again, a thoroughbred conditioner as great as Jonathan Sheppard!
We called him, “The Governor”.
Mr. Sheppard governed well. He assigned the correct rider for the chosen horse, the correct assistants to his spread-out stables and the best surface to each, individual horse. Mr. Sheppard’s instructions were always wise and well thought-out. When Mr. Sheppard made any error, he admitted to doing so and taught us how to improve from our mistakes. He encouraged us to certainly grow in a world of uncertainty. I recall John Fitzgerald Kennedy saying, “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” Mr. Sheppard was a man of correction, of determination, of compassion and of great wit!
I take zero credit for my success on the flat track, between the rails, or over timber obstacles or across brush fences. I dedicate a vast portion of my skill and ability to the faith which Jonathan Sheppard had in me, intermingled with the teachings he shared with me. Jonathan taught us to have faith in the horse, to encourage the horse properly and to work together with many adverse people of differing personalities. Mr. Sheppard offered us many opportunities, however, he never handed those fruits to us; Jonathan expected us to earn them, to grow-into them and to mature from such privileges.
Mr. Sheppard, a man of his word- a most honorable man of hard work and dedication, was always working for his horses. Their well-being was his life’s work. Mr. Sheppard had thrown his cross for us- the reigns of such great responsibility, time and time, again! The Governor taught us to earn every purse we had expected to win! Our winnings, alone, were not the prize- the reward was the hard work which went in to winning any prize! He was the humblest of men!
Jonathan looked forward to teaching young men and women, to enrich our lives. “Shepp” had his moments! “I would love racing if it weren’t for the people!” Jonathan vented to me , one day, out of frustration over some unruly racing officials of Deleware Park. (He was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, in Camden, at the time, just about to embark for the airport.) Regardless of his well-founded frustrations, people were always Jonathan Sheppard’s legacy!
I once complained to Mr. Sheppard about a lazy worker whom I wanted to fire from his Camden, South Carolina stable (at Springdale Racecourse).“Why don’t we just get rid of him if he’s just so awful?” I pleaded.
“You know what, Chip,” Mr. Sheppard answered, “You have to let some things go; otherwise, you’ll find yourself standing in the shedrow, alone, with a pitchfork in your hand!”
Mr. Sheppard employed people of all walks of life, had compassion for people and gave leeway to those who, otherwise, had never received such leeway elsewhere! He was a kind, loving man- to his horses and to all people! Mixed Up with all that love was his sternness- Jonathan’s high standard. Jonathan always set the bar very, very high; and we did not limbo under that bar! Jonathan raised us all up above that bar!
Jonathan Sheppard instilled self-confidence and self-reliance in all of us, mankind and beast, alike! We are Jonathan Sheppard’s undying legacy.
He was The Governor.
The horses whom Jonathan allowed us to work with, to succeed with, to condition, to experience life with, to earn with and to love, … those steeds may be long-gone, passed-away, now; but Jonathan Sheppard lives on, alongside those steeds, in our hearts, Forever Together!
