The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics presented a unique logistical challenge for the eventing competition. While dressage and show jumping were held at the iconic Santa Anita racetrack, the cross-country phase took combinations two hours south to Fairbanks Ranch near San Diego. The travel distance meant the competition was spread over six days, with rest days built in on either side of cross-country, an unusual format that gave the horses more recovery time than a typical three-day event. The U.S. team, comprised of Michael Plumb and Blue Stone, Karen Stives and Ben Arthur, Torrance Fleischmann and Finvarra, and Bruce Davidson and JJ Babu, rode to team gold on home soil. Here is a look back at the four horses who made it possible.
Blue Stone: Ridden by Michael Plumb
Blue Stone was a grey, 16.3-hand Irish-bred gelding purchased by the Miles River Syndicate and loaned to the USET Three-Day Team. Quiet and dependable, he was the kind of horse a team could count on when the pressure was at its highest, and that is exactly the role he filled at Fairbanks Ranch.
Plumb had taken over the ride on Blue Stone in 1984, after the horse had previously been campaigned by Jimmy Wofford. When the team walked the course and found some formidable questions — hairy-looking banks and challenging water complexes — it was Blue Stone who was sent out first. In a interview with the Chronicle of the Horse that year, Plumb recalled: "He was a quiet warrior. He was Irish. He wasn't a terribly good mover, but he was a very good jumper. He had a lot of prizes; he won a lot of things. Jimmy rode him for a while, and then I got the ride on him in '84. I remember that he was first to go on the team because we needed a horse that we thought was going to get around. There were some banks there that were hairy looking, and the water was too. He went around, and it was under time, but that was our plan for the course, so then everyone else ran the course fine. He was a horse that could jump anything."
Ben Arthur: Ridden by Karen Stives
Ben Arthur was a 17-hand Irish-bred grey gelding owned by Karen Stives' mother, Lillian Mahoney. Big, bold, and honest, he was exactly the kind of horse who could rise to the occasion on the biggest stage in sport. Stives described him as "one of those once-in-a-lifetime horses — brave, honest, and endlessly willing."
At the 1984 Games, Stives and Ben Arthur delivered one of the most memorable performances of the competition. Their dressage was strong, and on cross-country, Ben Arthur met fence after fence at Fairbanks with precision and courage, with only a stumble on landing in the first pool at The Waterfalls breaking an otherwise flawless round. When it came down to show jumping and a single rail dropped in the final phase proved decisive, Stives and Ben Arthur were separated from the individual gold medal by the slimmest margins.
The pair finished with a total penalty score of 54.20 and ultimately earned the individual silver medal behind New Zealand's Mark Todd, who took gold with 51.60 penalties. It was a result that placed Stives among the first two women in history to earn an individual medal in eventing during the Olympic Games.
Finvarra: Ridden by Torrance Watkins née Fleischmann
Finvarra was a Thoroughbred gelding and ex-racehorse with a competitive record that spoke for itself. At the 1984 Olympics, he was the only U.S. horse to go double-clear across both the cross-country and show jumping phases — a remarkable distinction in a field of elite horses on demanding courses.
Finvarra had come to Fleischmann as a wedding gift from her husband Charlie, a gesture that would prove far more meaningful than either could have predicted. At Fairbanks, the horse dug deep. Speaking to the Chronicle of the Horse after their cross-country round, Fleischmann said with emotion: "He really showed me something yesterday. He's the bravest horse I have ever ridden. I was really just riding the horse, not the course, out there."
JJ Babu: Ridden by Bruce Davidson
JJ Babu was a Maryland-bred Thoroughbred gelding by Babu Dancer, bought by Bruce Davidson as a yearling. He was not only a striking horse to look at but was famously good-natured and easy for anyone to ride, qualities that made him beloved in the barn as he was formidable in competition. The pair won the Kentucky Three-Day Event in 1983 and podiumed once more in 1988 with a second-place finish, bookending their Olympic appearance with a career that spanned over a decade at the top of the sport.
Davidson reflected JJ Babu's legacy in the Chronicle of the Horse: "The world never saw a greater horse; he was great to look at. He had great manners, and he gave me 15 fabulous years. He was the ultimate event horse; everyone could ride him, even the children. He was a great friend and companion."
Together, these four horses and their riders gave the United States a team gold medal in front of a home crowd. It was a moment made all the more lasting by the individual careers of the horses themselves, each of whom left a mark on the sport that extended well beyond Los Angeles 1984.