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RICARDO VILLA |
Picture by bluecentaur.com (2007, Atlanta, GA) |
Ricardo Villa is a very serious, dedicated professional show jumper in his native country Colombia, even though he has two nationalities due to his Italian ancestors. He started riding at the age of eight when one of his uncles sat him on a horse for the first time in a farm on the Caribbean coast near Santa Marta. After that he asked his father for riding lessons, so they looked for a riding school close to Bogotá where they lived. For a short period of time he rode at a friend’s riding school, “Ambilá” and then moved to “La Tranquera” riding academy where he took lessons with Pan American gold medalist and Olympic rider Guillermo Squella from the Chilean army. In 1985 he started teaching lessons at the Country Club de Bogotá and train with the late Mr. Jesus Villamarín (1928 – 2003), one of the best horsemen Colombia has seen. Ricardo still rides and trains at the facility although he has a beautiful barn in Cajicá, 30 minutes away from Bogotá, where he lives with his wife Dr. Liliana Montoya and keeps his own horses.
In 1987 he moved to the USA to ride with Tad Coffin and Raúl de León in Westmoreland Equestrian Institute at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA. It was there where he also had the opportunity to ride with Mr. Bertalán de Nemethy and other USET trainers like Mr. Jack Le Goff and Mr. Gunnar Osteergard. Ricardo participated as a student in the video The de Nemethy method.
Mr. de Nemethy was who really made a difference on Ricardo’s riding, although he always rode on a very classic way. But the approach and the way of dealing with problems and the considerate way they trained horses from the beginning using cavalleti, made him adopt the system. |
When he went back to Bogotá in 1988 continued with his job as head trainer of the Country Club de Bogotá, the most important and traditional club in the country.
He has competed nationally and internationally as well. He has won competitions such as The Mustang Cup in 1996 where the four best riders had to change horses or the Copa Tarmac in 1997 which was the beginning of the P.S.I. horses and dreams held in Germany.
Ricardo has won in his Country every main competition over the years. He has showed in several countries including, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Venezuela and the United State. In 1999 he had the opportunity to ride with Jack and Eduard Doyle from Naas, county Kildare, Ireland, and to travel with the Irish team through Europe.
In 2002 at El Salvador Central American and the Caribbean games Ricardo riding “Antique”, helped the Colombian team to win the gold medal, first time ever for the Colombian show jumping team. In 2006 he also represented his country at the Central American and the Caribbean games held in Cartagena, Colombia. Ricardo rode this time on “Condorito”, where the Colombian team obtained an honorable third place. Ricardo represented Colombia at the Pan Am Games Rio 2007 where he jumped two clear rounds, the speed class and the final round, qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately he could not participate in this event due to an injury of his partner “Calico Z”.
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In 2008 riding the fantastic stallion “VDL Bubalu”, that he co-owns with Dutch breeder, Mr. Wiepke Van der Lageweg, Ricardo won the Colombian National Championship. It was a superb demonstration of horsemanship against other very skilled riders. Ricardo achieved clear rounds throughout the competition with only time faults and wins the Championship’s main prize, a car sponsored by Honda.
Year 2009 looks very promising for Ricardo and “VDL Bubalu”. They are planning on competing next summer on the North American circuit, as they are preparing to participate in the World Equestrian Games to be held in Kentucky 2010.
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