February 3, 2022 
This week, Hall of Fame Thursday remembers one of the great horses of all time, Abdullah, Show Jumping Hall of Fame class of 2008. An article published in the program for the 2007 FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas recognized some of the great horses in World Cup history and led the article off with Abdullah, the mount ridden by Conrad Homfeld, Show Jumping Hall of Fame class of 2006, to the championship in the 1985 World Cup Finals at Berlin. (Homfeld won his first World Cup championship in 1980 on Balbuco, Show Jumping Hall of Fame class of 2009).
Grace and beauty are more often accredited to females of the species, but Abdullah, the grey stallion ridden to victory by America’s Conrad Homfeld at the World Cup final in Berlin in 1985, had both attributes in abundance.
His chiselled head and deep, dark eyes enhanced his appeal. Although he was a spectacularly successful horse, he was also difficult at times. Like many exceptional performers, however, he was lucky enough to have wonderful owners who believed in him throughout his career.
Terry and Sue Williams of Williamsburg Farms in Newport, New York, bought the Trakehner in 1973 as a three-year-old potential eventer and breeding prospect from Gerhard Schickedanz in Unionville, Ontario. They enjoyed a lifetime of sport with him. He was a serial “stopper” by the time Conrad took up the ride in 1984, however, and at the World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden in the spring of that year, he threw Conrad on the ground twice. Yet in stark contrast only a few months later, he would carry his rider to team gold and individual silver medals at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Homfeld was something of an artist in the saddle. Classically trained initially by Mr. and Mrs. Zimmermann, then by George Morris and the world-famous Bert de Nemethy, the Texan-born rider already had the 1980 World Cup title under his belt following his victory in Baltimore with Balbuco before he came back to do it again five years later.
In the 1985 final in Berlin, it came down to a battle between Homfeld riding Abdullah and Britain’s Nick Skelton riding St James. Abdullah was one of just three horses to jump double-clear on the final day. Skelton needed to do the same to maintain his lead but a rail down saw him having to settle for runner-up spot ahead of Pierre Durand and another show jumping legend, Jappeloup, who finished third for France.
At age 15, Abdullah went on to take team gold and individual silver at the 1986 World Championships in Aachen, Germany, where he also took the Leading Horse Award and showed the sweeter side of his nature when behaving perfectly for the three other riders—the eventual winner Gail Greenough, Nick Skelton and Pierre Durand—in the change horse final to decide the individual medals. After his retirement three years later he continued his career as a popular breeding sire while Sue, his owner, continued to ride him regularly.
Abdullah was a great athlete. Conrad Homfeld once said of him, “His power made me feel like an acrobat coming off a trampoline.”
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