December 3, 2024 
If there was a United Nations for horse sport, Darry Lou might just be its most hardworking representative.
A striking redhead with his shock of flaxen mane and deceptively pony-like build, the KWPN stallion has jumped for nations including the Netherlands (under Harrie Smolders), Egypt (under Nayel Nasser), Mexico under (Alberto Aldana, who produced him), and the USA, twice (under Beezie Madden and Jennifer Gates).
Now 16, it was announced this week that Darry Lou will officially retire from the sport and join Studfarm Zangersheide, where it is hoped he’ll continue to pass along his athletic prowess, bravery, and generous personality to his foals. “His kind spirit and incredible ability bring joy to everyone who meets him,” owner/rider Jennifer Gates said via press release.
“We are looking forward to seeing his legacy continue to evolve, and watching his progeny develop into the next generation of top sport horses,” added Gates, who competes as an amateur and campaigned Darry Lou in six international starts at the 1.40m/1.45m level in 2020 (Jumpr Stats).
Under Gates’s husband, Nayel Nasser, Darry Lou earned two podium finishes at Spruce Meadows in September of 2021, including a third place in the CSI 5* 1.50m and a win in the CSIO 5* 1.55m the following week. “It was a great joy and honor to campaign Darry Lou, despite our relatively short partnership,” Nasser said.
“He has a remarkable personality, filled with a calm confidence and unwavering demeanor regardless of the task at hand. His unique mindset coupled with his athletic ability allowed him to truly thrive as a sport horse on some of the world’s biggest stages.”
And thrive, he did. Under former World no. 1 Harrie Smolders, Darry Lou earned more than €130,000 in prize money from April of 2022 to September of 2024. In their first year together, the pair jumped 0/0 for the Netherlands in the Longines FEI Nations Cup of Sweden, helping the team to a second-place finish. What’s more, in 11 starts at 1.60m+, they finished in the top 10 at 55%.
Equally notable? Their “exuberant” hacking sessions…
“To have [Darry Lou] around and work with him every day was always a pleasure, his kindness but also his ability to listen to what the rider was trying to explain made him very unique and one of a kind,” Smolders wrote on Instagram.
“He will be missed by his fans all around the world for his empathy and particularly by our team as we felt a close bond and friendship with him. I will definitely remember his exuberance when we were out hacking—nothing could make him more happy, but he always behaved like a true gentleman.”
By the numbers alone, Darry Lou’s most successful partnership, however, was with four-time Olympic medalist Beezie Madden, who campaigned him for three years beginning in 2017. Together, the pair earned just under 85% of the stallion’s €1,514,691 in career prize money, climbing 11 podiums at the 1.60m+ level.
In 2019, that included back-to-back CSIO 5* wins at Spruce Meadows, the HITS $1 Million Grand Prix, and a double-clear, third-place finish for Team USA in the Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup of Aachen, among others. That same year, during the stallion’s 11-year-old season, Madden and Darry Lou maintained a 77% clear rate at 1.60m+, finishing in the top 10 in 11 starts at that height a whopping 91% of the time.
Then, COVID-19 hit.
Although he had been tried for sale and was already under contract to Jennifer Gates by the start of the 2020 year, Madden and Darry Lou were favorites to make the Olympic Team in Tokyo, a competition that was to take place before he changed hands. The postponement of the Games due to the pandemic, however, moved up the timeline of that deal.
Ironically, Madden would also step back from the rescheduled 2021 Games—her pre-planned, final championship appearance—after she withdrew her back-up mount, the then-10-year-old Garant, from contention due to inexperience.
And though we may always wonder what might have been, there’s no denying that the always unforgettable Darry Lou has been a standout horse for many riders and flags.
“I have been very lucky to have had Darry Lou in my life,” Madden said on Instagram when Darry Lou’s sale to Evergate was officially announced. “I will always cherish the incredible moments we had together.”
