June 12, 2025 
A decade ago, the horse who would become an Olympic silver and Pan American team gold and individual bronze medalist under American rider McLain Ward was just a naive 6-year-old, learning the ropes in Germany.
In the time before he was famously sold to American Olympian Reed Kessler, before moving onto Ward’s string in the fall of 2018, Contagious was quietly being produced in the stable of Julia and Timo Beck. But he wasn’t known as Contagious—or even his barn name, “Poussin”—back then.
“In our stable, Contagious we never called by his name, but was known as ‘The Prince,’” Julia Beck told World of Show Jumping in 2021. “He really was. Everything around him was a bit special!
“It was not always straightforward with Contagious—you had to get to know him,” added Beck, who campaigned the gelding in his first international classes from 2015-2017. “I also learned a lot from riding him. However, I knew what I had under saddle.”
Though he could be lazy in flatwork, Beck said she never doubted that Contagious had scope and talent to spare. At the same time, the handsome chestnut gelding could be “on fire and very sensitive” at shows—especially when the bell rang.
Beck said she always knew ‘The Prince’ needed time to develop the right way, opting for a slow-and-steady approach that sometimes resulted in time faults in the ring, rather than pushing too hard and risking his fragile confidence.
The German rider said she even worked to manage her own stress at horse shows, worried that the overly responsive gelding would pick up on her tension and spiral.
Years after their time together, Beck reflected that she was delighted to see Contagious on Ward’s string, noting that she always hoped she “would be able to see him in the Olympics.”
Of course, we now know that day would eventually come. But only after Contagious was sidelined with injury in the summer of 2019, forcing him to withdraw from contention for that year’s Pan American Games.
By happenstance, the setback was closely timed to the onslaught of Covid, and the aptly named ‘Contagious’ was equally poised to take advantage of the horse show shutdown. Not only did it give him the window he needed to fully recover from his injury, it also gave the sensitive horse time to develop carefully—the way Beck, Kessler, and later, Ward, always felt that he should.
“Covid was maybe a real blessing for Contagious,” Ward said. “We took a breath and were able to bring him back up to the top level slowly and really thoroughly, not only physically, but also for his brain.”
When Contagious did return to international competition one year later, he came back swinging.
The gelding won his first outing back in a 1.45m CSI3* class at Traverse City in August of 2020. And, in the summer of 2021, Contagious and Ward would grant Beck’s wish: helping the U.S. Team to a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games. But they were hardly done yet.
In April of 2022, the pair kicked off a career-high year, finishing 7th in the FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Leipzig. That June, Ward and Contagious took home the 1.60m Sapphire Grand Prix—named for Ward’s other, Olympic medal-winning chestnut mount—in Devon.
A few weeks later, they were on fire in Germany once again, winning both the CSIO5* 1.60m Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe and the 1.60m RWE Prize of North-Rhine-Westphalia at CHIO Aachen.
During their seven years together, their Jumpr Stats reflected the strength of their partnership.
With Ward in the irons, the pair maintained a 57% career clear round rate at 1.60m. That number jumps to an astounding 63% in top 10 finishes at the same height. In total, Ward and Contagious finished on 37 podiums, including 16 wins at 1.60.
It turns out, a little extra time really was all the medal-winning-horse-in-the-making ever needed.
After a final performance at CHI Geneva last winter, Ward announced his retirement this week, noting that Contagious will live out his days at Beechwood Stables in Weston, MA. “Contagious is horse who has always given his best, and at times more than that,” Ward wrote on Instagram.
“We hoped for him to be a successful Grand Prix horse. In the end he became a championship star….”
