May 1, 2026 
The say that variety is the spice of life. If so, it’s a proverb to which Shane Sweetnam’s 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, James Kann Cruz, certainly seems to subscribe. His preference in bits is no exception.
A journey through the photos on Sweetnam’s Instagram page reflects James Kann Cruz’s changing tastes for both hackabit-style setups (see: the Paris Olympic Games in 2024) as well as four-ring, soft-mouthed elevator-type bits in various shades of blue and black.
“He used to go in a hackamore with a bit. Since Dublin, we changed it, and honestly, he likes it a lot,” Sweetnam said in the press conference for the $500,000 Modon CSI5* Grand Prix during Week 7 of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, where the pair finished third.
Back in August, James Kann Cruz put in a strong showing in the Rolex Grand Prix of Dublin, also finishing third on the podium with just one rail down in his longtime hackabit. But after crossing the pond to compete in the Hampton Classic Horse Show just weeks later, Sweetnam thought a return to the four-ring elevator might be just what the doctor ordered.
“We are always changing, we are always trying to evolve basic things,” Sweetnam explained. “He’s got a funny sort of character and mouth [in] what [he] likes or doesn’t like.”
The result in New York was once again strong: the pair finished second in both the 5* Hampton Classic Grand Prix and its qualifier. Things went even better at their next event, the 2025 American Gold Cup in Traverse City, Michigan, where Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz won the qualifier and finished second in the 5* Grand Prix.
“He’s very sharp and has a lot of blood,” Sweetnam said of the then-9-year-old gelding after a different win in Traverse City back in 2022. “He’s a very smart horse so he was a bit of a handful to get the feel of, but the jump [has always] felt amazing. He’s like dynamite, any light touch he reacts to. I have to be patient and ride quite light.”
Four years on, it seems like Sweetnam may have fine-tuned the fuse system on that ‘dynamite,’ at least according to their Jumpr stats.
Now a quarter of the way through their 2026 season, the Irish rider and James Kann Cruz are having their strongest year since 2023—their best to date by the numbers—jumping clear in five 1.60m+ rounds at 60%, compared to the 63% clear rate they maintained in 19 rounds at the same height three years ago.
What’s more, they’ve finished on the podium 100% of the time in three jump-offs so far in 2026, compared to a 75% podium finish rate in eight jump-offs back in 2023.
James Kann Cruz currently ties Martin Fuchs’ (SUI) Conner Jei and Kim Emmen’s (NED) Imagine N.O.P. with three podium finishes this season at 1.60m+. The trio sit in second place to Pieter Devos’s (BEL) Casual DV Z and Simon Delestre’s (FRA) Golden Boy DK—the strongest horses in the sport by that measure with four, 1.60m+ podium finishes a piece so far in 2026.
In the months following their top finish in the CSI5* Grand Prix at WEF this winter, the pair also logged a double-clear effort for Ireland in the CSIO5* Longines League of Nations Ocala, and finished third last weekend in the MLSJ 5* Grand Prix in Lexington.
Could a timely bit change be the key ingredient in the gelding’s secret sauce?
“So far so good,” a circumspect Sweetnam reflected in February. “It doesn’t mean we won’t have to change [again].”
Five years and one Olympic Games together later, you can’t blame Sweetnam for keeping one foot out the door. Who better to understand his horse—and the extent to which James Kann Cruz’s preferences can be, well, flexible from one day to the next?
“I was talking to [James Kann Cruz’s grooms Maria Israelsson and Seamus McKeever] yesterday,” Sweetnam said back in the press conference back in February. “There was a flat rider [at the farm] that he really liked for the last few months,” he joked, “and now, he doesn’t like anymore.”
