We continue the second and final part of our interview with Bruce Davidson today. Click here for part 1. We resume the conversation as Bruce talks about Buck, his legacy, and the future.
So what advice did Bruce give his son before he left for Badminton this spring, where incidentally he finished 21st after a clear round cross country, and the best of the North American contingent,
"I didn't have to say a thing! I said, 'Good Luck, and, Show 'em how to do it!' He knows I have all the faith in the world in him, and he's been there since he was a kid. I can remember the English saying to me when Nancy (Buck's sister ) was about four, and Buck was about five, 'Bruce, exactly what do you expect them to get out of this experience?', because you know the English children should be seen and not heard (!), and in that case probably not even seen!
"Here I was at Badminton with my two little kids in the owners' tent and the riders' tent, and Buck telling everybody whether they were hitting the right spot or not at the first fence! As we walked the course I'll never forget him saying, 'Well, Dad, Harry could jump this one!' and there we go, so let's go and look at the second one then, and by the time we'd got round he'd decided he probably could have jumped about three of the ones that were at Badminton that year. They came home and they built a Vicarage Vee and a Normandy Bank and things like that in our back yard so that he and his sister could race around on foot and practice jumping, and when they got ponies they could do it, and there he is, now he's doing it, and I expected him to do it. He's a good guy, he's a good athlete, a good horseman, a good competitor. I couldn't be prouder, he's an exemplary young man and a very kind person."
Buck of course progressed from jumping on foot at home, to representing the US last year on home ground at the WEG in Kentucky. I asked Bruce if, looking back, team medals or for example, a Badminton or Burghley title, gave him more satisfaction.........FULL ARTICLE
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