Horse showing seems to stay in your blood no matter where you end up, especially for Amateur competitor Jason Wanderer of Los Angeles, California. This New Jersey native showed as a youth on the East Coast before attending college in Colorado, and, then, finally moving to Los Angeles where he has lived for the past 13 years. During all these moves and changes, Wanderer has continued to pursue his love for horses.
“The horses are truly my passion and the engagement with them along with the life balance it creates is not replicated or surpassed by anything in my life,” Jason revealed to GoHorseShow. “I work a lot and travel for work over sixty-percent of the year. On many occasions, I will arrive at the barn or a show with a level of intensity related to what is happening at work and after a day of riding, I can barely remember what I was stressed out about that morning.”
His current project, Cool Krymsun Zip (Splash), certainly has the pedigree to have a successful show career. This four year-old 16.2 hand sorrel gelding is out of World Champion Cool Lookin Lady and by three-time champion, One Hot Krymsun. He is also a full brother to two-time world champion, Cool Krymsun Lady.
Last year, Splash was shown for the first time in the hunter under saddle and won the 2011 Scottsdale Classic in the Three Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Futurity with Nancy Renfro in the irons as well as winning the Three Year-Old Trail Futurity at the 2011 Fall Classic with Carolyn Rice. Currently under the guidance of Rice, Splash will be shown at all the major shows in the Green and Junior Trail, Western Riding and Hunter Under Saddle. In 2013, Wanderer plans to make his debut with Splash in the amateur events.
Splash was started by Gil Galyean and as a two year-old won the NSBA Breeders’ Championship Futurity, was ninth in the $250,000 Sports Medicine Challenge at the Reichert and top 20 in the Two Year-Old Pleasure at the World Show. Jason Gilliam purchased him for Janet Gunn in April 2011, gelded him and started him in the trail. After five weeks going over poles, Jason showed him at the Red Bud and obtained eight points in one day in his first trail class ever. Rice saw Splash at the 2011 Redbud Spectacular and thought he may work for Jason. As soon as Wanderer heard about Splash’s pedigree, he was excited about the possibilities and talents of this young gelding and bought him soon after.
“Splash has the combined personality of a model, athlete and dog,” Jason says. “He thinks of himself as talented and special but is gentle, personable and wants no trouble.”
Jason has showed some nice horses over the years including, Capital Revenue, Im Norman, and Rumour Has It. Jason and Rumour Has It were the 2002 Reserve Congress Champions in the Amateur Western Riding and also the Limited Amateur High Point in the nation in the Western Riding.
When Wanderer sold Rumour Has It to Angela Gay at the end of 2003, he had just bought his home and was the only person in his company–Precision Event Group. The agency has now evolved into an event management company that develops, designs and produces, brand-driven events and experiential marketing projects.
Based in Los Angeles and New York City, they produce projects nationwide for a distinguished clientele of entertainment, publishing, sports, consumer and retail brands. Their clients include Architectural Digest, Bravo, Google, NHL, Nike, MTV and Walt Disney Pictures. It is also the only agency worldwide that was recognized in 2011 by both Event Marketer and Special Events Magazines as the leader in experiential marketing and event production. He now has 15 employees in Los Angeles and five in New York City.
“I always explain that we are essentially the equivalent of a horse show manager for large live events,” Wanderer tells GoHorseShow. “In the past, we have had the opportunity to assist with the AQHA Convention and other related equine events.”
Throughout the last eight years, Jason was horseless but still kept in touch with everyone and attended some of the major shows.
So why has Jason been so determined to stay involved in the horse industry? “I enjoy the interaction with the horses and symbiosis in working together with to try and achieve perfection,” Jason explains. “Secondly, the industry contains people from all walks of life that in any other setting you may have nothing to talk about but the shared passion for the horses creates a commonality and I have met amazing people and great friends.”
Make sure to watch out for Cool Krymsun Zip at the Sun Circuit, Prairie Classic, March to the Arch, Silver Dollar Circuit, Sun and Surf, Redbud, NSBA World Show Reichert Celebration, Congress and AQHA World Show. Also check out his ad in the January issue of GoMag by clicking here and watch out for him on the cover of GoMag in March!
