Waterfront

Waterfront is a 16-year-old, 16-hand English Thoroughbred owned by Jan's parents, Dick and Jo Byyny. Career highlights include a win at Morven in the Advanced and a third place at Plantation in the CIC3-star, second at Richland Advanced, second place in the Jersey Fresh CCI3* and fourth place in the CIC3* at The Fork in 2009, and second place at the 2007 World Cup CIC3*W at The Fork. Waterfront finished the 2006 season with a second place at the Fair Hill International, earning him the United States Eventing Association's Advanced Reserve Championship and Jan the Reserve Owner/Rider Championship. He also placed second at the Jersey Fresh 3*, and qualified for the 2006 World Equestrian Championships. In 2005, Waterfront finished second at Pine Top III Advanced, 4th at Red Hills CCI3*W World Cup Qualifier, and second at both the Foxhall Cup 3* and Virginia Horse Trials CCI2*, leading to his selection to the U.S. Equestrian Federation's "Talent Tour" team, which competed at the Luhmuhlen, Germany CCI4*. In 2003, at the Advanced level, he placed fourth at Over The Walls and Millbrook horse trials, and second at the USEA Advanced Championships. In 2002, he was second at the Jersey Fresh USET 2* championship.

Waterfront is a real showstopper, and according to Jan, a "cheeky monkey".

Syd Kent

Owned by J.C. "Chips" Chester, Syd is an 11-year-old, 17-hand New Zealand Thoroughbred. He had a fair amount of Preliminary experience before coming to Surefire in June, 2007, but hadn't really been proven beyond that level, so Jan was thrilled with his third place finish in Stuart's CIC2* Gold Cup division and first place at the Bromont CCI2* later that season. 2008 highlights included a move-up to Advanced and fourth place finish at Millbrook, third at Richland in the CIC3*, second in the Morven Advanced and a seventh place at the Fair Hill International CCI3*. In 2009, Syd won his division of Advanced at Pine Top Spring, was 10th in the CIC3* at The Fork and made his four-star debut at Rolex Kentucky, finishing 22nd, and was third in Advanced at Maui Jim.

Jan describes Syd as a warrior-type horse-quite a good mover, an incredibly careful and scopey jumper, very kind-but a tough-natured individual who's all about business.

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Inmidair

"J.R." is an 11-year-old, 16-hand New Zealand Thoroughbred owned by Jan. He'd only done two Preliminary horse trials before coming to Surefire in 2008 and got right to work, with a win at Plantation his first time out followed by a second-place finish at Maryland. In 2009, J.R. moved to Intermediate, and was third at The Fork, second in the CIC2* at Fair Hill, and fifth at Jersey Fresh in the CCI2*. Jan then moved J.R. to Advanced at Maui Jim, where he placed fifth, followed by seventh in Advanced at Richland, a win in his first CIC3-star at Plantation, and a sixth place in Advanced at Morven. J.R. began his 2010 season with a sixth-place finish at Pine Top II in the Intermediate, followed by a seventh in Advanced at Southern Pines II.

Jan's very excited about this wiry, race horse-looking prospect and describes him as "along for the ride in all the right ways."

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Why Not

"Wyatt" is a seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood imported in the spring of 2008 from England and owned by Chips Chester. A quick study, Why Not had barely jumped before Jan tried him in England, yet began his eventing career at Millbrook in August with a second-place in Novice and then followed that up with a win at Richland Park. In 2009, Wyatt moved up to Training, with wins at Full Gallop, Morven Park Spring, Fair Hill, Maui Jim and The Maryland Horse Trials. Moving to Preliminary at the Fall Maryland Horse Trials, Wyatt finished 7th. He came back in 2010 to win his season opener at Full Gallop at Training, then moved back up to Preliminary with a sixth at Sporting Days, second at Full Gallop and fifth-place at Southern Pines II.

Wyatt is a character, and often acts like a little kid who hasn't been exposed to a lot in his life. Now that he's at Surefire, he's having to shed his small-town ways and learn some grown up behaviors, like actually standing while wraps are put on! But he's also very talented, and Jan is excited about Wyatt's potential.

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Task Force

"Jedi's" career highlights include competing at Badminton, being selected for the Aachen, Germany World Championships Team, a win at the Jersey Fresh*** in 2006, a 6th place finish at Rolex Kentucky**** in 2005, being named third alternate for the Athens Olympic Team and a 6th place finish in the Rolex Modified Olympic division in 2004, 14th place at the 2003 Blenheim International in England (the 3rd highest placed American out of 144 starters) and a 12th place finish at the 2001 Fall Three-Star Championships at Fair Hill.

In 2008, Jedi tragically broke his leg in the warm-up at Southern Pines and was put down. Jan gave Jedi his stable name because he is was so handsome, "like a Jedi warrior." Very un-warrior-like in the barn, however, Jedi loved to cuddle, and he loved waking up every morning and getting all the girl's attention. Chips Chester, his owner, would bring him Mrs. Pasture's cookies. Jan notes, "All of us doted on him-he was just the kindest horse I've ever had."

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Shared Dreams

"Whitey" was Jan's first big-time horse and the one responsible for establishing her upper-level career. He was a member of the Gold Medal-winning Pan American team and the individual Bronze medalist in 2003, finished tenth at Rolex Kentucky in 2003 and fourteenth in 2004, and qualified for the Athens Olympics.

Whitey is a small, unassuming-looking American Thoroughbred with an unorthodox jumping style who is also spectacularly athletic and full of heart. Retired from upper-level competition, he has gone on to a new career as an amateur's eventer.

Photo by Shannon Brinkman

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STAFF

SUPPORTERS

Jan and Surefire Eventing owe a great deal of their success to the hard work and expertise of their support team, including:

Sean Crocker, the fantastic farrier; the vets of Dr. Brendan Furlong and Associates and Virginia Equine Imaging, who take such great care of the horses; equine chiropractors Dr. Nolan and Dr. Doug, and Angie Cooney and Katie Lou Gray, massage therapists.

Alexandra "Po" Tatham, the Surefire go-to person who pitches in wherever and whenever something needs to get done. Po helps with everything from fundraising for Jan to assisting with the Surefire Horse Trials. She also competes her horses, My Security Blanket (Linus) and Astaire to the Future, both purchased from Surefire.

Nanki Doubleday, who not only helps every year with decorations for the Surefire Farm Horse Trials and handles the in-gate for show jumping, but is also Jan's long-time friend and home decorator.

Tom Finnen, who is either making sure everything's working well and running right at Surefire or is making everyone breakfast.