Dynasty

Owner: Charles and Janet Burns
Rider/trainer: Cindy Ishoy
 

Career Highlights

• 1985 North American Dressage Championships —  Gold Individual & Team Silver Medals
• 1986 World Dressage Championships, Cedar Valley, ON — Individual 7th; Team 8th    
• 1987 Canadian National Dressage Champion
• 1987 World Cup Dressage Finals - Sweden — 4th
• 1988 Seoul Olympics  — Team Bronze
• 1988 World Cup Dressage Finals s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands — 2nd  
  

Dynasty is a legend in his own right to thousands of dressage fans around the world. To Cindy Ishoy he was “everything.”

A German-bred Hannoverian gelding originally named Disco 16, the dark bay horse was three-years-old in 1981 when Cindy showed him to legendary horseman, Willi Schulteiss who asked, “Cindy, why did you buy that thing?” Disappointed but not discouraged, Cindy brought Disco 16, purchased by her long time supporters and sponsors, Charles and Janet Burns, to Canada. Feeling she could never ride a horse with such a name, he was promptly renamed “Dynasty,” after a book she was reading at the time — “The Bronfman Dynasty.”

Dynasty proved to be a difficult three- and four-year-old. He was a hot horse who tested Cindy’s mettle. “He would buck but he would also rear up, walk down the ring on his hind legs, then drop down and bolt.” She describes him as being mostly confident, but as their relationship flourished, he would rely on Cindy for confidence when he was uncertain of his surroundings, most notably when they were travelling to the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Smart and physically blessed, Dynasty’s training progressed quickly. By age six he was competing in Europe at Prix St. Georges and Intermediare I, however being the “lunatic” he was, Cindy notes, his tests were either very good or very bad.

Dynasty suffered his first serious injury on his way home from Europe when he fell in the plane and his leg went through the back of his container. Eventually the leg was freed but he had almost severed a ligament and seriously damaged tissue and skin which required 180 sutures to repair. Thanks to the work of Dr. Tony Calverly, Dynasty was fit as a fiddle and raring to go after a year off.

At age eight, Dynasty debuted in Grand Prix competition and won every class entered. It was the beginning of his short, but stellar career at that level. A career which  took him to heights previously not experienced in Canadian dressage, with a seventh place finish individually at the 1986 World Championships in Cedar Valley, Ontario, and a fourth place at the World Cup Final in 1987.

In 1988, Dynasty carried the bronze-wining dressage team at the Seoul Olympics. Cindy recalls, “He was absolutely amazing.”

But Dynasty wasn’t just part of the team … he was part of the family, and even when his owners were twice offered $1million U.S. for him, they turned it down.

Sadly, Dynasty’s career and life came to a tragic end at age 11 following a terrible tendon injury and shortly thereafter complications during colic surgery. He is buried at the Burns’ Kings Hill Farms in King, Ontario.  

“Dynasty was a personable horse who loved his job,” reflects Cindy, “and he’ll always have a special place in my heart.”

(Source: Cindy Ishoy and Eurodressage.com )