Page 26 - The Hunt - Spring 2024

One
Old Hand,
It’s still early fall in West Grove. The sycamores are dropping their browning leaves, and the maple trees are showing splotches of brilliant red. But in the horse barns along Hood Road, thoughts are already wandering ahead to next summer— to Paris and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Phillip Dutton returns to the stables at his True Prospect Farm from a morning
cross-country ride. A few yards away, Jennie Brannigan prepares to leave her adjoining
barn for a gallop on one of her horses. Both
are candidates for the U.S. Eventing Team, and they’ve participated for over a year in regularly scheduled riding events around the world. The combined ranking in those competitions, and ones taking place well into 2024, will determine who makes the national team.
If Dutton is chosen, it will be the 60-year-old’s eighth Olympics appearance. In 1996, he represented his native Australia, later joining the American teams when he became a citizen. Almost a quarter century younger than her mentor and colleague, 36-year-old Brannigan hopes to make the cut for her first Olympic Games.
By the time you read this article, Dutton
24 THE HUNT MAGAZINE spring 2024
Hopeful
One Young