“It is with both a heavy heart and a grateful mind that today I announce the retirement of my great friend, Diddy. I’ve always promised that I would do my best to listen and make the right choice for him when this time came."
Breaking and sad news coming through... Laura Graves has decided to retire Verdades. There will be no fairytale Olympic ending to their fairytale career together.
So their list of successes ends up looking like this...
Most of all, however, Graves & Verdades were always the ultimate fan favorites. Verdades is Graves' one and only horse. Horse with no pedigree, or much natural talent, which she acquired as foal. At one time she even wanted to quit the sport, but changed her mind after not being able to sell Verdades (yes, nobody at all was interested in buying the same horse that later won shitload of medals ). Their breakthrough came in 2014, when they went from sneaking into U.S. nationals from waitlist, to finishing 5th individually at WEG. If there ever was an against-all-odds breakthrough.
In other news, I also must be getting old... I started following the sport as closely as I do now in 2014, and today the shooting star of that same year has retired... Thank you and enjoy your retirement - Verdades.
(Omaha 2017)