Custom Made

Who is Custom Made?

Custom Made is a horse that was ridden by American David O'Connor at the international level in the sport of eventing. He stands 17.1hh.

Joseph Zada imported Custom Made, whose barn name is "Tailor", in January 1995 from a Young Rider in Britain as a mount for David O'Connor. The horse was incredibly strong on cross-country, and was not very careful in show jumping, but an athletic jumper and a very good mover.

O'Connor and Custom Made made their debut at Rolex Kentucky Three Day in the CCI*** division in 1995. The pair won the dressage phase by almost 12 penalty points, but the horse was a run-away on cross-country and had 11.5 penalties in the show jumping. Although O'Connor and Custom Made were able to win their first three-day, by a slim margin of 0.1 penalties, it was clear that the horse needed additional training before he could be truly successful.

Custom Made was then shipped to England. O'Connor placed the horse in a Citation bridle for cross-country, which seemed to help to prevent the horse from running away with his rider. The pair won the Gatcombe Horse Trials, and was selected for the United States team in the Open Eventing European Championships, held at Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. Although the pair did well in dressage, cross country proved to be a disaster. The new bridle pinched the mouth of the horse as he was approaching a ditch, and he spun around so quickly that O'Connor fell off. The following day, the horse seemed to remember the incident at the ditch and refused to jump the second liverpool on course, which eliminated the pair from the competition.