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UNTOUCHABLE |
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Untouchable
achieved great international success in the
1960s, teaming with Kathy Kusner to become
one of the sport's all-time great combinations.
Purchased by Benny O'Meara on a buying trip
to the Midwest in the fall of 1962, Untouchable
was an ex-race horse and children's hunter.
With O'Meara in the saddle, he debuted on
the Florida circuit in 1963 as an 11-year-old
Green Jumper.
O'Meara had immediate success with the 16.1
hand, Thoroughbred, chestnut gelding by Bolero
out of Kum. Untouchable wound up as Green
Jumper Champion everywhere he went that spring
before O'Meara turned him over to Kathy Kusner
after her return from the 1963 Pan American
Games. Kusner capped Untouchable's undefeated
green season with the Open Jumper Championship
at that year's National Horse Show at Madison
Square Garden. She would stay with him for
the rest of his career.
In 1964, O'Meara loaned Untouchable to the
USET as a possible Olympic mount for Kusner.
The combination went on to win five major
classes in Europe that summer including the
Grand Prix at Dublin (The Irish Trophy) and
other wins against Olympic competitors at
Ostend and Rotterdam. (He won the Grand Prix
of Dublin again in 1965). Untouchable and
Kusner helped the USET to Nations' Cup wins
at Dublin and Ostend before traveling to Tokyo
for the Olympics where they placed 13th individually
and helped the U.S. to a fourth place team
finish. Upon their return to the States, Kusner
and Untouchable helped the USET to Nations'
Cup wins at the National Horse Show, where
Kusner was Leading International Rider, and
at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.
Purchased from O'Meara by Mr. and Mrs. Patrick
Butler, Untouchable continued to be a top
mount for Kusner. He carried her to a second-place
finish in the 1965 Ladies World Championship
and to first place in the Ladies European
Championship in 1967. In 1967, they also were
part of the USET's Silver Medal team at the
Pan American Games in Winnipeg where Kusner
was fourth individually.
Overall, Untouchable was on 12 winning Nations'
Cup teams. He won numerous major individual
classes in Europe including the Grand Prix
at Ostende (Belgium), Hickstead (England),
Lucerne (Switzerland), twice the Grand Prix
of Dublin (Ireland), the 1968 Pre-Olympic
Competition in Rotterdam (The Netherlands),
and the Puissance at Aachen (Germany). He
also won at least 14 International classes
on the North American fall circuit.
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