Horse: Judgement – black, stallion, 1991
Owner: Iron Springs Farm
Home: Cazenovia, New York
Birthdate: November 20, 1963
Beezie Patton Madden was a recipient of a U.S. Equestrian Team (USET) grant to represent the U.S. on a 1997 European tour. She was one of 12 riders who contributed to the USET’s win of the inaugural Samsung Nations’ Cup Series in 1997.
Madden, originally from Milwaukee, WI, made her Grand Prix debut in 1985. In 1989, she was named the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year. This honor was largely due to her leading the USET to back-to-back Nations’ Cup wins at the Washington International Horse Show and at the National Horse Show, and her winning several important grand prix events. Madden won the American Gold Cup at Devon, PA, the Grand Prix of Rochester, the Grand Prix de Penn National at Harrisburg and the Grandprix of New York at the National Horse Show that year.
In 1993, Madden finished 5th at the World Cup final and won two major grand prix events–the Grand Prix of Luxembourg and the Hampton Classic Grand Prix. In 1996, she captured the blue ribbon at the Budweiser Grandprix de Penn National aboard Dynamite, and the Devon Grandprix riding Cincinnati Red. Among her notable 1997 achievements was winning the $100,000 Rolex/USET Show Jumping Championship, one of the seven Grand Prix wins for Madden that year. Her outstanding 1997 season led to her winning the American Grandprix Association Rider of the Year award and her mount Dynamite being named AGA Horse of the Year. She extended her successful 1997 into 1998, placing first in the World Cup East Coast League Final Standings. In 1998, she married noted trainer John Madden.
In 2000, Madden added even more laurels to her resume with a victory in the Valkenswaard Grand Prix in The Netherlands on August 6. She beat Barcelona Olympic gold medalist Ludger Beerbaum, of Germany, by 0.31 seconds in a four-horse jump-off, becoming only the second American to win a Pulsar Crown event (the other is Olympic veteran Anne Kursinski). In 2001, she won the $25,000 Lexington Classic Grand Prix and took 3rd place in the Grand Prix of Aachen, Germany.
After her fifth place finish in the World Equestrian Games Show Jumping Selection Trials in July 2002, Madden and her mount, Judgement, were named the team’s alternate. She replaced Molly Ashe on the squad after Ashe’s mount, Kroon Gravin, sustained an injury.
Career Highlights
2002
