Michael Featured in Modern Arabian Horse ... - Tranquillity Farm

MikeDesiderio
It’s All in the Details
In every sport there are superlative athletes whose very names are synonymous with
their sport. Jordan. Gretzky. Federer, just to name a few. If the competitive career of
one Arabian horseman continues on the same trajectory that it has to date, the name
‘Michael Desiderio’ might do the same for defining excellence in equestrian sport.
The 20-year-old Desiderio has already enjoyed a riding
career most can only dream about. In just 10 seasons on
the Arabian breed show circuit, (beginning at age nine when
he won his frst title), Michael has won more combined
National Championships in performance. equitation and
halter than any other competitor, including an unprecedented
104 National and Reserve Championships (primarily
in Working Hunter and Hunt Seat Equitation). His 2005
AHA High Point Amateur Rider award, at age 15, also
made him the youngest ever to earn that honor.
The oldest son of Chester, New Jersey-based professional
horsemen Ricci and Stephanie Desiderio — whose own
accomplishments have helped put their showplace facility,
Tranquillity Farm, on the national map and where many
champion riders have been produced — Michael credits his
roots with instilling a strong foundation in horsemanship.
“I never had a pony. I started riding on horses. My frst
horse, Whimsey, taught me everything from walk-trotcanter
to jumping,” Michael recalls.
Ricci remembers those days, too: “Michael didn’t want
just walk-trot. At age fve, he was insisting on cross-rails. I
The early years,
left to right: Michael
and Half-Arabian TL
Foolin Around+//;
Michael on Arabian
Ser Imanask+// with
his family at Youth
Nationals; Michael
holds EWF Im Onfire
while his brother
Anthony poses with
the blue ribbon.
think he was 6 when we switched him at
Nationals to Working Hunters. Mike has
grown up crossing the country in a truck
and horse trailer, and we’ve never missed
a Youth Nationals.”
“He always had a good feel for a horse. He
had a good eye for jumping. Even as a kid,
he could make the overall picture look soft
and effortless.” The rest — including seven
consecutive equitation championships under
a variety of judges — as they say, is history.
Michael’s mother, Stephanie, had already proven herself
over fences, making her mark as a young competitor in the
hunter/jumper world at A-level venues like the venerable
‘National’ at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
And like father, like son, Ricci Desiderio grew up with
Arabian horses, and apprenticed under some of the best
in the business, including the Arabian trainer nicknamed,
The Master, Gene LaCroix.
In that perfect amalgam of attributes that breeders call
‘good bloodline,’ Michael’s talents have come to reflect
the best of both worlds. He not only has record-setting
achievements in the Arabian world with horses including
seven-time National Champion (eight if you count the
exhibition-only Sport Horse In-Hand Supreme Championship)
and ex-racing stallion, *Oration. He’s also
caught the eye of legendary trainer, U.S. Olympic show
jumping team Silver medalist and chef d’equipe, George
H. Morris.
By George
The horse world is a small one, especially in New Jersey,
where for decades the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Olympic
training facility was headquartered in Gladstone. While
Michael’s mom was growing up she often crossed bridle
paths with Morris, considered by many in international
show jumping as his generation’s leader within his sport.
So when Morris was looking for an assistant in 2009 to
work with him on a series of clinics being conducted across
the country, the Desiderio name may have rung familiar.
But it was what Mike could do as a rider, not who he
knew or who he came from, that earned him an ‘internship’
with the notoriously perfectionist horseman.
“I didn’t realize when I asked Mike to ride with me
that I knew his mother very well,” says Morris. “I chose
him because he showed a great empathy for his horse, had
Issue 2 / 2011 • Modern arabian horse 43