This past weekend was an exciting and thrilling experience on South Beach, Miami this year. The Longines Global Champions Tour hosted it’s annual 5 star leg on the luxurious and breath-taking beach, feet away from the blue waves of the Atlantic ocean. My Blue Jean Jumper, one of my life size equine jumping sculptures, was set up in the Rider’s Lounge from April 5th-7th.

Edwina Tops-Alexander signing my Blue Jean Jumper!

What is the Longines Global Champions Tour?

Athina Onassis

The Longines Global Champions Tour consists of 17 5* show jumping events across the world- Mexico City, Miami, Shanghai, Madrid, Hamburg, and many more taking place in various cities from around the year, with most of the world’s best riders competing against each other. The Global Champions League takes place at the same events, revolutionizing the sport:  A total of 19 teams (containing 4-5 riders each) compete at the same events, all working towards being one of the 16 highest ranking teams for the “Prague Playoffs” happening for the first time this year in the newly added location of Prague, Czech Republic. With a total of $35 Million spread out across the season, this is a not to miss event on any horse enthusiast’s list. For more information, go here:  https://www.gcglobalchampions.com

Exhibit On South Beach

For the second tour stop of the season following Mexico City in March, my equine sculptures were featured in the Rider’s Lounge, where I met many of the riders and asked them to sign my life size sculpture.  This is one of the first sculptures that I have carved out of recycled Styrofoam, connecting small, 7” blocks of foam that once served at the encasement for lighting fixtures and would otherwise be in landfill. After attaching all of the blocks together, I started carving!

In total, it took about a month and a half and  was an interesting learning process for me. Once it was carved, I smoothed the surface and started to explore with the variety of denim I have collected through denim drop offs at local tack shops and thrift stores.

The Blue Jean Horse Project

This is the first of 18 life size equine sculptures that I am creating that will be exhibited at the world’s premier shows and events, representing different breeds and disciplines of the equine world. Each sculpture will be signs by the top riders, trainers and show officials then having  an exhibit of all of the sculptures together, before being auctioned off to benefit horse charities worldwide.

Peter Devos

After setting up on the 4th of April, it was time to meet the riders! I was lucky enough to meet many of the top riders from around the globe, including: Beezie Madden, Laura Kraut, Edwina Tops-Alexander, Scott Brash, Lorenzo De Luca, Peter Devos, Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani, Bassem Hassan Mohammed, Micheal Whitaker, Ben Maher, Olivier Philippaerts and others! It was such an exciting and educational experience, and one I am looking forward to attending in the future.