Though the individual event was very important to me, my dream had been realized in the team phase of the 1984 Olympics. 'My goal always had been to win the team gold medal over the individual gold,' she said. The American team consisted of Leslie Burr on Albany, Joe Fargis on Touch of Class, Conrad Homfeld on Abdullah, and Melanie Taylor on Calypso. In 1984, she and Calypso rested up for the Olympics.

team that won the Nations Cup and World Cup. Horse and rider continued in 1982, taking the American Invitational, the World Cup final, and the American Gold Cup. That same year, she and Calypso won the Grand Prix of Paris and took the individual bronze medal at the Rotterdam Show Jumping Festival. In 1979, she won the International Jumping Derby, and in 1980 was second in the World Cup final. When she was first on the American Grandprix Association (AGA) tour in 1976, Taylor rode Radnor II and Val de Loire, the horse she rode while on the team that won the gold medal in 1979 in the Pan Ameri can Games.Īn amazing partnership began, however, when Taylor mounted Calypso, a Dutch bay gelding. By the time Taylor began to com pete in the 1970s, however, women were a familiar sight on the course.

Women had not always been allowed to compete in this ancient sport and were restricted from Olympic equestrian competition until 1952. Melanie Smith Taylor, who up until 1985 won her titles under her maiden name of Melanie Ainsworth Smith, was fascinated by dressage, the 16th-century European art of training horses in precise movement in preparation for war. Was the first American Grandprix Association Rider of the Year (1978) won the World Cup (1982) was on the first American equestrian team to win an Olympic gold medal in team jumping (1984) after retiring from competition, became a television commentator for equestrian events. Born Melanie Ainsworth Smith in Litchfield, Connecticut, on Septemmarried Lee Taylor (a polo player), in 1985. Name variations: Melanie Ainsworth Smith.

Mildred d taylor