Gem Twist was argueably one of the most famous show horses of all time. Even if your non-horsie friends might know him, although not for his show record. They might know him because he was cloned. In a marvel of how far science has come, he was able to be cloned two years after his death in order to continue his incredible bloodline.
He was an extremely accomplished show jumper, bred from a line of great show horses. And, although it wasn’t unheard of back then, in today’s warmblood world, he stands out as being a purebred thoroughbred.
Purpose Bred Thoroughbred
These days it’s pretty rare for a thoroughbred to be specifically bred to be a showjumper. Today most thoroughbreds out in the world were former racehorses, now moving on in their second careers.
But in the 70’s, it was a different vibe. Not just from the disco (or maybe related…?) but thoroughbreds were concerned the main sporthorses in America. The European warmblood invasion hadn’t really happened yet, and many warmbloods at the time were more of the clunky “Volkswagen” type. They didn’t evolve into their current form until much later.
But even if thoroughbred sporthorse breeding was more common, this wasn’t just any run of the mill thoroughbred breeder. This was the legendary Frank Capot, 6 time Olympian, the USA’s Chef d’equipe for over 20 years, and recipient of the United States Equestrian Federation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. This was a man who knew his stuff.
In 1979, his most famous horse, Gem Twist, was born.
Breeding
Gem Twist was sired by Good Twist, and this was a stallion the Chapots used many times. There was a good reason for it – Good Twist earned the American Horse Show Association’s Green Jumper Championship in 1965 and went on to win over twenty classes in North America and Europe as a member of the USET.
He was also just a little thing, only 15.1. Don’t discount the little ones!
Gem Twist’s dam was Coldly Noble, a thoroughbred that unfortunately there isn’t a lot of data on. She may have raced, with three starts, and no placings, but she was also a showjumper. Her main claim to fame is being the mother of Gem Twist.
There’s a high likelihood that Gem Twist was not immediately recognized as great. He was gelded, so they didn’t think they were going to be breeding him. This was likely a decision that they regretted for a long time.
The riders
Frank Capot
After being brought into the world by Frank Chapot, it was only natural that he was also trained by Frank Chapot. Chapot was Gem’s only trainer throughout his life, and he set him up for success.
When it was time for him to begin competing, the search begin for the rider.
Greg Best
When Gem Twist begin his competition career as a 6 year old, he was a rookie. Greg Best was also a rookie, and the two ended up together. Gem Twist did their first Grand Prix together all the way to their first Olympics, the 1988 Games in Seoul. They earned 2 silver medals.
They continued to compete together, winning numerous events and earning the Horse of the Year title – twice. In 1990, he was named the “World’s Best Horse,” at the World Equestrian Games in Stockholm.
Gem Twist was on track for the next Olympic Games in Barcelona when he surprised everyone by refusing a jump three times. He was eliminated from the section process.
Leslie Burr Howard
Gem Twist was on his way to earning a third Horse of the Year title when another surprise popped up. But this time it was Greg Best – he fell and broke his shoulder, requiring multiple surgeries. A new rider had to be found, and that rider was Leslie Burr Howard. Best believed that he and Leslie rode very similarly, making her a perfect replacement.
Leslie spoke about being intimidated at first riding Gem, as he was already a famous horse. But from her first ride, she realized he was an amazing horse to ride.
At their first competition, everyone was watching Leslie, comparing her ride to Best’s. The news media, in an early version of the modern reaction video and not being subtle at all, had a camera stationed inches from Best’s face to record his reaction as she rode. He remained mostly expressionless, but his face erupted in a huge smile as she rode him clean. They placed second, and this gave Gem Twist his third Horse of the Year title.
Leslie was cemented as Gem Twist’s new rider. She continued to compete on him. At one memorable show, the USET Show Jumping Championship in 1994, Leslie tied with herself for 1st place, riding both Gem Twist and Charisma.
Leslie continued riding Gem Twist for the next two years, but after they qualified for the World Equestrian Games, Gem had a setback – he got an infection while at the games, putting him out of that competition, and requiring a lengthy year long recovery.
Laura Chapot
Laura Chapot, Frank’s daughter, helped rehabbing Gem. In 1995, when Gem was well enough to compete again, Laura was offered the ride.
Still being young, Laura said she didn’t realize just how incredible it was to be offered the ride.
We got to know each other when I was rehabbing him after his injury. I never anticipated that I would ride him. It was a bit of a surprise but at the same time, I don’t know if I felt as much pressure as I would now because I was young and naive. It was exciting to have the opportunity to do it and he was such a spectacular horse
Laura and Gem got along well, as Laura had grown up riding other Twist horses, so she was used to their way of going. She found immediate success, winning their first Grand Prix that year. Laura rode him for the next year until his retirement.
Being such a famous horse, he got a retirement ceremony worthy of a celebrity. On November 1, 1997, at a ceremony at the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden, Gem Twist was formally retired.
For the next 9 years, Gem lived on the Chapot’s farm, still going down to Florida for WEF. On November 18, 2006, Gem Twist was euthanized as he was struggling to recover from a pulled muscle. He was 27 years old. Just a week before he was still being ridden.
Cloning
The year is 2080. Robots have taken over the human race, and laser shoot out from random machines. Humans are kept in jars, so the robots can harvest their DNA to clone their favorites. Also the jars shoot lasers. It turned out the future really loves lasers.
But much earlier than that, the first steps are being taken with genetics, and the creation of life. It started in the late 1800s when a scientist created identical twins from a sea urchin embryo. Over 100 years later, in 1996, scientists cloned the first mammal, the sheep named Dolly. From there, it didn’t take long for the personal requests to come in. In 2001, the first beloved pet was cloned, a cat named CC. And in 2008, the first clone of Gem Twist was born.
Gemini CL
He was named Gemini CL, and lived with the Chapots. Despite the identical DNA, he only grew to 15.2, which caused a theory to start that the original Gem Twist had been bitten by a radioactive spider in order to reach his height of 16.2hh. (That was me, I started that rumor.)
*Note: The final height in horses can be influenced by the dam. Even if the DNA is identical, they are still attached to the surrogate, which effects the development of the embryo.
Gemini CL was used for breeding, although any thoroughbreds born to him cannot be registered with the Jockey Club, possibly because they don’t allow artificial insemination, but also possibly because they are trying to take a stand against our eventual fall to our robot overlords (probably the earlier one, though.)
Gemini CL was exported from the US to the Netherlands, where he continues to stand at stud, and he’s been a busy boy, as there are 217 offspring listed as of 2023.
Murka’s Gem
The Chapots liked the original and the clone so much, they had scientists do their voodoo magic and made a second clone in 2011. This one was sold to a new owner though, and moved to Europe. He now spends his days breeding mostly warmblood mares.
Gem Twist Alpha Z
The Chapots continued their ploy for world domination by way of Gem Twist clones by creating yet another Gem Twist clone in 2012. He, too, was born in the US but ended up being spent to Belgium to stand stud.
Although I joke about the cloning, it really is incredible that this bloodline was able to be revived and continue on. Gem Twist was an incredible horse, and his clones seem to possess his freakishly good abilities and intelligence.
Although all of these studs are in Europe, they all ship worldwide. Which means that you too could have your very own Gem Twist clone offspring. (Or you could just purchase one of the hundreds of babies that have been born too, I guess. But I hope you saved up, one foal reportedly sold for $23k, another for $33k). Some of the offspring have gone on to compete in FEI competitions so the talent is there.
Gem Twist was a remarkable horse, and a testament to how great a thoroughbred can be. In these days of warmbloods, it’s great to see what an outstanding example of a thoroughbred can be. It’ll be interesting to see how his cloned bloodline continues. I don’t know enough about the science behind it to know, but will there be complications in future generations as a result of the cloning? Will future competitions allow genetically modified horses in competition? Will we eventually have genetically engineered horses right next to the humans in jars?
Obviously I won’t know, because I’ll probably be long gone before then (very unlikely I would survive the robot wars). But it will be very interesting to see what the future holds. This is just the beginning of this kind of science impacting horses.