98 The Chronicle of the Horse

William Montague BackerRenowned advertiser, land conser-vationist, foxhunter, and race horse breeder and owner William Montague Backer of The Plains, Va., died on May 13 in Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, Va., following a short illness. He was 89.

Mr. Backer was born on June 9, 1926, in New York City to William Bryant Backer and Ferdinanda Legare Waring. His father died when he was 6, and Mr. Backer moved to Charleston, S.C., with his mother and became involved in foxhunting. He served in the Navy for two years before attending Yale University (Conn.). After graduating in 1950, he dabbled in the real estate business and started an advertising jingle company.

In 1953, Mr. Backer took a job in the mailroom at McCann Erickson. He worked his way up to creative director in 1972 and vice chairman in 1978. A year later he formed his own advertising agency with Carl Spielvogel.

Mr. Backer will be remembered for his 1971 Coca-Cola “Hilltop” commercial, which made the phrase “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” famous, as well as his Campbell Soup and Miller Lite advertisements. In 1995, Mr. Backer was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame, and he was named one of AdvertisingAge’s 100 Most Important People in Advertising in 1999. He also authored The Care and Feeding of Ideas. The final episode of “Mad Men” featured the Coke commercial.

After almost four decades in the advertising business, Mr. Backer retired to his Smitten Farm, which he’d bought in the early ’80s. Throughout his career Mr. Backer spent his leisure time foxhunting. He was on the board of the Orange County Hunt (Va.) for 50 years and

also served as president.“He was just one of the smartest

guys I’ve ever worked with and one of the nicest,” said John Coles, jt.-MFH of the Orange County Hounds. “He was very creative and really thought

out of the box.”“He was one of the longest-serving

board members we had,” said jt.-MFH Malcolm Matheson III and fellow board member. “He was a

wonderful person and a wonderful friend. He

was the most talented guy you would ever meet.

He could just sit down at the piano and play out a tune and sing to it. When he was up in Connecticut hunting, he wrote some hunt songs for them. He liked to hunt until he couldn’t anymore. He will be missed.”

Shortly after beginning his adver-tising career, Mr. Backer and a partner spent about $500 to purchase a Thoroughbred weanling. The colt, Wink Proof, provided him with his first career victory in 1956 at the Bowie Race Track (Md.). Over the years he bred numerous stakes winners at Smitten Farm. He was also on the board of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association.

“It brought him a lot of joy,” Christopher Miller, friend and presi-dent of the Piedmont Environmental Council, said of Mr. Backer’s involve-ment in racing and breeding.

“He had a fantastic interest in race horses and the breeding operation,” said Matheson. “He ran a tremendous operation at his farm.”

Mr. Backer also produced hay at Smitten Farm, which he sold and fed to his own horses. “He was proud of the fact that his hay won a bunch of blue ribbons,” said Miller.

In addition to his involvement in foxhunting and racing, Mr. Backer committed himself to local land conservation beginning in the 1960s when he joined the Upper Fauquier Association. He co-produced The Piedmont Virginian, a local news-

paper that provided updates on land development, conservation and agri-cultural issues in the 1970s. He was a strong supporter of the Piedmont Environmental Council. In 2004 he became president of the Piedmont Foundation, which supports the PEC, and he remained in the position until his death. Mr. Backer raised an esti-mated $15 million for the foundation.

“He was literally one of the kindest and most humane people who I’ve ever worked with,” said Miller. “He was very intelligent and creative. When you were faced with a tough situation, he would be the one to crack jokes to keep everybody from losing their sense of perspective. No matter what the circumstance was, he always had an incredible sense of humor. He loved life—until the very end he had big plans. We were working on an idea for a national communications campaign to encourage conservation of open land, and he would call me once a week to check in and follow up and discuss it. When he was involved in something he was in the whole way. You got his full attention.”

Mr. Backer is survived by his wife of 30 years, Ann Backer (née Mudge).

In lieu of flowers, memorial dona-tions may be made to the Piedmont Environmental Council, PO Box 460, Warrenton, VA 20188.

Dr. Max GahwylerU.S. Dressage Federation Hall of Fame member Dr. Max Gahwyler died at home on May 13 in Darien, Conn. He was 92.

Dr. Gahwyler was born on July 22, 1923, to Dr. Max Wilhelm Gahwyler and Countess Anna Wilhelmina Gahwyler (née Wolkenstein-Trostburg) in Switzerland. In his younger years, Dr. Gahwyler enjoyed mountain climbing and skiing. He studied internal medicine in Lausanne and Geneva. In 1952, he moved to the United States with his wife, Doris, to work for Pfizer Inc. and American Home, specializing in antibiotic research and worldwide marketing.

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Upon moving to the States, Dr. Gahwyler and his wife began riding, and he got involved in the dres-sage community. In the 1960s, Dr. Gahwyler and other dressage enthusi-asts founded the American Dressage Institute at the Ox Ridge Hunt Club (Conn.). He served on the ADI’s board and became president in 1974.

Dr. Gahwyler’s good friend Margarita “Migi” Serrell was the first president of the ADI, and together they brought over European trainers such as Karl Mikolka, Nuno Oliveira and Col. Hans Handler to teach dressage camps at Skidmore College (N.Y.). Dr. Gahwyler was also a student of Handler’s.

Dr. Gahwyler competed up to the Prix St. Georges level. The idea for The Dressage Foundation’s Century Club—where the combined age of an actively competing horse and rider is more than 100—was Dr. Gahwyler’s. He was the second person to qualify for the honor, which he did in 1996 aboard Prinz Eugen. He qualified a second time in 2002 with Dresden.

As a trainer, Dr. Gahwyler taught clinics and individual students from beginners to FEI-level riders. He believed in carefully tailoring programs for young horses and the FEI regulations to protect the horse. He educated American riders as to why certain rules and classical form had to be followed to prevent a horse from becoming injured. He constantly reminded people to treat horses with kindness and fairness. “Max’s pockets were always full of sugar cubes for his equine students,” remembered family friend Donna Coughlin.

“Max always loved learning and adored teaching,” said Coughlin. “He was very active in the USDF and was a passionate scholar, researching the history of dressage, discussing and using it as the basis for training in modern times.”

As a U.S. Equestrian Federation “S” judge, Dr. Gahwyler viewed judging as a teaching tool. He was a harsh critic of unstable contact and exagger-ated movements.

Dr. Gahwyler enjoyed studying

antique riding literature. He shared his knowledge in numerous presen-tations across the country. He also authored three volumes in a series called The Competitive Edge: Improving Your Dressage Scores in the Lower Levels, Moving Up the Levels, and Gravity, Balance, and Kinetics of the Horse and Rider.

“When I think of Max, what I remember most is his unfailing sense of humor and wit, his warmth, endless patience, unbelievable kind-ness, generosity, and above all, his love and respect for animals, espe-cially horses,” said Coughlin. “The Gahwylers’ horses lived at home and were definitely members of his family—sound, happy and competi-tive into their late 20s and early 30s.”

Dr. Gahwyler is survived by his wife Doris, of Darien, Conn.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Dressage Foundation’s Century Club at www.dressagefoundation.org/century-club/about.html and/or H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut at www.horseofct.org/.

Ice D’AncoeurThe Kessler family’s show jumper Ice D’Ancoeur died from colic on May 23 after a four-year retirement at Kessler Show Stables, LLC in Kentucky. She was 20.

The chestnut Selle Français mare (Le Prince de Thurin—Uzel de Roche, Prince Ig’Or) competed in CSI*****s with France’s Marie Etter Pellegrin until 2008. After becoming pregnant with her first child, Pellegrin sold the mare to the Kessler family.

Katie Prudent found “Ice” for Reed Kessler, but the two didn’t hit it off immediately.

“I tried her in the winter in Switzerland, so it was really cold, and she was wild,” recalled Reed. “I didn’t like the feeling, but Katie told me not judge the book by its cover. Her record spoke for itself—and she was right. Anyone who knows Ice knows that she was incredibly hot, very unconventional and opinionated! But she was a fighter, careful, and one

of the fastest horses I’ve ever seen at a horse show.”

The pair began competing in 2009 when Reed was 14, and they enjoyed immediate success in the high junior jumpers at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.). That same year they won the $15,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior Jumper Classic at Devon (Pa.), and Ice helped Reed earn the Leading Junior Jumper Rider title. Later that year, they won the USEF Individual Junior Jumper Championship at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.

Ice and Reed also competed inter-nationally, winning all their young rider classes in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, in 2009.

“I was last to go in the grand prix,” recalled Reed. “There were cows in the field next to the ring, and Ice hated cows. She saw them after the second jump and spooked, causing me to lose my stirrup. As she ran off, my stirrup went behind the saddle, so I couldn’t get it back—it was flapping up and down on her back causing her to bolt even more. The next fence was the open water—already not her favorite—and I lost the other stirrup the same way. I jumped the remaining 10 jumps with no stirrups at a complete dead run with no control. I was the only clear round, and I won. I couldn’t stop after the last jump. We lapped the ring twice, and then Ice ran me past boot check and all the way back to the barn into the stall. It was terrifying but hilarious years later.”

Reed’s parents, Murray and Teri Kessler, also showed Ice. Teri competed her in Europe, winning at multiple one- and two-star competi-tions, as well as taking tricolors in the low amateur-owner jumpers at WEF.

Ice was known for her intelligence and strong mind.

“She knew who she was and how she should be treated,” said Reed. “She was a fighter with so much heart and desire to win. Ice taught me so much: how to go fast, how to win, and how to love and appreciate unconven-tional horses.”

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